Chapter 26 Royalty
It was the end of April, and the basketball competition among the eight major art schools in Beijing had come to an end. The final was between the Central Academy of Drama and Media China.

Communication University of China has a film department, which has close ties with Beijing Film Academy. Its off-campus tutors include Zhang Yimou, Han Sanpin, Tian Zhuangzhuang, Huang Lei, etc., and they are like wearing the same pants.

It is also because of this relationship that Media China hopes to help Beijing Film Academy to avenge itself and wash away the shame of the first time Beijing Film Academy was slaughtered by the Central Academy of Drama.

But Media China obviously overestimated itself. Under the crazy attack of the twin stars Liu Zhou and Liu Ye, the Central Academy of Drama defeated Media China 66 to 52 without any bloodshed and won the championship of this art school basketball game.

Winning a championship always makes people happy. That night, the school was unusually generous and treated all the basketball team members to a big dinner.

After the noise, things slowly returned to calm. After all, the Central Academy of Drama is not a sports school, and basketball is just everyone's hobby there. Before long, few people mentioned the news of the basketball team winning the championship.

After the basketball game, Liu Zhou also prepared to have a good rest.

After all, they played nine games in a month, which was quite intense for them as amateurs.

Even Liu Zhou, who exercises regularly, felt tired, especially after the energy was exhausted, he felt very tired.

On May 1st, the school was on holiday, and Liu Zhou did not go out, but stayed in the dormitory.

There is no May Day holiday at this time, only one day off on May Day.

Liu Zhou looked at the five new books on his desk and couldn't help feeling a little excited.

These five books are the single volumes of "Twinkle Twinkle Star" written by Liu Zhou.

After being promoted in "Mengya" magazine for more than two months, this book was officially released on April 25th, and the editor Qu He also sent himself five sample copies.

It’s been almost a week now, and I still don’t know how the book is selling.

I don’t know if editor Qu He heard my thoughts, but Liu Zhou received a letter from him the next day. The content was still very simple and they communicated over the phone.

Liu Zhou came outside the school and called Qu He.

"Hello, I'm Liu Zhou."

"Liu Zhou, I think you need to give me a phone number where I can contact you. Otherwise, it will be too troublesome for us to communicate. I will need to send you a letter every time."

"I'm also aware of this problem. I'll solve it in the next two days. I'll give you my phone number then."

"Okay, I'm calling you this time because I have good news for you. You can probably guess that your novel is selling very well. The first print run of 30,000 copies was sold out in less than three days.

The magazine is going to print an additional 50,000 copies. Liu Zhou, congratulations, you may really become famous this time."

Upon hearing the news, Liu Zhou couldn't help but clench his fists.

"Hey, Liu Zhou, are you listening to me?"

"Yes, I was just so excited to hear the news."

"Haha, I understand."

"Is there anything I can do?"

"No, just wait and count the money. But I have something to discuss with you this time."

"What did you say?"

"The first one is that 'Mengya' magazine wants to interview you, and the interview content will be published in the new issue of the magazine."

"Does this interview require me to go to the Magic City?"

"No, we have staff in Beijing as well. We can just do the interview in Beijing. And you don't have to worry. It's just a simple interview, asking some questions that readers are generally concerned about."

"I have no problem interviewing in the capital."

"Okay, we'll discuss the specific time and location then. The second thing I want to discuss with you is that the magazine is planning to hold a book signing event, and we need you to be there." "About when?"

"It should be in June. The plan is to hold three book signing events in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou to stimulate sales."

"No problem, but I hope the book signing event will be held in late June, and the first one will be in Beijing. By then I should have finished my exams."

"That's no problem. I can make the decision and promise you that."

"Another question is, can Yangcheng hold two book signing sessions?"

"Oh why?"

"Because I'm from Guangzhou, and my mother owns a bookstore, I want to hold a show in my mother's bookstore to boost its popularity."

"It should be fine, but your mother's bookstore will need to be decorated by then."

"Of course, I will tell my mom to prepare in advance."

"Okay, there's one last thing, and it's also my job. I want to ask you if you have written a new novel?"

“I haven’t written it yet, but I already have a rough idea of ​​it.”

"When can you finish writing it? I'm waiting for your novel to save my life. Since the serialization of Twinkle Twinkle Star stopped, most of the letters we receive now are from readers scolding us."

"Haha, the swear words from readers are really unpleasant to hear. I'll try my best to send it to you by the end of this month."

"Okay, then I have nothing to do here, just sit back and wait for your new work."

After hanging up the phone, on the way back, Liu Zhou calculated in his mind how much royalties he could get.

The book "Twinkle Twinkle Star" is priced at 25 yuan. In an era when the average salary is around to yuan, this price is undoubtedly quite high.

But books are so expensive nowadays, and Mengya magazine also sets prices according to market conditions.

It is no wonder that there is such a large market for pirated books, because genuine books are simply too expensive.

Liu Zhou received 6% royalties, which means he could get 1.5 yuan for every book sold.

Now the first print run is 30,000 copies plus the additional print run of 50,000 copies, a total of 80,000 copies, so Liu Zhou can get 120,000.

The 120,000 yuan will be given to Mengya magazine regardless of whether the extra 50,000 copies are sold out or not. If more copies are printed, the money will be even more.

This also made Liu Zhou sigh that writers really do make money!

It's only 1997 now, and 120,000 is a lot of money.

In 1997, the price of the best commercial housing in CY District of Beijing was only 3000 yuan per square meter. Outside the Third Ring Road, you could buy a very good commercial housing for 1900 yuan. Even this year, the price of Xiaoying Roman Garden in CY District was only 70 yuan per square meter, which could buy a house of nearly square meters.

However, thinking about the income of Han Han and Guo Xiaosi in the future when they are on the list of richest writers in mainland China, which will be several million or tens of millions, Liu Zhou feels that he still needs to work harder.

With these 120,000 yuan, Liu Zhou can do a lot of things.

If Jia Zhangke accepts my investment, then I will have the money to invest in the film project. I just don't know why he hasn't come to me for so long, and I don't know whether he has already attracted the investment.

However, as to whether he could invest in "Xiao Wu", Liu Zhou was also hesitant and learned that I was lucky.

Now that he has this money, what Liu Zhou wants to do most is to find a house outside, as living in the dormitory is becoming more and more inconvenient.

Liu Zhou was a little confused about whether to rent a house outside or buy one directly.

(End of this chapter)