Make a Fortune and Become Well-off [90] - Chapter 60
“From Guangzhou.” Teacher Wang frowned, raised his wrist to check the time, then returned to the classroom and knocked on Jiang Ning’s desk to signal her to come out. Just as Jiang Ning came out, the morning reading bell rang.
The guard looked at the girl with short hair that didn’t look like the writer the young man talked about, and told her about the young man from Guang City who was looking for her.
Teacher Wang asked her, “Do you know that person?”
Jiang Ning paused and said, “I know.”
Teacher Wang said with a serious face, “Let’s go, I’ll go with you.”
Making pen pals was very popular those days. Teacher Wang was afraid that a bad person would seduce his student.
Jiang Ning didn’t want people to know what she was writing, so she hurriedly stopped him and said, “Thank you, teacher, I really know that person. In order to earn tuition, I submitted manuscripts to some magazines before. He should be the editor of my magazine. He came here to give me a reminder.” She scratched her head in embarrassment, “I had no time to write during the military training last week. The editor probably thought something happened to me and came over to take a look.”
The doorman seemed to have thought of something, “Oh, yes, I got a letter for Jiang Ning from some magazine. It has been sitting at my place for more than a week, but no one has picked it up.”
“Okay.” Teacher Wang checked the time again and told Jiang Ning not to leave the school, and to come and tell him if anything happened.
The guard also smiled and said, “Don’t worry, I’ll be watching.”
Wang Yong went from being excited about seeing Teacher Ning to being in disbelief when he saw Jiang Ning. He even asked with some uncertainty, “Are you Teacher Ning Meng?”
Then he got an affirmative answer from the short-haired student in front of him, “I am.”
If others could see the fluctuations in his heart at this time, he must be shouting crazily, “No, I don’t believe it.”
But on the surface, he still handed over his work permit and certificate issued by his employer in a serious manner and said, “I am Wang Yong, the editor of Wuxia Magazine. I am here to talk to you about signing the contract and subsequent manuscripts. Are you free now?”
He wanted to go out to talk, but how could the guard let Jiang Ning out?
The guard quickly brought a small bench out of the guard room, sat on the small bench, and gave up a table and two wooden chairs in the guard room, then he said to them, “You can talk here, you can talk here. I won’t disturb you, you talk.”
Then he sat on the small bench holding a teacup and looked at the two of them with burning eyes.
Wang Yong was helpless, but he still took out the contract from his bag and handed it to Jiang Ning, saying, “This is the contract. Take a look at it. If you are willing, sign it. If so, our manuscript fee can be increased but we also have certain requirements for the quantity and quality of subsequent manuscripts.”
In the 1980s, the magazine publishers relied solely on enthusiasm to recruit manuscripts and had no intention of signing contracts. As a result, in the early 1990s, a large number of authors were poached by rival magazines, which suddenly caused the magazine to decline. The magazine’s lack of assessment of the market caused them a large amount of inventory after entering the 1990s piled up in the warehouse. Since then, the magazine had been going downhill, and its market share had been swallowed up.
But Wuxia magazine was big after all. The glory of the 1980s also accumulated a lot of funds for the magazine, allowing them to sign authors for a thousand words. But in that way, there was another hidden danger. Many authors after signing a thousand-word contract, in order to make up the number of words, began to procrastinate endlessly, and even ghostwriting appeared.
But it was unavoidable then. All they could do was change from signing the author to signing the author’s single work, and state in the contract that it was linked to the sales volume. The sales volume determines how much the thousand-word manuscript fee would be. If the sales volume dropped, the royalties would also be reduced accordingly.
The quota given to Jiang Ning by the martial arts magazine was not low at all, a hundred and two yuan for a thousand words.
That was really a sky-high price among newcomers.
The guard was dumbfounded as he listened, thinking that there was something wrong with his ears. “What the hell, a hundred and two yuan per thousand words?”
He didn’t know much but only heard one hundred and two for a thousand words. His monthly salary was only one hundred yuan.
“Hey, wait a minute.” He stopped Wang Yong and stared at him warily. “Little student, I’m afraid he’s a liar.”
