Chapter 1419 1422 [I, Hu Hansan, are back]

  Smith thinks that Xiang Nan is the kind of nerd who only knows how to immerse himself in creation, and doesn't know the world and people, let alone the foreign situation, so he coaxes him in every possible way, even coaxing and scaring him.

  But unexpectedly, Xiang Nan is much smarter than him.

   Indeed, as Xiang Nan said, Random House is the largest publishing company in the United States. Its every move has attracted the attention of the industry. So if it finds any good books or seedlings, other publishers will definitely follow suit.

   Therefore, publishing companies often have to kill mistakes. Once a usable seed is found, even if the quality of the work is not so high, it will be signed first to prevent it from being poached by other companies.

   And among these seedlings, even if one of their works sells well, it will be enough to compensate for their losses.

  Just like the current idol companies, they sign a lot of newcomers as soon as they sign. Even if I don't have the resources to support so much, I won't give it up to my peers.

  So, if he really doesn't sign Xiang Nan, then other companies will definitely sign. At that time, if it becomes popular, he will become a joke in the industry.

   Xiang Nan himself is one of the most well-known writers in China, and his works are considered failures if they sell less than one million copies in the mainland.

   A writer like this, even if he goes to the United States, he will not fail too much. Just like Eileen Chang, she is good at writing Chinese-style novels. Even after going to the United States, her works are not very popular, but they are much better than newcomers.

  So after thinking about it, Smith finally chose to sign a cooperation agreement with Xiang Nan.

  Xiang Nan himself translated "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" into English, and submitted it to Random House for publication, and Random House paid Xiang Nan's remuneration and royalties.

  The royalty rate is 10%, which is also the general author's rate.

If it is like Stephen King, RL Stein ("Goosebumps" series), Dan Brown ("The Da Vinci Code"), Neil Gaiman ("American Gods"), George Martin ("Ice Bumps") "A Song with Fire"), the royalties can even reach 30% to 40%.

  However, although the commission is small now, Xiang Nan believes that one day, he will get a commission higher than that of Stephen King, Dan Brown, and George Martin.

  …

   When I heard that Xiang Nan rejected Random House's million-dollar buyout, but planned to cooperate in the form of sharing, many people expressed their incomprehension.

  They feel that a bird in the hand is better than a hundred birds in the bush. One million dollars is enough to spend a lifetime.

   On the contrary, if the form of royalties is adopted, if the book is not popular and cannot achieve high sales, then Xiang Nan will lose. At that time, let alone a million dollars, I am afraid that if you can get a commission of thousands or tens of thousands of dollars, it will be considered good.

  So they all made fun of Xiang Nan's choice.

   "Do you really think that your novels can be popular in the United States? You really don't know the heights of the heavens and the earth."

   "A talented woman like Zhang Ailing is not welcome in the United States. He is still in China and has never been abroad. Can he write works that are popular with foreigners?"

   "Cheng Jianjun has been famous in China for a long time, so he is arrogant and thinks he is popular everywhere. In fact, he can't see the situation clearly at all. No matter how good our inland writers are, they can't compare with others in foreign countries."

  They talked a lot, they all felt that the moon in foreign countries is relatively round, and they all had no expectations for the sales of Xiang Nan's "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" in foreign countries.

   Similar words reached Xiang Nan's ears.

  But he doesn't care, it's a mule or a horse, he pulls it out for a walk. Everything depends on grades, and no matter how many BBs there are now, it's just a mouthful.

  So now, he is hurrying up to translate "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" and publish it in print. When the time comes, he will use his results to slap those people in the face.

  …

  In 1987, Jin Manying's business continued to expand, with 36 branches opened, and it was also planning to expand to surrounding provinces and cities, such as Jinmen, Langfang, Tangshan and other places, to open up new markets.

   For this reason, Xiang Nan specially improved the bottom of the pot. In addition to the traditional clear soup shabu-shabu, new varieties such as red oil hot pot, mushroom soup hot pot, nourishing hot pot, and mandarin duck hot pot have been added.

   Once here, the capital eats shabu-shabu, and the mutton is brought in from outside the mouth. The meat is tender and has no smell.

  But the mutton from other places does not necessarily come from outside the mouth. It is likely to be locally produced mutton, and the meat quality is not so good. Clear soup shabu-shabu, the taste is different. Therefore, the bottom of the pot must be changed, and the taste must be stronger to make up for the lack of mutton.

  Secondly, tourists from other places may not necessarily have the same taste as Yanjing people. The so-called south is sweet, the north is salty, the east is spicy, and the west is sour, so adding some flavors will also give diners more choices.

  At the beginning of the same year, Cai Xiaoli was promoted from a deputy department to a full department and served as the section chief of the social security department.

  After five years of graduation, I was promoted from section member to section chief, which is very fast. The students who graduated in the same period are only now starting to advance to the sub-subject.

  Cai Xiaoli knew that she was promoted to a regular department not because of her ability or how hard she worked, but mostly because of Xiang Nan's face. Still, it made her happy.

  …

  In February 1987, the crew of "Triumph in Midnight" returned to Yanjing.

  Feng Xiaogang also appeared in front of Xiang Nan again, "Professor Cheng, my little boy is back."

   "How is it? Is the filming going well in Nanjiang?" Xiang Nan asked with a smile.

   "It's not bad. The local troops are specially cooperating. Tanks, firearms, and soldiers are all free of charge, which saves a lot of money. Otherwise, what would 400,000 be enough for?" Feng Xiaogang nodded.

  Xiang Nan smiled.

  At this stage, mainland TV stations basically rely on state financial appropriations. They are not commercial or entertaining enough, so they don't make much money.

  In 1983, the national television advertising revenue was only 34 million. In comparison, in 2020, the traditional advertising revenue of national TV stations will reach 78 billion yuan.

  TV stations have no income, so naturally they can't spend much money to produce new programs. Therefore, in the 1980s, the production of TV programs nationwide was very low. The number of TV series produced a year did not exceed 1,500 episodes.

  In comparison, in 2019, more than 13,000 episodes of TV dramas were released nationwide, and half of them could not be released after filming.

   It can be seen how poor the mainland TV stations were in the 1980s. This phenomenon did not begin to improve until the mid-1990s.

   "Anyway, as long as the filming is over." Xiang Nan nodded.

   "Yes, you are right." Feng Xiaogang smiled, "By the way, Professor Cheng, I have some friends who admire you very much. Would you like to meet them?"

   "Who are they?" Xiang Nan asked curiously.

"It's all my gang of iron magnets. For example, Wang Tong who wrote "Half Sea Water, Usually Flame", Zheng Xiaolong who filmed "Four Generations Under One Roof", Ma Weidu, editor of "Youth Literature", and author of "Plainclothes Police" Hai Zhi, Liu Zhenyun who wrote "Pagoda", Su Tong who wrote "The Escape in 1934" and so on." Feng Xiaogang explained.

   "Hey, you really have a lot of ferromagnetism." Xiang Nan laughed when he heard it.

  (end of this chapter)