I forgot to update, and I'll be there later

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After Lance obtained Xu An's consent, Stanley also obtained authorization from the top management of the publishing company, and the two sides hit it off and immediately signed a formal contract. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

There is no disagreement on royalties, for the publishing company, if the book sells less than a million copies, then less than 10% royalties and six-figure sales will mean huge profits, if the sales reach 1.5 million or even more than 2 million, even if 20% royalties are paid, it will not hurt, and the company will still be profitable.

But for Lance and Xu An, it was a big gamble.

As for the prepayment of royalties, Jushi Random did not agree with the figure of 500,000 US dollars, in fact, no company would pay such a high royalty advance to an unknown new author, and finally Lance won 200,000 US dollars, this figure can be said to be completely based on the topicality of Lance, otherwise it would not be so high.

In terms of some other copyrights, Boulder Random symbolically fought for it, only got the priority of overseas copyrights, and did not occupy other electronic versions and adaptation rights at all, which is also an industry practice, in recent years, the interest game between publishing houses and authors has always not had the upper hand, and under the promotion of the National Writers Association, the publishing house has been losing and retreating, constantly making concessions, and the profits have been greatly compressed.

Recently, the National Writers Association has set its sights on e-books again, and they have joined forces with the writers associations of the United Kingdom and other countries to put pressure on Amazon and other e-publishing giants, requiring publishers to increase the royalty rate of writers to 50%, instead of the usual 25%.

After the contract was signed, the publishing department of Boulder Random began to act immediately, and the revision and design of the new book began immediately, after all, even a publishing predator like Boulder Random House should pay enough attention to a quasi-bestseller, especially the timeliness of Lance and the serial murder case is not long, Stanley and his marketing department also began to take action to plan the marketing of the book.

Xu An looked at the cover design twice in three days, and finally, at his suggestion, Boulder Random designed the cover of "Lovely Bones" as a progressive blue background, in which a vague girl's back loomed, representing the sky, heaven and Susie, with a heart-shaped necklace in the middle, and a vague miniature of the town below, representing families.

After the cover design is finalized, the preliminary preparation is basically completed, and some other proofreading, typesetting and other work is very easy for those professional employees of Boulder Random House, three proofreading, signed by the department manager, signed by the general manager, when all the procedures are completed, the final manuscript is sent to the printing house, the Boulder Random Group has its own printing company, the book "Lovely Bones" is ranked in the first sequence of printing, and most other publications have to make way for it.

All of this was fueled by Stanley's push to get the book on the shelves of major bookstores before the serial murder fever subsided.

And Reims, as printing progressed, was also ready to be interviewed by the media.

…………

Xu An got his own prepaid royalties, a full $200,000, which is a huge amount of money for him, which not only means that he doesn't have to live a tight life anymore, but also means that he can look forward to a better life.

On the night he got the money, Xu An appeared in the Green River neighborhood of Queens.

Catherine prepared a sumptuous dinner to welcome her son's return, and it was rare that she did not cook "not very sincere" British dishes, but made almond apple pie, golden paella, tuna multicolored salad and delicious borscht, and even insisted on opening a bottle of French Latour wine from the other party's collection despite Xu Tianrui's objections!

"Cheers, baby!" Catherine raised her glass with a smile on her face, and it could be seen that Xu An's return made her very happy.

"Cheers, Mom!"

Xu An picked up the wine glass, touched Catherine gently, and then watched her pinch the reluctant Xu Tianrui with amusement.

"Humph!" Xu Tianrui gestured casually, and then took a sip of the good wine he had treasured for many years, feeling the strong smoky smell and the smell of mint and black cherry blooming in his mouth, and his mood was even worse!

Xu An and Catherine glanced at each other and snickered together.

The relationship between father and son is always full of senseless antagonisms, and Catherine has always been on her son's side.

"Mom, this is a gift I bought for you!" Xu An took a beautifully packaged small box and handed it to Catherine, and said with a smile.

Catherine was stunned for a moment, "But Christmas is at the end of next month, Ann, wouldn't it be too early to give gifts?" ”

Xu An smiled and didn't answer, just urged: "You open it first and take a look!" ”

Catherine tore open the package suspiciously, and found that it was a delicate jewelry box, with Cartier letters prominently listed, which made her even more surprised, and after looking up at Xu An, she gently lifted the lid.

"Oh God, this is ......"

Inside the box is a small cheetah necklace with a rose-gold body and emerald green eyes, delicate and full of charm.

Catherine was very surprised, with her knowledge, she could naturally see that this was a necklace from the Cartier cheetah series, a classic combination of rose gold and garnet, although it was only a basic model, but it should not be something Xu An could bear.