The guard asked Jiang Ning again, “You don’t have to go out to work, just send the manuscript.” He looked at the content in the magazine and said, “Isn’t this just like you writing a composition?”
Wang Yong nodded vigorously, “She doesn’t have to go out. Jiang Ning only needs to put the written manuscript into the big mailbox at the door at a fixed time every week. Once we receive it and publish it, we will send her the money.”
The guard nodded, “Oh, I understand, you don’t have to go out. You continue.” He sat back on the small bench in the guard room.
Wang Yong said, “This is the price of this novel. If we continue to cooperate in the future, we will discuss the cost.”
Jiang Ning had no objection. After carefully reading the contract word for word, she added a few more clauses, which were for other copyrights. In addition to serialization on Wuxia, all other derivatives such as publishing copyright, film and television drama copyright, TV drama copyright, etc., all belonged to the author, Jiang Ning.
People at that time did not have such a deep awareness of copyright. Wang Yong saw that it did not affect the serialization of his own magazine, so he had no objection. It was normal for the magazine to publish the serialized works after they became popular, but Wang Yong still proposed that if a publisher came to him, the Wuxia magazine could give priority to Jiang Ning’s publishing copyright.
The two then signed the contract.
When signing the contract, Wang Yong remembered that Jiang Ning was not yet fourteen years old and the contract had to be signed by her guardian. After he told Jiang Ning about the situation, she calmly picked up a pen and signed her name, “Don’t worry, I’m old enough.”
Those days, household registration and age were confusing. In order for her to work, her mother got her an identity certificate that said she was sixteen years old.
After everything was signed, Wang Yong asked Jiang Ning if she had any manuscripts. After learning that Jiang Ning had sent 40,000 words of manuscripts on the day when the military training ended, and had accumulated 15,000 words, Wang Yong breathed a sigh of relief. He gave Jiang Ning the internal phone number of the magazine and asked her to call him if she had any issues. “I will stay in Wucheng for a few more days. If you have any manuscripts, you can give them to me. I will send them back by express mail.” He said, “You can come here and send me the manuscripts you write every day, and I will forward them to the magazine for you.”
He just wanted to get the manuscript in hand and send it out quickly.
Jiang Ning didn’t hesitate. She immediately returned to class and handed Wang Yong the manuscript she had written in the past few days. “After you copy it, give me the original manuscript.”
Wang Yong got the manuscript and was in the guard room immediately. He took out a pen and paper and started copying it on the spot.
The guard smiled at Jiang Ning and said, “You can go have breakfast. I will help you keep it here. When he finishes writing, I will send the manuscript to you.”
Jiang Ning also smiled and said, “Uncle, thank you so much. Judging from your temperament, you must have been a soldier when you were young.”
The guard suddenly became happy and said, “You little girl noticed it.”
As soon as Wang Yong finished copying the manuscript, he immediately sent it back to the magazine and called Director Li to report the results of the trip. “The contract has been signed. Teacher Ning Meng said she sent a 40,000-word manuscript a few days ago. I’ll just send another 15,000-word manuscript.
Director Li finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Wang Yong also said that Ning Meng was really a freshman in No. 1 High School. Director Li knew it before. He said, “Since Ning Meng can’t get out of school, you can stay in Wucheng for the time being. The magazine will reimburse you, and I will also ask the finance department about your becoming a full-time employee. Your salary after becoming a regular employee will be 300, plus bonuses.”
Wang Yong was worried about the publication of the magazine, but he also knew that the first thing he should do was to arrange the work for Teacher Ning Meng first. Once he became Teacher Ning Meng’s editor-in-chief, the magazine would be ready. The preparation was indispensable.
Soon, a week passed, and the market feedback for the fourth issue came out. The first printing was one million copies and there was no need to worry about selling it. The Nanshi and Shanghai Stock Exchanges were still asking for more stock.
Soon, since Catcher in Song Dynasty was serialized in Wuxia, the total monthly sales of the Wuxia magazine that month were also released.
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