140 Christopher Litos
In the Hong Kong University Press, Wu Liande sat on a chair, looked at Huo Yaowen in front of him, and laughed happily: "President, you should change to a new car, and it broke down halfway through the drive! Fortunately, it is on the avenue, if it is on the side of the printing house, it is really called the sky should not be, and the earth is not working." ”
Huo Yaowen showed a wry smile, shook his head slightly, and said, "I didn't know that it was so hot today, this car was pretty good before, who knew that the engine was so bad, and it broke down directly at a little high temperature." ”
"Then it's better to buy a new car as soon as possible, you are now the light of the Chinese in Hong Kong, how can you not have a good car?!" Wu Liande thought of the report in the newspaper in the past week or so, and at the same time, he was full of smiles, but also with a hint of complaint, "By the way, why don't you tell me in advance about the president, otherwise I will let people print a little more ghost blowing lamps, why bother now that all the inventory is sold out!"
Huo Yaowen smiled lightly, "I didn't expect there to be so many newspaper reports, if I knew, I would definitely inform you early in the morning, hurry up and blow out the lamp." ”
Since the "Literary World" released this news, in just a few days, all the major newspapers and media in Hong Kong have reported on this matter, which not only made Huo Yaowen famous, but also even the several books he wrote were publicized by the newspapers.
"It's sold out, just enough to free up the warehouse. Wu Liande didn't bother much about this matter, it would be good to be able to sell out the inventory, and then he told Huo Yaowen about the housekeeping of the publishing house in the recent period of time, "The loan from the bank has been decentralized, and the editor-in-chief Zhang has been supervising the workers of the printing house to print the textbooks of the University of Hong Kong recently, and it is expected that all the printing will be completed in these two days, and the Education Department has also sent the advance payment, and I estimate that the printing of primary school textbooks for various schools in Kowloon will begin within this week." ”
Huo Yaowen nodded, picked up the report on the table, looked at it, raised his eyes to Wu Liande and asked, "How is the printing of the counseling book?"
Wu Liande replied, "Over the past few years, more than 40,000 copies of the tutorial book have been printed, and I have already found someone to buy the new printing press, which will probably be delivered before the end of the month, and if it is printed 24 hours a day, it will probably be able to produce more than 5,000 copies a day." ”
"5,000 books a day? ”
Huo Yaowen frowned deeply, not very satisfied with this daily printing volume, "Didn't the Education Department give us the number of students in various government primary schools in Kowloon? More than 80,000 students, according to the textbooks of each school, eight books per student, 650,000 copies, you print 5,000 on this day, how many numbers do you want to print?
It is almost the beginning of June, and there are only less than three months before the order time given by the Education Department, and it must be printed before the start of school in September, 5,000 copies a day, only 150,000 copies a month, and more than half of the printing time can be done in three months.
"But the money is not enough. Wu Liande also had a headache, he called Huo Yaowen this time for this matter, and sighed, "The land of the printing factory plus the equipment in the factory, a total of more than 200,000 yuan was loaned, and three old printing presses were bought, as for the upfront money given by the Education Department, all of them were used to buy paper and ink, as well as to pay workers' wages, I checked with the accounting of the finance department, and there was no extra money." ”
Huo Yaowen was puzzled: "Didn't you say before that you could buy a few more printing presses?"
Wu Liande was helpless: "Yes, I could have bought a few more printing presses at a lower price, but the closed Chengguang Publishing Company suddenly stopped selling, so I had to re-contact and buy three from other channels." ”
"Suddenly not for sale?"
Huo Yaowen frowned, and asked suspiciously, "How can it not be sold?"
Wu Liande shook his head, "I don't know, I asked people to contact the people of Chengguang Publishing Company, and they said they wouldn't sell it." ”
Originally, when the publishing house took out a loan from the bank, Wu Liande had already contacted the boss of the bankrupt Chengguang Publishing Company, and was ready to buy it from him, but after the money was in place, the boss of Chengguang Publishing refused to sell it.
Hearing this, Huo Yaowen pondered for a moment and said, "Wu Lao, you should know that the publishing house is a cooperation between me and the University of Hong Kong, and I have already subsidized a lot of finances, so I won't give the money, but in the near future, my Yaowen Book Publishing Company will have a batch of new printing presses shipped from the United States, and when I get a new factory, you will arrange for workers to use those printing machines to start work first to complete the orders of the Education Department, and then we will do our best to print the tutorial books." ”
Wu Liande knew that although Huo Yaowen was now the president of the University of Hong Kong Press, he also knew that the other party had also set up a new publishing company, a publishing company that was fully controlled. ”
Outside the University of Hong Kong Press, Huo Yaowen made such a hassle to set up another Yaowen Book Publishing Company, mainly because he had no money at the beginning, although he is now the president of the University of Hong Kong Press, and he is also the manager, but in the final analysis, the majority of the shares are still owned by the University of Hong Kong.
