It's noon in the United States.

In the Bantan Book Publishing Company, the editor-in-chief of the editor-in-chief's office, Ziols, walked to the wine cabinet, took out a bottle of Moët & Chandon champagne worth $350 from it, uncorked the champagne bottle with skillful techniques, poured two glasses at random, walked to Mark's side and handed it to the other party: "Congratulations to Mark, you have successfully signed a bestseller, this is another peak in the ten years since you joined the company." ”

Mark took the champagne, raised it slightly, saluted Chiols, and laughed happily: "Thank you, Editor-in-Chief Ziols, I think that signing "1999" this time is not only my personal peak, but also another success of Bantan Book Publishing Company in discovering new works, I think there have been a lot of submissions in the company recently." ”

"You're right, the best-selling of "1999", our company is once again in the limelight, although this is nothing to our company, but no one will dislike it, right?" Ziols took a sip of champagne and sat back in his exclusive chair with a smile, "According to the news sent by the staff below this morning, "1999" has sold 100,000 copies again, and if nothing else, it will exceed one million copies in the middle of this month, which is a very successful marketing. ”

"It will sell a million copies in the middle of this month?!" Mark was shocked, he thought it would take at least a month, but he didn't expect that in just half a month, it would sell from 500,000 copies to 1 million copies, so doesn't it mean that there is hope to compete for this year's bestseller list in the United States?

"Yes. Ziols put the champagne glass on the table, happily pulled out a copy of the paper sandwiched in the pile, and handed it to Mark: "Thanks to this year's NASA Aviation Administration's announcement that a manned lunar rocket will be launched at the end of this year, and now science fiction in the United States is selling very well, this "1999" is very in line with the topic of the moon landing, and the dark forest mentioned in it, as well as the dilapidated spaceship on the far side of the moon, all attract the love of science fiction fans in the United States." ”

Mark hurriedly put down the champagne glass, took the report and looked at it page by page, in addition to the sales in the last half month, there are also the results of the Bantan Book Publishing Company's investigation on the street and in the bookstore, almost 80% of the readers who bought "1999" are because after the NASA Aviation Administration announced the manned moon landing program this year, they were attracted by the great moon landing program, so they chose to buy one or several copies of science fiction.

Fifty percent of readers who have read "1999" believe that there may indeed be alien space warships on the far side of the moon, and UFOs may be docked on the far side of the moon, so that humans have never discovered it.

Another 65% of readers, when they saw the law of the dark forest mentioned in the book "1999", were attracted by this imaginative and almost realistic and realistic dark cosmic forest law, so they looked forward to the next plot and worried about the future of mankind in the book and in reality.

After seeing the information investigated in the report, Mark laughed and said: "It seems that the book written by our Evan is indeed very good, and there are so many people who think that the universe in reality is very likely to be an unprecedented cosmic order built by the laws of the dark forest, which also explains why human beings have not discovered the existence of aliens since the birth of wisdom." ”

Chiols didn't dare to be interested in these, even if the aliens attacked the earth, as long as it didn't hinder him from making money, it was easy to say, I saw him tap his fingers on the table, paused, pondered for a few seconds, and looked up at him: "Mark, you're going to Hong Kong tomorrow, right?"

Mark put the report on the table, nodded and said: "Yes, I think half a year has passed, Evan's second part should be finished, and when the first part officially sells millions of copies, the second part will be launched directly, and then Isaac Asimov will help promote it, I think this is another big selling book." ”

Ziols said: "The company's top management thinks that this "1999" may become a bestseller series, didn't you say that the Chinese planned the book into eight or nine books?"

Mark replied, "Yes, Evan told me earlier that there will be eight or nine copies of 1999, and it's a bestseller series!

Ziols continued: "So the company wants you to go to Hong Kong this time, and you will have to get the rest of the publishing rights anyway, and if you can, the rest of the copyrights will also be obtained." ”

Mark frowned, recalled what Huo Yaowen said at the beginning, and shook his head slightly: "I think the rest of the copyrights may not have a high success rate, when he signed the contract with Evan, he said that he would only sell the publishing rights in the United States." ”

Ziols chuckled, took out a document from the drawer and handed it to Mark: "How do you know if you don't try? This is the biggest negotiation right that the company gives you, no matter what, the publishing rights of all the remaining parts of "1999" must be obtained, the first part has already identified its value, and in the future, we just need to work properly It will be one bestseller after another." Just like Isaac Asimov's Base series and the Galactic Empire series. ”

"I see, I'll do my best. Mark took the document and saw that the paper said that he could pay up to 14 percent of the manuscript fee to Evan, and he couldn't help but be shocked, this price can almost be said to be the highest percentage in the United States, and then 15 percent of Isaac Asimov's.

In the early morning of the second day, Kai Tak Airport, Hong Kong.

Huo Yaowen drove the blue-skinned car and parked it on the parking lane outside the airport, glanced at his watch, there were only ten minutes left, he hurriedly got out of the car and walked towards the inside of the airport.

But before he could walk to the airport hall, he saw Mark's face from a long distance, and he was surprised, could the plane have arrived early?

"Mark!" Huo Yaowen hurriedly ran over.

After seeing Huo Yaowen, Mark happily hugged each other: "Hey, Evan hasn't seen you for a long time!"

Huo Yaowen asked, "You got off the plane alone?"

Mark shook his head and pointed to the two people who came from behind, "No, no, there are Paul and Nie." ”

Huo Yaowen's face was full of surprise when he saw Nie Hualing, and when the two approached, he asked in surprise: "Ms. Nie, Mr. Paul, why did you suddenly return to Hong Kong?"

Nie Hualing said with a smile on her face: "This year's second International Writing Project is already being prepared in advance, and this time Paul and I want to come to Hong Kong and Taiwan to invite more young people to participate in this exchange meeting. ”

This year's international writing exchange program is advanced, all because of Huo Yaowen, his "1999" was a big hit in the United States, Nie Hualing and Paul, as the first people to know about the book, the horror in their hearts is indescribable, but as the horror is over, there is ecstatic, nothing attracts more young writers than an exchange staff during the exchange meeting, writing a best-selling book that is about to sell millions of copies in the United States!!

The better Huo Yaowen's book sells in the United States, the more well-known and attractive the young writers will be, and it can be said that Huo Yaowen is a living advertisement!