"Zhang Chu, what time is your ticket to Turkey?"

Zhou Kang asked anxiously on the phone, as if there were 100,000 urgent situations.

"Half past nine in the evening, what's wrong?" Zhang Chu thought that there was some turmoil in Turkey and he wanted to change his itinerary or something.

He didn't want to encounter this kind of thing before leaving, his life mattered!

"Now the people at Random House want to sign a contract with us, and they have already asked the people from the legal department to review it, and the contract is fine. If you have time now, let's come to the café outside your neighborhood. ”

Zhang Chu looked at the time on his watch, it was only four o'clock in the afternoon, and there were still a few hours before going to the airport, so he wouldn't be too nervous, so he agreed: "You just let them come over, what are the conditions of this contract, are they the same as before?"

"We are on our way over, and Random House is worried about long nights and dreams, and it is the British headquarters that asks the Chinese branch to take out the contract overnight, which is so good that you can be dumbfounded!"

Zhou Kang sold it, he wanted to see what Zhang Chu would look like when he saw the contract with his own eyes, and it would be better if he could sneak a video on the Internet.

But Zhou Kang's idea was doomed to fail, because there was a traitor among them!

Zhang Chu received a WeChat message from Blair in New York, USA, which read: "Dear Zhang, congratulations on getting the world's top remuneration agreement, and the advance remuneration of 12 million pounds is very generous. ”

"£12 million?" Zhang Chu thought Blair had entered a 0!

"The Da Vinci Code" will be a big hit, but that is also a skyrocketing increase in the real remuneration, not to give yourself so much money before the book is released.

There is no doubt that this new book will bring him a lot of 12 million pounds, but to get such a one in advance, Zhang Chu's first thought is that he has the big villa in his heart!

His brain spun quickly, and he quickly came to the conclusion that when converted into RMB, it was almost 100 million, and he finally reached a small goal.

The so-called advance remuneration is actually equivalent to a deposit, and the amount is generally limited.

According to international practice, when a publisher buys the publishing rights of an author's book, it needs to pay a certain amount of deposit, and after the book is published, it will pay royalties according to the royalty rate stipulated in the contract.

Advance remuneration can be used to deduct a part of the royalties, and royalties are not taxes.

Generally speaking, the prepayment fee will not be less than 50% of the estimated total tax amount, and it can be seen that Random House attaches great importance to "The Da Vinci Code"!

Pretending to be confused, Zhang Chu sat in the café downstairs in the community while playing with his mobile phone while waiting for Zhou Kang, he didn't expect to receive such a big gift before leaving.

Half an hour later, Zhou Kang and the co-lawyer of Hanlin Culture Media walked in first, followed by two foreigners and several Chinese.

"Hello Zhang Chu, I'm Xu Changrong from Random House China, and our headquarters has received the English version of The Da Vinci Code, and after evaluation, this is the contract we have given. The well-mannered middle-aged man took out three bound agreements from his briefcase.

Although he knew that the prepaid remuneration for his works was as high as 12 million pounds, Zhang Chu still planned to take a look at many details for himself, try to know it in his heart, and save himself from being deceived by others!

There are often such things in the entertainment industry, not only the people around them, but even the people next to them may turn their faces and deceive people for money.

The 12 million pounds is not Zhang Chu's total income on the English version of "The Da Vinci Code", but only a part of it is given first, because according to the normal procedures, it is first released, and then sold, and only after the sale will the manuscript fee be handed over to the author according to the royalty rate.

This process may take up to half a year or even longer, obviously the author can't wait that long, and many people have to live with the manuscript fee, so there is such a thing as prepaid manuscript payment!

Just like a salary advance, the salary is paid to you in advance out of trust.

Zhang Chu collaborated with Random House on three books, and the royalty of "Sherlock" was only 8% at the beginning, and the same figure was also used for "Life of Pi".

On the contrary, it rose to 10% in "The Fifteenth Year of Wanli", because Zhang Chu's first two films sold very well and also won the Booker Award.

This time, the conditions given by "The Da Vinci Code" are very superior, the first printing of 3 million copies, the royalty rate is 13%, and if it is reprinted, the royalty rate rises to 15%!

For Zhang Chu, he knew that selling 5 million copies of the book would be an extremely easy task, and that round after round of reprinting was like a money printing machine.

This is only an English version, which is sold by Random House in English-speaking countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, and Australia.

If the first printing of 5 million copies can be sold smoothly, Zhang Chu's income will increase significantly, because the existence of the electronic version cannot be ignored!

The physical sales of 5 million copies, and the electronic version is at least this number, which shows how confident Random House is.

Zhang Chuke remembers that Dan Brown made nearly $100 million on Earth with "The Da Vinci Code", including the manuscript fee and film adaptation rights, but it is conceivable that 12 million pounds is actually less than one-fifth of the income!

According to the content of the agreement, Random House only signed the English publishing rights, and the rest of the copyrights are in Zhang Chu's own hands.

The combination of these conditions is indeed very good!

Zhou Kang thought that Zhang Chu would be surprised when he saw that series of numbers, but unfortunately he didn't find any surprised look at all, could it be that he missed it?

"The £12 million advance payment is top-notch, and the advance payment for J.K. Rowling's new book "Occasional Vacancies" is only $8 million. Are you surprised, surprised?"

Prepaid remuneration is rarely explicitly marked with an authoritative price, which is as vague as a cigarette brand, such as a low-end five-digit figure, a mid-range six-digit figure, a soft seven-digit and a maximum eight-digit figure.

Advance remuneration is a form of payment that will be deducted from royalties after the publication of a work, and is a publisher's estimate of risk, and the actual amount will fluctuate depending on market trends, the author's sales record of the work, and the potential of the foreign copyright trade.

If JK Rowling is writing a sequel to "Harry Potter" or a sideshow, then the advance payment will definitely exceed 10 million, and it is not difficult to reach 20 million!

However, this new book "Occasional Vacancies" is her first adult book, so the publisher's confidence is slightly weaker.

Facts have also proved the vicious vision of the publishing company, the sales of "Occasional Vacancies" are indeed not very good, although it has reached the national sales champion, but the total sales are less than one-thirtieth of "Harry Potter 7"!

But the emaciated camel is bigger than the horse, and even if the publisher expects that sales may not be good, the $8 million figure is enough to make it to the top 15 of the year's rich writers' list.

The reason why Random House is so generous this time is nothing more than seeing the sales potential of "The Da Vinci Code", if Zhang Chu took the English version of "Ghost Blowing the Lamp", it may be a miracle to have an advance payment of $1 million!

It can be seen that the publishing company also looks at the work, and if the evaluation of the work is not high, the prepaid remuneration will not be able to reach the peak.

"If it's okay, then how about signing a contract now? The head office has already put up a publicity plan, just waiting for us to sign a contract!"

Zhang Chu turned his head to look at the lawyer, and only after seeing him nodding did he agree: "No problem, let's sign the contract." ”