At the beginning, Huo Yaowen wanted to borrow chickens and eggs, use the University of Hong Kong Publishing as a board, make money first, and then slowly develop his own publishing company, but he never expected that the book "1999" would sell so well in the United States, and the first payment of the manuscript fee was more than 100,000 US dollars, not including the remuneration for the subsequent sales of the first part.
Therefore, at this point, Fok Yiu-man could only develop the two publishing companies together, thinking that in the future, the University of Hong Kong Press would give priority to publishing educational and academic books in addition to the orders of the Education Department, while his own Yiuwen Book Publishing Company would publish books on various topics for the public.
After talking about this matter, Huo Yaowen stood up, tidied up his wrinkled trouser legs, and said to Wu Liande, "In this case, Editor-in-Chief Wu has been working a little more recently, and I will inform you as soon as the new printing press is shipped from the United States, but about the printing plant of Yaowen Book Publishing Company, Editor-in-Chief Wu asked the following employees to pay more attention to where there is a suitable place." ”
"No problem, I'll arrange for someone to find it as soon as possible. ”
Wu Liande got up and prepared to send Huo Yaowen off, but he politely refused, but thinking of one thing, Huo Yaowen stopped and turned around and said, "By the way, after the batch of printing presses in the United States arrives, leave a few to come out, I have a new book to publish, tomorrow I will have someone send the manuscript over, you arrange a few editors to help review it, and then report it." ”
"Your new book?" Wu Liande said in surprise, "there is a new book?"
Huo Yaowen nodded and said, "Well, it has been written before, and it is the book "A Cloud Made of Rain in the Wind". ”
As soon as Wu Liande heard the title of the book, he came to a trance, and this matter had been agreed on a long time ago: "That book, didn't you say that you would wait for Li Hanxiang to make a movie and then publicize and publish it?"
Huo Yaowen said casually, "Yesterday he called me and said that the movie has been filmed and is being edited, and I estimate that it will not be long before it will be released. ”
Wu Liande nodded and responded, "That's okay, I'll arrange it one by one." ”
After chatting a few more words, Huo Yaowen once again refused Wu Liande's send-off, walked out of the office alone with his briefcase, and walked out of the door of the publishing house after greeting the clerks of the publishing house who passed by along the way.
When I walked past the front desk, I suddenly heard a man standing at the front desk say, "Hello, I am Chen Youzhi of Zhonghe Publishing Company, and I had an appointment with Wu Liandewu, the editor-in-chief of your publishing house. ”
The front desk clerk He Qidi lowered his head and glanced at the list of visitors, and after finding Chen Youzhi's name, he walked out of the front desk, stretched out his hand with a smile on his face and said, "Yes, Mr. Chen, you and our editor-in-chief have made an appointment to meet at two o'clock in the afternoon, please come here." ”
Neutralization Publishing Company?
Huo Yaowen glanced at the person named Chen Youzhi, didn't pay much attention to it, walked to the elevator entrance, pressed the button of the elevator, and went downstairs to go back.
As for the car that broke down in the middle of the road, he could only let Lao Dou Huo Chengcai take the key the next day and find someone to help tow it away, and he couldn't keep it parked on the side of the road.
A few days later.
Huo Yaowen, who was still in school, suddenly received a call from Luo Cheng, saying that he had helped find a professional agent from a headhunting company, who was said to be a well-known book copyright agent in the UK, who had been engaged in this industry for seven or eight years, and had represented many British writers in copyright affairs.
The Peninsula Hotel, Kowloon.
Huo Yaowen hurriedly came over in a car.
Luo Cheng saw Huo Yaowen walk in and got up to greet him, and at the same time, a British man sitting next to him got up with a smile on his face, and he introduced, "Mr. Huo, this is the British book rights agent Christopher Littor I hired from a headhunting company as I told you. ”
Christopher Littor smiled and stretched out his hand, "Hello Mr. Evan, my name is Christopher Lito. ”
Huo Yaowen looked at the forty-year-old in front of him, dressed in a decent suit, with little but neatly combed hair, looking like a typical British style, speaking English that was biased towards Oxford English spoken by Anna, and shook hands with the other party with a smile, "Hello Mr. Christopher Lito, it's a pleasure to meet you." ”
"Sit down and talk. Luo Cheng beckoned the two to sit down, he had already handed over the information trustee of Christophe Littor to Huo Yaowen, and now that the two met, the rest of the interview session depends on Huo Yaowen's dissatisfaction.
"Mr. Leat, I read your information before, showing that you have helped many writers succeed, why don't you continue to do so, and choose to come to Hong Kong to work for me alone?"
Huo Yaowen was very puzzled about how this person in front of him could come to Hong Kong for no reason, in the information given by Luo Cheng before, he saw that the other party was doing very well in the UK, and promoted books for several unknown young writers and sold them well, so he can be said to be a very capable person.
