Return To 1977 Chapter 1036: The Fairy Tale King

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In the 1980s, the word writer could only represent a side job.

No matter how glorious a writer's name is, their main source of livelihood must still rely on public office, and royalties alone are not enough to support themselves.

For example, in 1988, the novel "The Ordinary World" written by the famous writer Lu Yao caused a sensation in the literary world at that time.

But after six years of hard work, he received only about 20,000 yuan in royalties.

It was only equivalent to the income of a Beijing taxi driver for more than three months at that time.

For another example, in 1983, Zheng Yuanjie was transferred from an instrument factory to a children's literature publishing house.

Even though his novels "Heihei on Honest Island" and "Pipilu and Lu Xixi" were very popular and were published in sixteen newspapers at the same time.

The royalties he received were no more than 2,000 yuan, and he still had to rely on his salary to survive.

So this made him feel extremely unfair, so he went to negotiate with the newspapers and periodicals that serialized his works.

I pointed out that my articles caused the increase in the circulation of their newspapers and periodicals, and hoped that the remuneration could be adjusted according to the circulation.

But no matter who it was, the other party's reaction was almost always a rude rhetorical question.

"There are so many articles in our publication, how can you be sure that your article has worked?"

In this way, an untimely idea was born in the heart of Zheng Yuanjie, who had been squeezed out many times.

From then on, his biggest wish was to start a magazine.

A magazine that does not publish other people's works, but only his own works.

This must be the case in order to reveal his true value.

In order to get his toddler son to move out of the tube building where the pressure cooker was steaming everywhere in the corridor.

It should be said that in this era, Zheng Yuanjie is definitely a capable and courageous cultural entrepreneurial pioneer.

Unfortunately, most people can't see others being unconventional, even if it doesn't interfere with their own business.

The "movement" has long made the public habitually oppose all people and things that are different from what they know, and it has become instinct to attack those who are different.

So the more Zheng Yuanjie is obsessed with this matter, the more people will laugh at her.

No matter which publication's editorial team he went to, the reply he heard most often was, "Zheng Yuanjie, have you written too many fairy tales? What you said is simply impossible. Unless the sun rises from the west ”

In this way, Zheng Yuanjie's "overestimation of his capabilities" and "whimsical" made him the laughing stock of many literati.

If you add in the fact that he did not graduate from elementary school, he has become synonymous with being a frog in a well.

For this reason, more than one person publicly mocked him, saying that he was just someone who got into the cultural ranks.

It wasn't until the Spring Festival of 1985, when he returned to his hometown of Taiyuan and met his friend Zhao Yanping, who worked in the Shanxi Youth League system, that things began to turn around.

At that time, Zheng Yuanjie thought that the league system could run children's newspapers, so she blurted out to this friend.

"Do you want to get rich? If you want to get rich, let's start a publication together."

To be honest, Zhao Yanping was extremely surprised when he heard Zheng Yuanjie's thoughts.

Because he had never heard of this method and form, and it was even more difficult to imagine.

Is it okay to rely on one person to support a publication?

How vital can a publication be if only one person supports it?

What if the subscription fee has been charged and the manuscript cannot be published?

Those readers who want to refund money to the whole country cannot do this.

Who can handle it then? The risk is too great!

But even though this idea sounds so unrealistic.

But Zhao Yanping was eventually infected by his good friend's persistence, confidence and enthusiasm.

"The sales of magazines that have published and serialized my works have increased. Although they don't say it, I know that my works have brought them profits..."

"Don't worry, I will never give up my choice. Even if I can't write it, I can find someone else to compile it for you to ensure that it can be published on time..."

Since Zheng Yuanjie patted his chest and made such a guarantee, Zhao Yanping tried his best to apply with the supervisor.

I didn’t expect my superiors to be really knowledgeable about people. After several discussions, the matter finally came true.

On the eve of Children's Day in 1985, a magazine named "Fairy Tale King" was launched in Shanxi with a start-up capital of 5,000 yuan.

Zhao Yanping became the president of the magazine. Counting him, there were only five people in the entire editorial team.

Zheng Yuanjie got her wish and became the "sole writer" of this purely literary bimonthly.

Finally, his dream of getting more for more work and getting paid according to his work was realized.

This year, he was thirty years old.

To be honest, what he really felt at this time was not ecstasy, but actually uncertainty.

But he felt that as long as he could successfully publish this issue, he would be worthy of himself.

It doesn’t matter whether it can be released in the future or what the circulation is.

Unexpectedly, the market response was beyond everyone’s expectations.

Even if there was no money at all for publicity, Zhao Yanping could only find ways to ask "Xinhua Bookstore" to help distribute it.

"The Fairy Tale King" became an instant hit.

Not only were all 70,000 copies of the first issue sold, but we also received hundreds of letters from readers across the country.

