Zeng Wei didn't know how much "Sou Shen Ji" had increased the sales of "Ancient Legends", but since the other party had planned to change the magazine from bimonthly to monthly six years in advance, this increase was definitely not a small number.

What's more, since November, Zeng Wei has been paying attention to some of the situation about "Ancient Legends". Just from the change in sales of "Ancient Legends" in that newsstand outside the gate of the Kudan cigarette factory, many things can be analyzed.

According to the newsstand owner told Zeng Wei that the sales of each issue of "Ancient Legends" were more than 20 copies before, but the sales of "Ancient Legends" in November last year skyrocketed to more than 70 copies, and although the sales in January this year have not yet come out, they must not be worse than the November issue.

According to this ratio, the sales volume of "Sou Shen Ji" has doubled.

Perhaps, on a national scale, it is impossible for every place to have such a terrifying growth rate, but without an increase of more than 50 percent, it is absolutely impossible for the magazine to consider changing the magazine from a bimonthly to a monthly magazine.

It is based on this analysis that Zeng Wei dared to open his mouth and directly proposed the remuneration standard of 200 yuan per thousand words.

………………

As the vice president of "Ancient Legends", Su Shaohua knows better than anyone how much "Sou Shen Ji" has brought to the magazine. Although it did not double the growth, it more than doubled.

And considering the specific number, that is more than half a million copies.

And the economic benefits brought by this improvement are in the millions. After all, the "Ancient Legends" magazine does not simply sell magazines, they also accept advertisements.

With the sharp increase in magazine sales, advertising revenue has naturally risen and risen sharply.

It is precisely because of this that the top management of the magazine made the decision to change the magazine from a bimonthly to a monthly magazine after repeated discussions.

From this point of view, Zeng Wei's remuneration standard of 200 yuan per thousand words is indeed nothing. After all, even if Zeng Wei serializes 20,000 or 30,000 words a month, the remuneration given to him by the magazine is only five or six thousand yuan. Compared with the millions of profits of the magazine every month, it is completely a drop in the bucket.

Although it is reasonable and well-founded, Zeng Wei's request is really difficult for Su Shaohua to accept.

You must know that even after more than 20 years, this remuneration standard is definitely a god-level treatment.

After all, even if it is updated with 200,000 words per month, such a remuneration standard can get a monthly salary of 200,000 yuan, not to mention the rest of the channel income.

At present, this remuneration is absolutely sky-high, because even if only 12,000 words are serialized every month, the remuneration can reach 2,400, and if 24,000 words are serialized every month, it is nearly 5,000 per month.

It is really a bit appalling that the monthly income of the working class in the whole country is still generally stuck at two or three hundred. If this spreads, it will cause an uproar.

More importantly, this will break the salary balance of the authors of the magazine, if Zeng Wei is offered such a high remuneration, then other authors will definitely ask for an increase in remuneration. Especially those authors who have been contributing to the magazine "Ancient Legends" for a long time, they have more information channels than ordinary authors, and it is impossible to hide from them.

Thinking like this, Su Shaohua said: "Sanshao, "Sou Shen Ji" does have a great impact on the magazine, but this is not a reason to give you such a sky-high remuneration. We're a big national magazine and there's a lot to measure. ”

Zeng Wei shook his head and said, "Mr. Su, I am very disappointed by your answer. Since the 14 th National Congress last year, China has begun to enter the era of market economy, and what is called market economy is to leave everything to the market to decide. As the "Legend of the Ancient and Modern" with reform and innovation as the development concept, if you still hold on to the previous planned economy, I am not optimistic about the development of your magazine. ”

Zeng Wei's words shocked Su Shaohua's heart. Although the concept of developing a socialist market economy was indeed put forward at last year's congress, people do not know much about what a market economy is, and Su Shaohua also talked to a friend of the Hubei Provincial Political Research Office and has a certain understanding of this, but this understanding is very vague. I didn't expect the kid in front of me to know, and even have his own opinions, which is really impressive.

Su Shaohua smiled bitterly: "Sanshao, I didn't expect you to have an understanding of the market economy. I'll admit that you're right, but as the saying goes, freezing three feet is not a day's cold, and it is impossible to change it all at once after decades of accumulation. ”

Zeng Wei smiled: "Mr. Su, don't mention it to me, it has nothing to do with me." Now all I care about is whether your magazine can meet my conditions. If not, then there is no need for us to continue to work together. ”

Su Shaohua suddenly became anxious, what he was most worried about still happened.

………………

As the vice president of "Ancient Legends", Su Shaohua knows a lot of things that outsiders don't know.

