kvmb Chapter 895: Writing a novel in the late Ming Dynasty
Chapter 895: Writing a novel in the late Ming Dynasty
The next day, as soon as Lu Cheng arrived at the Hanlin Academy to work, he was summoned for a private talk by his superior. Not only did his workload double, but he also had to write some reasonable suggestions in response to some memorials.
Obviously, this is the emperor's wish to further test and hone himself.
Fortunately, Lu Cheng has the most experience and can handle these tasks easily, it just takes some more time.
This time, Lu Cheng only took more than an hour to complete all the work.
However, after completing the work at hand, Lu Cheng did not sit idle, but continued to write furiously, and privately started writing his own novel.
The lecturer would not check on him often, but would occasionally look up. When he saw Lu Cheng buried in his documents, he would think that Lu Cheng had not finished his work yet and would not go to disturb him.
It was not until the end of the get off work day that Lu Cheng put away his manuscript, pretended to have just finished his work, stood up, stretched, and went to have lunch.
In the afternoon, Lu Cheng came to a bookstore that sold historical novels and asked the clerk to call the owner of the bookstore.
"I didn't know that Lord Lu would come to our store. I am sorry for not welcoming you. I am very rude and impolite."
"Manager Wang, you are too polite. I heard that your study also has an independent printing house that can publish and sell books. I have a historical novel here. I wonder if Manager Wang is interested?"
"Oh? Is it worn by Lord Lu himself? Or by someone else? What type is it? May I take a look?"
"Of course it was written by me. The manuscript is not yet completely finished. Here are the first five chapters. Shopkeeper Wang can take them and have a look first."
Shopkeeper Wang took a thick stack of manuscripts and started reading from the beginning. He was soon attracted by the content of the text and began to read it carefully.
After Lu Cheng's polishing, the writing of this book "Three Heroes and Five Gallants" is more fluent, the plot is more ups and downs, and there are many suspense. Once you get into it, it is difficult to stop.
Moreover, Lu Cheng also added some simple illustrations, including main characters and important scenes, making the whole story more vivid and full.
Shopkeeper Wang runs a study, and the shop sells many historical novels. I am also very fond of novels and stories, but this is the first time I have seen a long martial arts novel with such a strong story. I was quickly attracted to it and completely immersed in the story.
Unconsciously, Shopkeeper Wang finished reading the last page, flipped through it again, and hurried to Lu Cheng, who was flipping through the books in the store, and asked, "Master Lu, what's next?"
Lu Cheng calmly put down the book in his hand and said, "Manager Wang, if you want to see the following content, we have to discuss formal cooperation."
"I wonder how many chapters there are in Lord Lu's book?"
"120 times in total."
"I wonder if Lord Lu wants to sell it outright, or split it into shares?"
"How about selling out? How about profit sharing?"
"Lord Lu should know that the price of this book is also closely related to the author's fame. If it is a book written by an ordinary scholar, it is not famous, so it is naturally difficult to sell it at a good price. One hundred and twenty chapters, one or two taels per chapter is enough.
If it is a Juren or Jinshi, it will be different. Lord Lu is the top scholar of this year's exam, and he is also a rare top scholar in a century. For this honor, this book studio is willing to buy out the book at a price of ten taels per copy. "
Each chapter cost 120 taels, so a book of 1200 chapters would cost taels, which was already a huge sum of money. But for a bestseller, especially one with the added bonus of the author's fame, this price was a bit low.
Books were luxury items in that era. An ordinary book would cost three or five taels of silver. As for some best-selling novels, the price was even higher.
According to later historical records, during the Jiajing period, a copy of Journey to the West with hundreds of chapters could be sold for forty taels of silver.
For a novel with more than a hundred chapters like this, bookstores will generally divide it into seven or eight volumes, or even more than ten volumes, and sell them separately. Each volume is priced at three or five taels, which adds up to several dozen taels.
Ordinary people naturally could not afford such books. Only some wealthy families and official families would spend dozens of taels to buy a vernacular novel, which was considered a high-end route.
Moreover, printing technology is now relatively mature, printing costs have been greatly reduced, and the profits involved are also quite high.
This book doesn't need to sell too many copies, just five or six hundred copies, and the profit can reach ten or twenty thousand taels.
"Manager Wang, I am not completely ignorant of the profits of these books. Why don't I name the price? We don't have to buy it outright, but split it 50-50, how about that?"