Part of them is asking about how to subscribe, and there are also many letters from fans of the Pipilu brother and sister.

In this way, the editorial team of "The Fairy Tale King" immediately decided to expand the second issue to 200,000 copies.

They have even considered publishing the next issue through the post office system if they can guarantee 80% of sales.

In addition, it was precisely at this juncture that Zhao Yanping told Zheng Yuanjie another piece of good news that was completely unexpected.

A man from Beijing who said there was a "Polar Bear Food Factory" came to the magazine.

Not only did he want to advertise on "The Fairy Tale King", but he also wanted to talk to Zheng Yuanjie about the development and licensing of his fairy tale character products.

This time, Zheng Yuanjie really felt that she had succeeded.

Now even the famous food manufacturers in Beijing have come to Shanxi. What does this mean?

It shows that good wine is not afraid of deep alleys, it shows that his works are fully recognized by others, and it shows that the value of his works is far higher than he imagined.

This meeting was at the most famous hotel in Taiyuan, "Recognition of Strength".

In the consumption of public funds, Zhao Yanping was unprecedentedly generous under Zheng Yuanjie's encouragement.

A large table was ordered with beef and mutton steamed dumplings and stir-fried vegetables, including two famous dishes: "roast oxtail" and "vinegar-soaked mutton".

The wine is of course Fenjiu, which costs at least seventy or eighty yuan for this table.

The reason why this is so is because Zheng Yuanjie has used his brain and can't be picky and shrinking to appear that he has never seen the money, so he can make an offer.

As soon as the other party arrived, Zheng Yuanjie saw the "Deputy Chief of the Polar Bear Administration Section" named Hong Yanwu.

Because he felt that he was young, he deliberately tested it out before actually getting into the topic of discussion.

"Like my fairy tales? I've been reading Kuskaya's book recently, have you read it?"

The results are also extremely gratifying.

Hong Yan was stunned for a moment, then shook his head.

"I haven't read it. Which country is this person from? What kind of book did he write?"

Zheng Yuanjie shook his head and changed the topic, but smiled in his heart.

Because Hong Yanwu passed this short test, it is enough to prove that he does not have the habit of talking too much about people in the capital, and his words are credible.

They are not as hypocritical as those people in the Writers Association, and they all live a very fake life.

Even the name of the writer he made up, everyone nodded, saying they knew and had read it.

The discussion becomes more harmonious as the discussion continues.

Because Hong Yanwu is young, but he has a lot of real things in his belly.

Whether it is advertising or product development, his ideas sound reliable, reasonable, and full of whimsical ideas.

This surprised both Zhao Yanping and Zheng Yuanjie.

Take advertising for example. In addition to traditional paid advertisements that take up space, Hong Yanwu also proposed the concept of "soft advertising".

That is, he counted the name of a specific product "Polar Bear", as well as the buying and selling of clothing in "Xidan Quanyechang", "Donghuamen Night Market" and "Xiushui Street" as paid content, according to the article Pay for the frequency of occurrence.

Achieve a basic price, such as one hundred yuan.

Then if it appears once in the article, you will be paid once, and the payment will be based on the frequency of content appearance.

If you describe it in more detail, you can double the price.

This is certainly in line with Zheng Yuanjie’s mentality and in the interests of the publication. It couldn’t be better.

Speaking of which, it comes to the product development rights of fairy tale characters.

Hong Yanwu’s purpose is actually to buy out the exclusive commercial development rights of Pipilu and Lu Xixi.

To be specific, he will not touch the profits from cultural creations such as novels, stories, plays, movies, and animations.

But the production and business activities of commodities such as stationery, clothing, and food all belong to him.

At the same time, he also hopes that Zheng Yuanjie can write some fairy tales with the big white bear from the "Polar Bear" factory as the protagonist.

Needless to say, these suggestions are also thought-provoking, allowing Zheng Yuanjie and Zhao Yanping to see a different realm of business operations.

In fact, after the two of them listened to Hong Yanwu chatting like this for an hour, no one touched the food and wine on the table.

Even though no one had eaten or felt hungry, they all listened with rapt attention.

But at this moment, the final key issue has to be touched upon.

The quotation is on the table.

To be honest, Zheng Yuanjie has a good impression of Hong Yanwu.

Despite their short acquaintance, he was completely convinced that the other party was a standard doer.

He likes this kid's intelligence, his humor, his talent, and even more, his sincerity.

But for this money...how much does he want?

Are there no such examples across the country?

Zheng Yuanjie and Zhao Yanping looked at each other and originally wanted to ask their friends for advice.

But I found that the other party was also at a loss, and in the end I had to rely on myself.

It should be said that Zheng Yuanjie is a scholar after all and really lacks business experience.

In this case, he should have said that he would go back and think about it before giving an answer.

He doesn't know how to use excuses to make such detours, and his temperament is also straightforward.

So he thought nothing of it and said, "One million!"