Those who have worked in the early days know that in the 80s of the last century, it was very smooth, but in the 90s it was more difficult. Although the magazine advertised that the sales of each issue of the magazine in the past two years were about 500,000 copies, there was too much moisture.

In fact, this is only the magazine's peak sales. After entering the 90s, sales have been declining year by year. In the fifth issue of last year, the September issue, the print run of the magazine had dropped to 300,000 copies. After market research, many of these 300,000 copies were not sold and were piled up at booksellers. It was in the later November issue that the sales of the magazine increased because of the appearance of "Sou Shen Ji".

There is a general environment here, but Su Shaohua believes that the fundamental reason for the decline of publications is that there are no good works. In the early days of the magazine, a large number of excellent works, such as "Jade Jiaolong" and "National Treasure", came out after the "Gang of Four" was smashed, and many writers could not let go of their literary feelings when they were locked up in the cowshed during the Cultural Revolution, so they came out to publish their works in the 80s. After the 90s, old writers rarely wrote, and newcomers couldn't keep up, so there was a period of discontinuity in popular literature.

The situation is particularly serious this year, and in the first issue of "Ancient Legends" in 1993, which has just been published, it is really difficult to find a second high-quality work in addition to Zeng Wei's "Sou Shen Ji".

If Zeng Wei stops contributing to the magazine, let alone planning to turn the bimonthly magazine into a monthly magazine, I am afraid that sales will continue to fall off a cliff.

Su Shaohua said a little nervously: "Sanshao, didn't you just say that you asked for the price to pay back on the spot, you didn't wait for me to pay back, what's the matter!"

Seeing the other party's nervous performance, Zeng Wei felt more confident in his heart. Zeng Wei has some understanding of the current situation of "Ancient Legends". In his previous life, he once read an interview with Su Shaohua, which mentioned that since the 90s, "Legend of the Ancient World" has entered a low ebb period, especially in 1993, the annual circulation plummeted to 800,000 copies, and then continued to decline slowly for a long time. It wasn't until 1997 that the magazine came up with a way to offer a reward of 200,000 yuan for outstanding works. Through this activity, the magazine was able to make a comeback, and in 1999 it was revived, changing from a bimonthly to a monthly magazine.

Zeng Wei said with a smile: "Then Mr. Su, tell me, what is the counteroffer you gave me? ”

Su Shaohua hesitated for a long time before he said, "Eighty yuan for a thousand words......

This price is the result of the discussion between the top management of the magazine at the meeting, before coming to Gudan, Su Shaohua felt that this price should be able to satisfy the author of "Sou Shen Ji", but after what happened just now, Su Shaohua was completely unconfident.

Sure enough, Zeng Wei showed a disdainful smile and said, "Mr. Su, this is what you call sincerity? ”

Su Shaohua could only smile bitterly, and only said after a while: "Sanshao, then tell me your true conditions, it is impossible for us to accept the remuneration of 200 yuan for 1,000 words." ”

Zeng Wei nodded and said in a deep voice: "That's it, I'll give you three plans, how about you go back and ask your leaders for instructions?"

Su Shaohua nodded and agreed.

Zeng Wei stretched out an index finger and said: "The first plan, according to the remuneration standard of 200 yuan for 1,000 words I said before, but I will send an operation plan, and I dare not say anything else, so that on the basis of the current sales, even if you change the bimonthly magazine to a monthly magazine, the sales will at least double." ”

Su Shaohua didn't speak, but he looked disapproving.

Zeng Wei naturally saw Su Shaohua's expression, he didn't say anything, and continued to say his second plan: "The second plan is to directly buy out my "Sou Shen Ji". ”

Su Shaohua's face was moved, and he said, "Sanshao, you talk about it carefully." ”

Zeng Wei nodded and said: "The total number of words in this "Sou Shen Ji" is about 1.6 million words, excluding the two chapters that have been serialized, and the two chapters that will be serialized in the next issue, there are about 1.55 million words. Let's have a fixed price, 120 yuan per thousand words, a total of 186,000 yuan. ”

Su Shaohua pondered for a moment and said, "What about the third plan, let's talk about it together." ”

Zeng Wei said: "The third plan is a gambling plan. Based on the remuneration offered by your magazine, from the next issue onwards, for every 10,000 copies of the magazine that increases in sales, my remuneration will increase by one dollar. By the way, how much do you think this issue of your magazine will sell?"

Su Shaohua hesitated for a moment and said, "There should be 1 million copies." ”

Zeng Wei said: "Then let's decide, starting from the next issue, if the sales of your magazine are less than 1 million copies, my remuneration will be maintained at 80 yuan per thousand words." But if it exceeds 1 million copies, I will be paid a salary of one dollar per thousand words for every 10,000 copies. ”