Chapter 8: Publishing and Starting School

The meeting place was arranged at a coffee shop near the school. Ceng Li had gone shopping with her best friend early in the morning, so Wei Jin had to come to the appointment alone, arriving fifteen minutes early.

Along the way, Wei Jin was also thinking about the negotiation strategy; after all, this concerned the initial capital for his plan to use a small stake to win big.

Choosing a window seat and ordering a coffee at random, Wei Jin simply organized his thoughts.

About five minutes later, a man around thirty years old walked up to Wei Jin's booth.

"Excuse me, are you Mr. Eighteen Scholars, Wei Jin?"

The man was very well-mannered and did not take a seat before receiving a response.

"Hello, I am Wei Jin. Please sit. Would you like to drink something?"

Wei Jin also treated him with courtesy.

"Thank you."

The man sat down opposite Wei Jin and, once the waiter approached, ordered a latte.

"Mr. Wei, I am Shen Haobo. I asked to meet you this time because I want the publishing rights for *Sword Snow Stride*."

Shen Haobo got straight to the point, appearing very sincere.

It was a pity that Wei Jin, in both his past and present lives, did not know much about figures in the literary world; otherwise, he would have known that the man before him would found Motie Books a few years later,

and in a mere three years, would publish *Grass-like Youth*, *Zhu Xian*, *Those Things About the Ming Dynasty*, and *Ghost Blows Out the Light*, hitting four blockbuster successes in a row.

"Mr. Shen, what terms can you offer me? Can you make the final decision entirely on your own?"

Wei Jin was also quite direct, even doubting Shen Haobo's authority, though it was actually unnecessary.

"Mr. Wei, I have read every installment of *Snow Sword Stride*. I really like the martial arts world you have depicted. I believe it can be called the martial arts bible of the post-Jin Yong era. I am confident that I can push sales to over one million."

Shen Haobo seemed somewhat fanatical when talking about *Sword Snow Stride*.

"You flatter me, you flatter me."

Wei Jin had black lines on his forehead; he had directly categorized him into a different era from Mr. Jin Yong!

This was "killing with praise." He was very clear about the quality of this novel and his own standing.

Therefore, he kept a respectful distance from Shen Haobo's adulation, and he felt no excitement toward the "big pie" Shen Haobo was drawing.

"I don't know what considerations led to your so-called one million in sales. Let's be direct and talk about your offer."

Seeing that the "big pie" was ineffective and realizing that Wei Jin was a very practical person, Shen Haobo pondered for a moment and said:

"Mr. Wei, a 10% royalty rate, plus a manuscript fee of 300 per thousand characters, and an advance payment of 300,000 as a deposit. This is already my greatest sincerity."

It was evident that Shen Haobo was very sincere. Before coming, Wei Jin had also done some simple research on publishing matters: the royalty rate for an average author was only about 8%, well-known writers could reach 10%-12%, and top-tier masters in the industry could get 15%-20%.

The calculation method for royalties was actually very simple. Let's put it this way: for a book priced at 20 yuan, 10% is 2 yuan. If 100,000 copies are printed, he could receive 200,000 in royalties.

The current pricing for books and novels was around 15-25 yuan. If sales exceeded one million, it meant Wei Jin could reap over one million in copyright fees from *Sword Snow Stride*! Calculating his earnings in his head, Wei Jin was very satisfied; the negotiation script he had prepared was completely useless.

"Mr. Shen, I can feel your sincerity. I have no objections regarding the price, but I have only one requirement."

"Mm, please go ahead."

"Publish it as soon as possible, and royalty payments must not be delayed."

"No problem, you can rest assured on that point."

"Then, a pleasant cooperation?"

"A pleasant cooperation!"

Thanks to their direct and straightforward personalities, they reached an agreement in less than half an hour.

Subsequent details were negotiated only after the lawyers from both sides arrived.

