In the afternoon, Yang Feng came to the office of deputy editor-in-chief Yao Haijun.

"Editor-in-Chief Yao, how did you feel when you first read Liu Cixin's submitted works in '99?"

Yao Haijun, deputy editor-in-chief of Science Fiction World magazine, the main promoter of the Chinese Science Fiction Vision Project, will become an important promoter of Liu Cixin's "Three-Body Problem" and even go to the world in the future, and the famous science fiction writer Dong Renwei praised him as "Science Fiction Gold Diggers".

Yao Haijun recalled for a while and said: "Grand imagination, broad vision, and irresistible charm. ”

Yang Feng smiled: "I also felt it today. ”

"Oh? Listen to what you mean, is this a work that excites you by reading? How do you think you can write essays for the next Galaxy Awards? ”

Yang Feng smiled: "I'm afraid it's more than that." ”

Yao Haijun said: "That is to be able to win this year's Galaxy Award?" This year, Xia Di's "Guan Fairy's Bottle" and Qian Lifang's "Providence" are rare masterpieces, and even veteran science fiction authors such as He Xi, Luo Longxiang, and Liu Cixin may not be sure to beat them. ”

Yang Feng said: "If this novel can't win this year's Galaxy Award, it will be a loss for the Galaxy Award." ”

Yao Haijun didn't expect Yang Feng's evaluation of the work to be so high, he knew Yang Feng's character too well, this was not a person who would talk about it, and now he also had a strong interest.

"What's the name of the work? Is it an old author? ”

"The work is called "The Moon", the author Li Mu, I checked it, and he is a newcomer."

Yao Haijun found this work called "Moon" from the mailbox, and then downloaded it, Yang Feng sat directly on the sofa in the office, Yao Haijun saw this situation, and knew that Yang Feng was very confident in this work, so he became more curious about this "Moon".

Half an hour later, Yao Haijun finally watched the whole work.

"Yes, very good."

Yao Haijun looked up at Yang Feng: "You're right, if this novel can't win this year's Galaxy Award, it will be a loss for the Galaxy Award." ”

Yang Feng said: "This novel will be published in the next Galaxy Award essay? ”

Yao Haijun said: "The novel is divided into three parts and serialized in the magazine, the first part ends with the protagonist discovering another seriously injured self in the abandoned lunar rover, the second part ends with Clone 5 making a video call to his home, but the phone is answered by his grown daughter, and the third part is serialized to the end." ”

Yang Feng nodded: "Okay." ”

Yao Haijun continued: "The manuscript fee is settled at the highest standard of 180 yuan per thousand words, telling the author that this work may win this year's Galaxy Award, with a prize ranging from 10,000 to 30,000 yuan. ”

"Okay."

"By the way, ask the author if he has any other works, if there is any, let him continue to submit, if not, persuade him to continue writing, this author's talent is extremely high, and Liu Cixin's first works have not reached this level."

"I'll do it right away."

……

According to the contact address on the manuscript, Yang Feng dialed Li Mu's phone that afternoon.

"Hello, is it Li Mu, the author of "The Moon"? I am Yang Feng from the editorial department of Science Fiction World magazine, and our editorial department has seen your work. ”

"Yes, I'm Li Mu." Li Mu answered the phone at home.

Yang Feng said with a smile: "That's the case, your work has been unanimously approved by the editorial department of "Science Fiction World", the editorial department has decided to serialize your work from the tenth issue, and the manuscript fee will be settled according to the highest standard of 180/1000 words magazine, and at the same time, the editor-in-chief of the editorial department Yao Haijun gave a very high evaluation of your work, he asked me to give you a blow in advance, and your work has a chance to win this year's Galaxy Award." ”

Li Mu replied, "Okay." ”

Yang Feng asked again, "Do you have any other works?" If you have it, you can also submit it to the "Science Fiction World" magazine, with your talent and pen power, you may not be able to become the next Liu Cixin or Wang Jinkang. ”

Li Mu thought for a moment and asked, "Is there any connection between your Science Fiction World magazine and foreign publishing houses?" If I want to publish a novel in the U.S., can you help with that? ”

Yang Feng was quite surprised and asked, "Do you want to publish a book in the United States?" Science Fiction World Magazine has always had contact and communication with foreign science fiction writers and scientists, and in 97 we also organized the World Science Fiction Convention, which invited science fiction writers, scientists, and astronauts from all over the world to China to participate in the conference. ”