Christopher Leather shrugged his shoulders and said in a tone of helplessness, "Mr. Evan, I have represented many young writers in the UK in the book copyright business, and at first they were very happy that someone could help them sell the copyright and help them contact the publishing house to publish, but as I helped them sell more and more copyrights, and the profits I extracted were getting higher and higher, they thought I was a vampire and thought that I could be successful without my help!" But they don't want to think about how their books could have appeared on the market and sold in so many countries without me negotiating with those publishers."
Huo Yaowen looked at the other party expressionlessly, and he recognized his words in his heart, after all, this kind of thing is also the norm, whether it is now or in the future, the position of agent will always be very embarrassing.
"And it's hard to work behind a writer for a long time, Mr. Evan, you should know that every writer has their own creative bottlenecks. So when I heard that a headhunter came to me and asked if I had any idea of going to Hong Kong to work for Mr. Evan, I happened to see a report in a British newspaper about Mr. Evan's success in the United States!"
Christopher Littor continued: "I asked someone to buy a copy of Mr. Evan's science fiction published in the United States, and I have to say that it is very wonderfully written, and I think if Mr. Evan hires me to be your agent, I have the confidence and certainty to promote this book to the whole world, and I have been in England, Germany, I know a lot of publishing companies in France and even in Europe, and I have cooperated with them to a greater or lesser extent, and I also know a film company in Hollywood, USA, and I think that this book can be adapted into a film and TV series, so I am very confident that I can help Mr. Evan handle the business of book copyright and bring more wealth to Mr. Evan. ”
Christopher Litt's personality is not like a stubborn British, but very much like those Americans who are interest-oriented, and almost all of them are talking about bringing more wealth and more benefits to Huo Yaowen.
However, this is also in line with Huo Yaowen's thoughts, he lacks such a professional agent to handle all the business of overseas copyright for him.
The Christopher Littor in front of him is very suitable, at least the other party knows publishing companies from many countries, but this alone saves Huo Yaowen a lot of trouble.
Huo Yaowen smiled and said, "Mr. Lito, I have sold the rights to the UK to Thames Publishing. ”
"Thames Publishing?" said Christopher Litt, frowning, "Mr. Evan, I think you must hire me as your agent!"
"What?" Huo Yaowen looked puzzled.
Christopher Littor said: "Although Thames Publishing Company is one of the top 10 publishing companies in the UK, their main books are not science fiction, but Bergman Publishing Company publishes dozens of science fiction books every year, which can be said to be the number one publishing company in the British science fiction industry." ”
"I was going to give the book to Bergman for publication, but I didn't have time to go to England, so I had to ask someone else to help me. Huo Yaowen has a good impression of Christopher Littor now, and he thought about handing over the responsibility to Bergman Publishing Company before.
Christopher Littor smiled, "It's okay Mr. Evan, I don't think this will affect the sales of your book in the UK, after all, the news about Mr. Evan's book selling well in the United States has reached the UK, and many people in the UK are looking forward to your book." ”
After the two chatted for another half an hour, Christopher Littor also talked about the percentage of commission he needed as an agent, but unlike new writers, Huo Yaowen's books are popular in the United States and have become well-known, and the commission is relatively low, but if he is fully responsible, the copyright of various countries is added together, and he can also earn a lot of profits.
Christopher Littor said confidently, "Mr. Evan, I think that professional matters should be handled by professionals, just like me, if Mr. Evan entrusts me to operate the overseas copyright of your "1999", the benefits that can be brought will definitely be more for you to talk about in person, and this will not delay Mr. Evan, you will continue to create the next best-selling book." ”
Huo Yaowen pondered for a moment, the other party's percentage of the commission is not very high, and the initiative is in his own hands, he is just helping to take charge of traction and negotiating copyright business, and the final person who makes the decision is still himself, the most important thing is that his last sentence is very right, and he will not delay his time.
Thinking of this, Huo Yaowen got up with a smile and stretched out his hand and said, "What Mr. Litu said is very right, professional matters will be handed over to professionals to be responsible, so except for the United Kingdom and the United States, the rest of the overseas copyrights, and the markets of the rest of the countries need your help, Mr. Lito." ”
"It's an honor!"
Litu happily stood up, shook Huo Yaowen's hand, and promised, "Mr. Evan, don't worry, I will definitely help you sell books to more countries and bring you more wealth, only in this way can I get more commissions!"
"I look forward to you bringing me more wealth. ”
Huo Yaowen smiled at the corner of his mouth, this person doesn't listen to the accent, he is really the same as the Yankees, his mouth is full of money, wealth and wealth, which is completely different from the few Englishmen he knows, maybe it's just because he knows Anna, Professor Luke They are not businessmen, right?
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