Seeing his mother's surprised and joyful expression, Xu An's heart was fully satisfied, and said with a smile: "Today I got my first income after leaving the job, this is the gift I bought for you, not a Christmas gift, nor a New Year's gift, just a very ordinary little surprise." ”

"Wow, I love it so much." With a big smile on her face, Catherine happily took out the necklace and handed it to her husband who was sitting beside her, saying, "Honey, help me put it on." ”

Xu Tianrui took the necklace with an unhappy face, put it on his wife's neck, and then looked at her and asked ostentatiously, "How is it, is it beautiful?" ”

"Uh-huh." Xu Tianrui slurred, and added: "It's just too small, Cartier's cheetah series has such a small leopard?" ”

Catherine glared at him when she heard this, turned her head and said to Xu An: "Don't pay attention to him, you haven't bought it for me, no matter how big or small, he's jealous, thank you An, I like it very much!" ”

Xu Tianrui was even more depressed when he heard this, he had never bought the cheetah series, but which piece of jewelry for Catherine was not more luxurious than this one?

"Haha, Dad, this is for you!" Xu An took another box.

Xu Tianrui took the box without being salty, and pouted after opening it: "Xideng Road's clutch? Tsk, it's a basic model again. ”

"If you don't want it, you can give it to me!"

Catherine reached out to grab it, but was dodged by Xu Tianrui, "You can't use the men's bag, I'll make do with it." After saying that, he took the handbag out of the box and looked at it over and over again, clearly liking it.

"Humph!" Catherine glanced at her husband, looked at Xu An with a smile, and asked, "Ann, what have you done?" These two things are not cheap. ”

Xu An was also very happy to see that his parents liked his gift very much, he dug up a big spoonful of seafood rice and stuffed it into his mouth, and said vaguely: "I published a book, I just signed a contract two days ago, and today I got the 200,000 royalties advanced by the publishing house. ”

"200,000 prepaid royalties?! Ann, you're amazing! Catherine said excitedly, looking at her son with pride, and said, "So, we have a best-selling author in our family?" ”

"No, no, Mom, it's a top best-selling author!"

"Haha, Ann you're the best!"

Xu Tianrui had a smile on the corner of his mouth, but he habitually hit his son: "If you don't do your job, you don't plan to return to work in the news industry?" ”

"Maybe, who knows?" Xu An shook his head indifferently, "I'm afraid that no major media organization will hire someone like me in the near future, and I don't want to go to the street tabloids." ”

"It's okay, I feel like a best-selling author is much better than a journalist, Ann, Mom supports you!" Catherine said.

"Catherine, Columbia University's School of Journalism graduates can only be journalists?" Xu Tianrui was a little speechless, "Forget it, you are already an adult, Ann, you are responsible for your own choices, and you can contact Chris for legal matters such as publishing agreements and tax returns, these things are professional." ”

Xu An thought about it, he really has to find a professional lawyer, and Lance has the help of the publishing contract, but he is not a legal professional after all, Lance costs the same amount of money to negotiate a contract with a lawyer, and the most important thing is to file taxes, the tax system in the United States is too frustrating, and non-professionals don't even want to figure it out, but, Chris? "What about the partners of House Law Firm, tsk, Dad, I'm not as rich as you, I can't afford to hire someone like that."

Lawyers are high-income people in the United States, if Xu An wants to hire a high-level professional lawyer to take care of contracts, taxes and legal advice on weekdays, I am afraid that it will cost thousands of dollars a month, just like that, he will only be one of the lawyer's customers, such as a partner of House Law Firm, the cost is usually calculated by the hour, starting from hundreds of dollars per hour, and it includes the time to travel back and forth!

"No, no, Ann, you have to look for Chris, if he knows you have a legal need and doesn't look for him, he'll be upset, trust me! He will give you the lowest offer. Catherine said earnestly.

Xu An was stunned for a moment, what does this mean, he remembered that Catherine said that Chris was a friend of his grandfather, but what kind of friend would be so righteous? "Mom, Chris can't be his grandfather's illegitimate child, right? He's my uncle? ”

"Poof!" Catherine couldn't hold back, squirted out the red wine in her mouth, coughed again and again for a while, and after finally calming down, she glared at Xu An with disgust, and said: "Ann, don't let your grandfather hear this kind of words, an illegitimate child is a shame for a nobleman, and Chris is not an illegitimate child, he is one of your grandfather's self-help students, your grandfather helped all the expenses of his student days, I have known him since I was very young, he often comes to your grandfather's house as a guest, so it is not wrong to say that he is your uncle." ”

"Wow!" Xu An exclaimed, for his grandfather's sentiments, he was an old British nobleman, who had never given up the quality of aristocracy in his life, and had his own understanding and insistence on the identity of aristocracy in his bones.

"By the way, I think about Chris, Ann, how are you preparing? You're going to court in a few days! ”