"$160 is too expensive for few students to afford. Pen Fun Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 Yang Rui said unhappily: "Not to mention the cost of the beautiful album, but there is no need to price it above a hundred dollars." ”

Lyndon hurriedly explained: "Your book is a large tome, if there are any more, it will be divided into two volumes...... Moreover, the illustrations are done by very famous artists, and the copyright fees for each page are hundreds to 2,000 dollars, and if the price is too low, the publisher will lose money. ”

"Aren't you guaranteed to sell more than 2,000 copies, and if you spread it out, you won't lose the cost. Yang Rui said with a skeptical look: "Unless your promise can't be fulfilled." ”

"Mr. Yang Rui, even if you sell 2,000 copies, you only have 320,000 US dollars. Bookstores have to take a cut, the government has to collect taxes, and there are also costs of publicity and sales, and the cost of printing is already very low, and if the price is reduced again, there will be no profit margin. "Lyndon is very tight when it comes to book pricing, which is an inherent area of the traditional publishing industry, and it is difficult to shake the author's fame, no matter how famous.

In fact, if it weren't for Yang Rui being a Chinese author, Lyndon wouldn't have felt the need to talk to him about it.

Yang Rui pursed his lips and insisted: "If you lower the pricing, the bookstore's draw will be reduced, and the tax payment will also be reduced, the cost of publicity and sales should be relatively flexible, and even the printing cost, I think you can find a way to lower it a little, you don't need to print it like a children's book, and it doesn't matter if there are fewer boring pictures......

"Mr. Yang Rui, this is not in line with our sales strategy, you may not be familiar with our national conditions in the United States, books with fewer color pages, or textbooks that are not beautifully printed, are difficult to sell, whether it is students or professors, they will think that the publisher is not optimistic about this book because of the appearance and saving money...... When the time comes, let alone 2,000 copies, maybe 200 copies won't be sold. ”

"The national situation of the United States...... Yang Rui said with a smile: "Isn't your sales strategy to recover profits through second-hand bookstores? ”

"Second-hand bookstores make profits from second-hand bookstores, and we in the publishing department want to make as much of a profit as possible......," Linden continued, arguing.

Dean Liu found a vacancy and interjected: "Yang Rui, a higher price will also be good for you." ”

"How could there be. Yang Rui shook his head: "The price is so high, students can't afford it at all." ”

"Americans are very rich, and it wouldn't be nice if you could get more money for your manuscript. Dean Liu said in his heart, this is not too much, 300,000 yards of foreign books, if Yang Rui takes 15% of the manuscript fee according to what Lin Deng said before, he will get 45,000 US dollars.

With so much money, in the eyes of the current Chinese people, they can almost retire. Naturally, scholars also need money and pensions.

Yang Rui could only feel helpless: "Americans don't have the money to easily buy a book for $160. ”

The natural science monographs made by American publishing houses are indeed very beautiful, and it is not the same thing to print them on coated paper or something, and there are many textbooks that can be opened and read, and every page can be pasted on the wall as a poster.

But as Yang Rui said, $160 is too expensive, and even ordinary teachers will have a hard time buying it. In 1984, the median per capita income in the United States was $10,417, and the average income was only $14,400.

This means that the average American family, with only one person working, will spend one-fifth of their monthly income on a textbook on genomics if their income is only the middle of the United States.

Think about what it would be like for Chinese to spend one-fifth of their income on a book.

At an American university that requires three books for a class, a $160 book is clearly over the norm.

Unless it is a book written by a big name, or an important book that cannot be bypassed in the field, the willingness of students to buy it will be infinitely low.

Of course, this is the case in the American educational publishing industry today, and there are many students who can't afford to buy books.

However, publishers still prefer to earn money from students who can afford to buy books. Poor students are basically in a state of abandonment, which is determined by the situation of the industry, and cannot be changed by one or two people.

Cecil finally saw the opportunity and stood up and said, "Mr. Yang Rui, the pricing mechanism of New York University Press is relatively flexible, maybe we can talk about it." ”

The publishers are basically conservatives, and Cecil said that their pricing mechanism is flexible, but in fact because there is no pricing yet, so it is natural to talk about it.

Lyndon scoffed at this and said, "University Press's book pricing is notoriously high, we do $160 pricing, and New York University Press has to make at least $200 to come out......"

"If we find a way to reduce costs, we are sure that we can reduce the price by a lot. Cecil didn't dare to say anything big.

Lyndon laughed, "You can print it on toilet paper, and the price will be $30." ”

"It's nice to get the price down to $30. Like other scholars who have published monographs, Yang Rui is not very interested in royalties, and the most important thing is to promote his own doctrine.

"I'm sure I'm sure of the price to less than $100. Cecil doesn't want his trip to China to be fruitless, so he tries to come up with as good terms as possible, and for now, he can only work pricing.

Lyndon reluctantly participated, and reluctantly competed: "I can talk to China, and it is still possible to reduce the pricing a little." ”

"It's good to be able to do it. Yang Rui patted Lin Deng's shoulder with a smile and said, "Try to reduce it a little bit and increase sales, isn't it also good." ”

"It's also a strategy. Lyndon smiled bitterly twice and said in his heart: How can the American market be so simple.

The two Americans gossiped for a while, and then went home, leaving the people of Peking University, like mime actors, you see me have a strange expression, I see you show a strange smile.

"Yang Rui, congratulations. Professor Cai stepped out of the crowd and shook Yang Rui's palm.

Yang Rui said shyly: "If you haven't signed the contract yet, it won't be settled." ”

"How can this be that it hasn't been decided yet, it's settled. Professor Cai couldn't help but say as he spoke: "You guy, you really show your face in the academic world." ”

Professor Cai, a steady person, called Yang Rui "this guy", and he was too excited.

Yang Rui smiled innocently and saluted the teachers and classmates around him. He is also very happy in his heart, the first work is almost equivalent to the debut of an artist for scholars, and if he gives a lecture or something in the future, at least there is a place to sign it.

"Yang Rui, what are your plans for the next work, I mean from now to graduation, and after graduation. Professor Cai pulled Yang Rui out of the cafeteria, and after pulling a distance, he asked cautiously.

Yang Rui thought for a while and said, "To be honest, I'm not sure yet. However, I think I will continue to do research. ”

Professor Cai didn't get an answer, so he could only say, "The Ion Channel Laboratory has made remarkable achievements, and we all support you to continue your research......

He actually wanted to keep Yang Rui firmly, but this was not something he could decide alone, and he couldn't say that without a collective resolution.

"I'm going to continue with the current research progress. Yang Rui also said very cautiously, to the current extent, the research speed of the laboratory can no longer be accelerated, even if Yang Rui recruits more scientific researchers, he can only parallel a larger scientific research group, instead of advancing the current experimental depth, or speeding up.

In the final analysis, the current scientific research is still a very private behavior, the role of funds and research equipment is greater than the role of more people, and the marginal benefits of funds and research equipment will also decrease very quickly, and finally, the development of a scientific research group often depends on the work of one or two people.

When Professor Cai heard about the progress of the research, he naturally talked about the research with Yang Rui, and most of the professors and students who accompanied him dispersed...... Research that is not related to oneself usually sounds boring.

The next day, Cecil and Linden invited Yang Rui again to discuss new conditions.

However, as Yang Rui knows, the pricing of books is the part that publishers do not want others to get involved in, and the stubbornness of American publishing houses is not something that a foreign scholar can break.

In the end, Yang Rui was offered a $130 contract for the publication of Genomics, which felt promising at 15 percent royalties.

The premise is that they can indeed sell a large number of them, just like Yang Rui knew in his previous life.

……