Mr. Ding of Ding Ding Book City continued: "The conditions given by the four major publishing houses are relatively different. The conditions given by the French Laroux publishing house and the German Besmann publishing group are almost the same, the royalty is 8%, but the duration of the publishing authorization is different. The two publishing houses wanted to be licensed indefinitely at the beginning, and the reason given was that many domestic literary works were licensed indefinitely, following the old practice, but we did not agree, after several rounds of negotiations, the German Besmann Publishing Group asked for an 8-year authorization period, and Laroux Publishing House was the most willing, and after I bargained with Mr. Zhang, the other party was willing to set the authorization period at 5 years. ”

The so-called royalties do not refer to the taxes paid by the author, but the proportion of the income that the author can get, which is the income of the author from the sales of the book X the unit price X royalties. The authorization period is the number of years that the author grants the printing and publishing power of the book to the publishing house, and when the term expires, the copyright returns to the author, and if the publisher still wants it, then it must negotiate with the author. The so-called indefinite license is actually a one-time buyout. At present, many Chinese literary works follow this path, especially when published overseas, because the author is at a disadvantage, so it is easy to be suppressed by overseas publishing houses.

Mr. Ding continued: "The French publishing house Larousse also offers another way, that is, the license period is shortened to 3 years, but the royalty is reduced accordingly, to 5%. ”

Li Xiang pondered in his heart, whether it is 5% or 8%, it can be said to be very low. In China, Huaxia Bookstore and Ding Ding Book City gave him a royalty of 20%. However, it can't be directly compared like this, firstly, the proportion of 20% belongs to the highest level in China, and secondly, the work has to go abroad, and the royalty paid abroad will definitely be lower than that given in China, especially for a new author like him, because the publishing house has to spend more energy to promote the author and the new book.

Li Xiang just heard Gu Qijing say that the highest royalty that domestic writers can get abroad is 15%, which is an example to follow, such as Feng Jixin, the editor-in-chief of "Times Literature", his long story "Golden Rose". Yang Kun, vice chairman of the Shengjing Writers Association, an old man who writes fairy tales, also receives 15% of the royalties. Even, he is even more awesome than Feng Jixin, because almost all of his books published overseas are paid the highest level of royalties. Overseas, his fairy tale books are very popular, and they belong to the typical flower in the wall and more fragrant outside the wall.

Li Xiang thought quickly in his heart, his face did not show any emotion, and asked noncommittally: "What about the other two?"

Mr. Ding said: "The other two, Hill Publishing Group and McGraw Publishing in the United States, are very troublesome, and the other party insists that the royalty rate is only 5% from the 10-year licensing period. Our opinion is that we should give up the North American market first, and start the European market first, if the sales performance is good, they will naturally relax the conditions, and now the other party's attitude is very resolute and refuses to give in. ”

Gu Qijing asked: "Is it impossible to bypass these two publishing houses and find another cooperative agent in North America?"

Mr. Ding said: "These two companies are one of the top publishing houses in North America, and they do have more strength to operate "The Old Man and the Sea", not only in North America, but also in the South American market. In addition, if we find other publishers, they may not necessarily offer better terms, and I don't think they will necessarily take the risk of offending these two publishers to take over our business. ”

Gu Qijing asked: "The capital market, chasing for profit, making money, other publishing houses will not be tempted?"

Mr. Ding said: "We all know the law of 28. This law also applies to books as a product. Bestsellers account for about 20% of the bestsellers in a particular publishing house or in the publishing industry as a whole, which means that 80% of the books don't make money. To say something unpleasant, please think Li Don't be surprised. For foreign readers, they don't know who Li Xiang is, and your fame will not have a bonus effect. For the publishing house, "The Old Man and the Sea" is just a very good book, very good and good sales are not the same as good sales, and most of them are literary works that are not popular. Therefore, for the publishing house, "The Old Man and the Sea" may be an ordinary literary work, and it is necessary to be prepared not to make money. Based on this judgment, it is unlikely that the publisher will risk offending the two major publishers, and importantly, they will not offer better terms. ”

After listening to this, Li Xiang said: "I don't know much about the book market, and listening to your lecture, I have a little count in my heart." In the final analysis, we must first level our minds, and don't think that "The Old Man and the Sea" sells well in China, and it can become a sweet spot abroad. Regardless of whether the publicity resources are given enough or not, the reading habits and hobbies of people of different nationalities are very different, and they are popular in China, but no one likes them or cannot understand them when they arrive in France. ”

"I agree with what Mr. Ding said, let go of the North American market first, and then look at the European market, I am very confident in "The Old Man and the Sea". ”

Of course, Li Xiang is confident in this book, whether it is a story or a language style, it is actually more suitable for Westerners to read, after all, this is originally a Western book.

"As for whether to choose the French publishing house Laroux or the German Bestman Publishing Group, I personally prefer Larousse, their second method, the license period is 3 years, and the royalty is 5%. ”

Mr. Ding said: "In fact, there is not much difference between 3 years and 5 years, it is better to authorize 5 years and get 8% of the royalty." ”

Li Xiang said: "I want to talk to Laroux Publishing House for one month according to the condition of 5% for 3 years. It's October, and at the end of November, I remember that there was a Goncourt Literary Prize in France, and if "The Old Man and the Sea" was nominated, I asked for the royalty to be increased from 5% to 10%, and if "The Old Man and the Sea" was awarded, I asked for the royalty to be increased from 10% to 15%. If none of this can be done, but if the sales volume of the pre-sale month reaches a value, such as 2 million copies, then the conditions refer to what I just mentioned. If both conditions are met, then the royalty is raised to 20%. ”

Not long ago, Li Xiang chatted with Bai Su, Wang Hongxiang and Gong Fangfang, and Bai Su mentioned that Li Xiang should hurry up and launch the translated works, so as to catch up with this year's literary awards, most of these literary awards will be selected in March and April next year, and only the French Goncourt Literary Award is special, and its selection time is at the end of November.

If "The Old Man and the Sea" is released now, you can chase the Goncourt Literary Prize. The Nobel Prize in Literature is not the only one in the world, but many other literary prizes are equally honorable. For example, the French Prix Goncourt is the highest literary award in France, and it is also among the highest honors in the world.

The people present are all engaged in publishing, and they are naturally no strangers to the French Goncourt Literary Award, and as soon as Li Xiang's words fell, they were all stunned. "The Old Man and the Sea" is an excellent literary work, and now domestic public opinion is speculating whether this book can win this year's Zijin Literature Award, and most of the people support it.

However, it is too difficult for such a book to win an overseas literary award, especially a highly prestigious award such as the Goncourt Literary Award, and in many cases it is not a matter of the quality of the work.

Mr. Ding hesitated for a moment, and finally said, "Okay, then let's continue to talk according to this." ”

Li Xiang said with a smile: "It's man-made, no one is allowed, there are only two situations, either the results are worse than I thought, or better." ”

Li Xiang remembers that the original book "The Old Man and the Sea" sold 5.3 million copies within 48 hours! At that time, the original author's name was unknown, and the book first won the Putzley Prize for Literature and then the Nobel Prize for Literature. Now Li Xiang estimates that he will not be able to win the Putzelli Prize, because the conditions in the United States are too harsh to be published in North America for the time being, but the Goncourt Literary Prize is no worse than this award, and even half a grade higher.