Two hours later, Wei Jin declined Shen Haobo's enthusiastic invitation and returned to 501, with 300,000 more in his bank account. That evening, Wei Jin shared this good news with Ceng Li when she returned home. Seeing her boyfriend's talent recognized, the beauty also felt a sense of reflected glory.

That night, Wei Jin experienced a gentleness like that of the Jiangnan water towns and taught the beauty quite a bit of brand-new knowledge.

On the day school started, Ceng Li dressed Wei Jin up very handsomely, like a wife seeing her husband off to work.

Wei Jin arrived at school and first went to the Department Head's office, where he met the Director Department Head and Instructor for the class of '02, Zhang Jiandong.

"Hello, Teacher Zhang!"

Looking at the Wei Jin before him, who seemed taller and more handsome than last semester, Zhang Jiandong couldn't help but tease: "Wei Jin, you kid really should go to the Acting Department. Being here with me is a waste."

"Teacher Zhang, it's not my fault that I look good."

Wei Jin put on a helpless expression, "Compared to relying on my face to eat, I prefer to rely on my talent."

"Haha, well said. Youth fades easily, but talent becomes more outstanding after the precipitation of time."

The Director Department itself didn't have many courses, and the students were pitifully few, so Zhang Jiandong was happy to chat with Wei Jin.

"By the way, how is your recovery?"

Previously, Wei Xingbang had been in direct contact with Zhang Jiandong. He only knew Wei Jin had been discharged from the hospital and didn't know the specific situation, hence the question.

"Recovered very well. I feel even healthier than before."

With over a month of high-quality sleep, Wei Jin's physical constitution had indeed improved significantly.

"By the way, Teacher Zhang, I came this time to apply to move out of the school."

Learning that Wei Jin had already rented a place outside, Zhang Jiandong readily agreed and told him to go to the Academic Affairs Office to handle the procedures himself.

The dull school life officially began. Every day was a two-point-one-line routine: learning knowledge during the day and imparting knowledge at night—how delightful.

As time passed day by day, Wei Jin had originally intended to rely on his super memory to rote-memorize, but unexpectedly, he discovered that his learning ability had also greatly increased.

His brain was like a sponge, greedily absorbing all kinds of knowledge, quickly understanding it, then forming memories, and finally upgrading it into images.

After this discovery, Wei Jin began to ponder whether some plans could be arranged in advance. As a student of the Director Department, Wei Jin's professional studies were ongoing, and coupled with the deep sleep during this period, his memory had improved to level 5—meaning he could freeze images.

This meant he could copy the cat to draw the tiger, completely replicating the excellent works he had seen in his past life.

However, the domestic film market was currently sluggish, cinema construction was lagging, and as a completely unknown director who was transparent in the industry, it would be difficult for the market to recognize Wei Jin.

Therefore, commercial films were out of the question for now. He would focus on art films first, compete in the European Big Three, and establish his reputation first.

If he wanted to shoot a film, where would the funds come from?

The copyright revenue returns were a bit slow, so Wei Jin planned to find another path for quick money.

The inspiration came from M-Zone; before 2007, it would be the era of ringback tones.

Furthermore, these few years could be considered the last glory of the record industry; catching this wave could also earn a lot of money.

Wei Jin had some ideas in his mind, but he still had to learn some basic music theory knowledge.

In short, the sooner he became famous, the more weight his voice would have in the industry, and he could help Ceng Li as soon as possible.

Heaven pity her, Li Jie had been so idle lately that she was practically molding; three years after graduation, the works she had participated in were few and far between.

Once one of the Seven Flowers of Central Academy of Drama, she was almost becoming a nobody.

As a qualified boyfriend, Wei Jin felt that he was truly worried sick for her.

He immediately decided: starting from today, he would add an extra meal in the evening.

A newbie author writing a book for the first time, asking for follows, catch-up reads, and recommendations, thank you everyone. Regarding commercial publishing, I don't understand it very well, please bear with me, everyone.

(End of this chapter)