"I'm afraid that's not appropriate. If we split the profits, it can't be a 50-50 split. Printing, binding, paper, ink, sales, and transportation all require costs. Lord Lu's book is good, but no one knows how it will sell before it's actually sold.
If sales are not good, our initial investment may be wasted. If Lord Lu wants to discuss profit sharing, it can be 30% to 70%, and we will take 70%. Of course, if Lord Lu does not mind us using your name for publicity, we can add another 50% to the profit sharing. "
"It seems that Shopkeeper Wang is not ready to continue the discussion. By chance, I heard that another Moxiang Pavilion is also extensively collecting historical novels. I will go and talk to them. I believe they will give me a more satisfactory price."
After saying that, Lu Cheng left without stopping at all.
Moxiang Pavilion is the competitor of Songhezhai. The big bosses behind the two bookstores are all officials of the fourth rank or above in the court. They have backgrounds and backgrounds, and there is a lot of competition between them. Moreover, the two officials belong to two factions in the court and are hostile to each other.
When Shopkeeper Wang saw that Lu Cheng was really going to another store, he quickly stood up and stopped him: "Master Lu, please stay. The price is not right. Can we talk about it again?"
If Lu Cheng really went to another study, it would not just be a matter of one book.
Afterwards, Lu Cheng sat down again and after some bargaining, they finally agreed on a 50-50 split. Moreover, Lu Cheng only left his pen name "Xiaoyaosheng" and was unwilling to leave his real name.
Before leaving, Lu Cheng gave Manager Wang another idea: "After the book is printed, don't rush to sell it. First, spend money to hire some storytellers, give them the manuscripts of the first few chapters, and let them tell this story in major restaurants and teahouses in the city. Wait until the story spreads and attracts enough people, then sell it..."
Shopkeeper Wang was delighted when he heard this: "I never thought that Lord Lu is also good at business."
The book "Three Heroes and Five Gallants" was originally widely circulated through storytellers, and was later made into a film and television drama "Judge Bao", which has a considerable number of views and can be said to have been tested by the market.
After the cooperation was agreed, all that remained was to finish the book as soon as possible.
Lu Cheng's work in the Hanlin Academy was not stressful, so he could just slack off and write books to kill time. If he wrote three or five chapters a day, he should be able to finish it in less than a month.
Three days later, Shopkeeper Wang, who had received the first fifteen chapters of the novel, immediately had people start printing and, following some of Lu Cheng's suggestions, did some publicity and promotion in advance.
Soon, storytellers in many teahouses and taverns in Kyoto City began to tell this popular story.
The Three Heroes and Five Gallants, which can be regarded as the originator of martial arts novels, soon attracted a large number of loyal fans with its unique charm, including many wealthy sons who were idle all day long.
Soon, Songhezhai put the printed first 15 chapters on sale at a price of five taels of silver.
Since the storyteller only told the contents of the first few chapters, he whetted the appetite of book fans, and soon a large number of wealthy young men with plenty of money flocked to the bookstore to buy the first batch of books.
Not long after, a book called "Three Heroes and Five Gallants" appeared on the desk of Emperor Changtai.
"Shen Jing, you said this book was written by Lu Cheng?"
"Your Majesty, this book was written by Lu Xiuzhuan. He was the one who agreed with Songhezhai to split the profits 50-50. He also gave an idea to Wang, the shopkeeper of Songhezhai, to ask the storyteller to talk about the book in advance."
Emperor Changtai flipped through the book casually and said, "It seems that our number one scholar is quite good at business. Earning money from writing books is not bad. Why do you think he wants to hide his identity?"
"I don't know. Maybe he doesn't want to affect his reputation. Scholars never want to be tainted by the smell of money."
Emperor Changtai shook his head: "Scholars also have to support their families. As long as you abide by the laws of the Ming Dynasty and make money honestly, what's wrong with that? After all, you are a little young. You can go down."
"Wei Chen retire."
Emperor Changtai dealt with a few more memorials. After finishing his work, he opened the book "Three Heroes and Five Gallants" and was soon attracted by the stories.
Before I knew it, it was evening.
When Emperor Changtai turned to the last page and saw the words "To know what happens next, please read the next chapter", he was a little amused and said, "It seems that I have some free time now. Should I give him more... Never mind, let this kid finish the book first."