"Happy working together!"
Inside the conference room, Zhang Yaocheng, Deputy General Manager of Mountain Sea Publishing House, and Lu Xi, General Manager of Lu Chen Workshop, formally signed the publishing contract for the long-form wuxia novel The Smiling, Proud Wanderer.
Beaming with smiles, Zhang Yaocheng shook hands with both Lu Xi and Lu Chen in turn and said sincerely, "Please rest assured, the two of you. Our Mountain Sea Publishing House will devote all of our resources to promoting and marketing this novel. We'll make The Smiling, Proud Wanderer explode onto the year-end book market in one shot!"
The complete novel consisted of five volumes totaling one million Chinese characters. According to the contract signed by both parties, the hardcover edition would have an initial print run of 100,000 box sets, while the paperback edition would have an initial print run of 200,000 copies, bringing the total first printing to 1.5 million books.
For a debut work by a new author, and one that belonged to a genre not traditionally considered a bestseller, that initial print run for The Smiling, Proud Wanderer was unquestionably enormous. If sales performed poorly, Mountain Sea Publishing House would suffer a massive loss.
And as the driving force behind this publishing collaboration, Zhang Yaocheng was taking a considerable risk himself. In a sense, he was gambling both his career prospects and his reputation within the entertainment and publishing circles.
Of course, Zhang Yaocheng never fought battles he wasn't confident in winning. Aside from his faith in the quality of the book itself, he also understood the popularity The Smiling, Proud Wanderer already possessed online. Combined with the strong promotion from Mountain Sea Publishing House as well as the two major workshops headed by Lu Chen and Chen Fei'er, the actual risk was fairly limited.
The two superstars together had more than fifty million followers on Wave Blog. Even after heavily discounting that number, selling 300,000 copies would hardly be difficult.
More importantly, if Zhang Yaocheng could turn The Smiling, Proud Wanderer into a breakout success under his leadership and establish an entirely new bestselling category, then his prestige and standing within the entertainment industry would undoubtedly rise dramatically.
Lu Xi smiled and replied, "Then we'll be relying on Chief Zhang."
"You're too polite."
Zhang Yaocheng probed carefully, "To be honest, I greatly admire the author of The Smiling, Proud Wanderer. Someone capable of writing such an outstanding work surely can't be an ordinary person. Would it be possible to invite him over for a meal together?"
In this publishing contract, Lu Chen Workshop had signed as the author's exclusive representative. The author himself had never appeared, and Zhang Yaocheng had been unable to find any information online about "Recalling Ancient Times."
That naturally made him extremely curious, and he hoped to use this opportunity to get acquainted with the writer.
Once everyone became familiar and formed a friendship, then if The Smiling, Proud Wanderer truly became a bestseller, negotiating for future works would be much easier. Although Lu Chen Workshop held full agency rights for the author, they would still have to consider the author's own preferences, wouldn't they?
Zhang Yaocheng had no ulterior motives. It was simply the instinctive professional habit of an old hand in the publishing world.
Lu Chen and Lu Xi exchanged glances. The latter smiled and said, "I'm very sorry, Chief Zhang, but this author dislikes socializing and business banquets. Furthermore, he has already transferred all copyrights to our workshop, so…"
"If there's an opportunity in the future and we obtain the author's consent, then we can arrange something."
As she explained, Lu Xi shot Lu Chen a sidelong glare without changing expression in the slightest, it was all because of the mysterious act he insisted on keeping up.
In truth, Lu Xi could understand Lu Chen's concerns. His songwriting and singing were already exceptional, and now he was also an all-capable screenwriter and lead actor. If he were to publish a long novel and become a genuine bestselling author as well, then people really would be left speechless.
Sometimes even Lu Xi wondered just how many things were hidden inside her younger brother's head. Back then, she had never seen him display so many talents, yet all of a sudden they had burst forth explosively.
Keeping a somewhat lower profile was not necessarily a bad thing.
Zhang Yaocheng sighed regretfully. "That's truly a pity."
However, he did not think Lu Xi was deliberately brushing him off or intentionally preventing him from contacting the author. Given the current strength and status of Lu Chen Workshop, there was simply no need for them to play such petty games.
Moreover, many exceptionally talented writers disliked socializing and business banquets in the first place. Often, only by devoting themselves wholeheartedly to writing could they create truly outstanding and classic works.
After seeing Zhang Yaocheng and the others off, Lu Xi said to Lu Chen, "Xiaochu and the others are waiting in the recording studio."
Lu Chen could not help patting his forehead. "They came too?"
Lu Xi smiled. "You're a major figure in the industry now. People are watching your every move, so the moment you came back everyone started showing up at the door. I think we need to assign you another assistant."
Lu Chen laughed helplessly and shook his head. "I'll head to the recording room."
Inside the workshop's recording room, Lu Chen once again met the three beautiful girls of MSN.
The girl group MSN under Flying Stone Records had now become one of the hottest female idol groups in the domestic pop music scene. Their debut album Not Yet Lovers had already achieved double platinum status, and their follower count on Wave Blog had surpassed ten million. Commercial appearances, performances, and endorsement deals were pouring in nonstop.
Of course, Flying Stone Records had not forgotten the greatest contributor behind MSN's rise to fame. They had always maintained a strong cooperative relationship with Lu Chen Workshop and had even outsourced part of their recording studio business to the workshop. As a result, the studio, which originally had no profit plans at all, was now thriving financially.
Naturally, there was no such thing as a free lunch. Good cooperation stemmed from mutual benefit. Last month, Flying Stone Records had commissioned three new songs from Lu Chen Workshop, once again tailor-made specifically for MSN.
According to the external publicity from Flying Stone Records and MSN's official Wave Blog accounts, the contract was worth as much as five million yuan, absolutely setting a new industry record and leaving many people in entertainment circles dumbfounded.
The issue, however, was that Lu Chen's public asking price for songwriting was currently one million yuan per song. Not just anyone could obtain songs from him at that price. Only close partners like Flying Stone Records had the advantage of getting access first.
"Brother Lu Chen!"
The moment Mu Xiaochu saw Lu Chen appear, she immediately greeted him with delighted surprise. She had been chatting with Wang Hui and the others in the control room, and now her pretty little face bloomed like a flower with genuine joy from the bottom of her heart.
Come to think of it, the two of them had not seen each other for quite some time.
"Hello, Teacher Lu!"
"Good morning, Teacher Lu!"
MSN's other two members, Su Jiajia and Ning Tian, also quickly stood up and greeted him respectfully.
The way the two of them addressed Lu Chen differed from Mu Xiaochu because her relationship with him was closer. Even among both fandoms, fans had long treated Mu Xiaochu as though she were Lu Chen's younger sister.
Among MSN's three members, Mu Xiaochu had the largest fanbase. Her personal Wave Blog followers exceeded the combined total of Su Jiajia and Ning Tian.
Lu Chen smiled. "Hello, everyone."
The three beautiful girls gathered around Lu Chen like stars surrounding the moon. Mu Xiaochu asked curiously, "Brother Lu Chen, was the Mongolian grassland fun? I saw the photos Sister Fei'er sent me, the scenery there was so beautiful!"
Lu Chen nodded. "It was a lot of fun. Next time, if there's a chance, I'll take you along too."
Mu Xiaochu giggled. "That's great! You're not allowed to go back on your word!"
Lu Chen laughed. "Do you want to pinky swear on it?"
Su Jiajia and Ning Tian exchanged glances, and both saw the unmistakable envy in each other's eyes.
(End of Chapter)
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