"Since last year, the editor-in-chief of the magazine Yao has been vigorously promoting the Chinese science fiction 'vision project', with the goal of completing the systematic publication of the core classics of Western science fiction literature in five years, satisfying the long-awaited reading needs of readers, and promoting the prosperity of foreign science fiction literature research and original science fiction. Magazines still have close ties with foreign publishing houses, but now they mainly translate and publish Western works in China, but if there are works that meet the needs of the Western market, the magazine has the ability to help publish them in the West. ”

After listening to this, Li Mu asked again: "Is the category limited to science fiction works?" ”

"That's not true, the magazine and foreign publishing houses have in-depth cooperation in the field of fantasy, fantasy and many other works." After a pause, Yang Feng said again, "Mr. Li, publishing a novel abroad is not as easy as you think, for Chinese people, in addition to self-expense, the easiest way is still to write a work that has become popular in China first, find someone to translate it into English after it becomes popular, and then see if there are any publishing houses abroad willing to publish it." ”

Li Mu said: "Okay, I know, thank you Editor Yang, I will contact you when the new book is ready." ”

After hanging up the phone, Li Mu fell into deep thought.

In fact, the reason why he submitted novels to "Science Fiction World" was not for the 180/1000 word manuscript fee, which was only a few dollars, and what he really valued was the classic science fiction movies behind science fiction novels.

For example, "Inception" and "Interstellar" directed by Nolan, or "Gravity" starring Sandra Bullock or "The Martian" starring Matt Damon.

The current domestic film market is far from mature, and the market is not very able to accept domestic such works, and with Li Mu's financial strength and domestic technical reserves, he is not able to make such works for the time being, but if it is more than ten years later?

What if these movies could be released in the era of "The Wandering Earth" as domestic films?

Thinking of that picture, Li Mu was still very excited.

So he wondered, can he get a fictional version of these works first? It's best to make these versions of fiction well-known abroad, so aren't these movies "occupied" by him in advance?

It would be even more beautiful if you could still become a bestseller and earn a lot of money for your manuscript.

Li Mu thought about it, and the more he thought about it, the more he felt that this plan was feasible, and it just so happened that "Hurricane Rescue" had just begun to prepare, and there were not many places to use him at present, and he still had plenty of time.

Thinking of this, Li Mu decided to act immediately.

So which work is he going to write first?

Editor Yang Feng is right just now, there is a threshold for Chinese people to publish books in the United States, what is this threshold? In fact, it's fame. Publishers need to make money, and publishers must first think that your book will sell well, and then they will be willing to publish your work.

In this way, Li Mu's goal is clear, and his primary reference index is to sell well.

In this way, he first ruled out "Inception", "Interstellar" and "Gravity", these three works are all original screenplay movies, not adapted from novels, so it is not sure whether the novel versions of these three works can sell Li Mu well.

The original novel of "The Martian" is a bestseller in the United States, and both its original novel and the film adaptation of it have won "Hugo Awards", so it seems to be a good choice.

But the road to publication of this work was not smooth, at first the author approached the publisher to publish "The Martian", and after being rejected, the author began to serialize the work on his personal website and make it available for people to download for a fee.

Three months later, "The Martian" hit the e-book store's sci-fi best-selling list, and the publisher woke up to the author's contract. After the print edition of The Martian was released, it was on the New York Times bestseller list for several months.

It's true that the work is a good work, but it's still not good enough to sell.

Then Li Mu thought of "The Hunger Games".

Li Mu doesn't know the exact sales figure of the "Hunger Games" series of novels, there are many online claims, some say more than 30 million copies, some say more than 87 million copies, but whether it sells 30 million copies or 87 million copies worldwide, they are already firmly among the super bestsellers.

The novel has also been adapted into a series of films, four of which have been released before Li Mu crosses, with a total box office of nearly $3 billion, and the writer earned more than $55 million from 2012 to 2013.

This is a super IP, Li Mu must not let it go. He plans to make a name for himself in Europe and the United States with this book first, and then publish works such as "Inception", "Interstellar", "The Martian" and "Gravity" to occupy the pit in advance.

He also plans to write both the Chinese and English versions of the novel, saving him the trouble of finding someone to translate it.

In his previous life, he had not seen the English version of this series of novels, but fortunately, the movies he watched in his previous life were all English original versions, and the films were equipped with English subtitles, thanks to the fact that everything he had seen in his previous life after crossing was imprinted in his mind, Li Mu wanted to write both Chinese and English versions of this series of novels It was not so difficult for him.