In Hong Kong, the launch of the new album is in full swing.
The factory is busy printing albums and posters, and the promotion and distribution of this album has also begun to proceed rapidly.
In mainland China, the birth of the top ten of "Chinese Idol" has also triggered a wave of discussion and star chasing.
Many people have made a rough assessment of the strength of each player, and some people have even ranked them on the Internet, but no matter who is on the list, Zheng Qian's name is in the top three.
Even throughout Southeast Asia, many foreign viewers of "Chinese Idol" are watching and discussing it, which is no less popular than some Korean dramas. This is enough to prove the influence of "Chinese Idol".
At the same time, on the other side of the ocean.
In New York, USA, Stephen King, the editor-in-chief of National Geographic Magazine, has since obtained the overseas translation rights authorized by Zheng Qian, and has single-handedly translated the English version of "The Three-Body Problem" in just over two months.
All translations are implemented.
However, translation is always boring, so during the process, he also specially logged into the largest "Science Fiction World" community forum in North America. Although it is related to the domestic "Science Fiction World" magazine, in fact, the two have no direct connection.
Stephen happily opened a serial post in the serial area.
In his spare time, he would publish the translated chapters of "The Three-Body Problem" in serial posts.
At first, not many people read it.
It wasn't until the series lasted for more than half a month and had more than ten chapters that the first reader came to visit.
"It's amazing! This is actually a science fiction story from China, and it happened during the Cultural Revolution. I was deeply attracted! I'm so curious. Is the author a Chinese who knows kung fu?"
Stephen was very happy to meet the first reader and replied: "Yes, the author is Chinese, his name is 'Qing', you can call him 'Qin', the original version of "Three-Body" is in Chinese, I got Qin's
Authorized to translate on your behalf!”
Although Zheng Qian insisted on using his original name, the English translation was too weird and difficult to decipher. Therefore, in order to make Zheng Qian's pen name more eye-catching, Stephen changed the word "Qian" to the character "Qian" while ensuring that Zheng Qian's last name was "g".
It was changed to the homophonic word "Qin" which is easier to pronounce.
At the same time, the word Qin also represents the first dynasty born in China, so Stephen thinks this is very meaningful.
Therefore, in the following period of serialization, the author "Qin" of "The Three-Body Problem" was often mentioned, and many readers who liked reading "The Three-Body Problem" would also go to other posts to recommend this book.
As time went by, the "Three-Body" serial post became more and more popular, and the number of hits exceeded 100,000. This was a sign that the forum was becoming popular. By the beginning of July, the number of replies to the serial post had already exceeded 100,000.
There are thousands of articles and 300,000 clicks.
It was also at this time that a publisher contacted Stephen and claimed that he was willing to publish and distribute "The Three-Body Problem".
But Stephen did not agree. When the serial post reached 100,000 hits, he knew that "The Three-Body Problem" was not acclimatized. In the Science Fiction World Community Forum, posts that reached 100,000 hits were basically published.
Hope, and the probability is very high, this is also the starting point for many grassroots authors to make a fortune.
However, Stephen actually has experience in publishing books. With the help of "English World" magazine, he himself published two English teaching books for Chinese people. In addition, his college classmates also published
I am aware of "Scholar Press", one of the six major publishing houses in the United States, so I don't have much interest in the Yeluzi publisher in the forum.
He serialized in the Science Fiction World community just to kill the boring serialization time and find some fans with similar interests. He has already said hello to his college classmates, and when he completes the translation of the entire book, he will be able to publish it in
With the help of "Scholar Press", I obtained the edition number and successfully published it. In terms of the copyright fee, I was given a high 12% share. This ratio is already extremely high for new writers.
The most important thing is that the distribution channels of "Scholar Press" are all over North America, not only in the United States, but also in Canada, Mexico and other places. They also have hundreds of stores. Together with downstream channels, their tentacles are almost all over the world.
European and American continent.
Therefore, even if some publishing houses offered high commissions of more than 15%, Stephen ignored them.
He particularly admires "The Three-Body Problem" and wants more people to see this science fiction masterpiece.
Therefore, in the preliminary plan for Zheng Qian, except for the six major publishing groups in the United States, Stephen would hardly consider other copyright dealers.
It is precisely because of Stephen's arrogant attitude that many publishers are eager to open Stephen's text message window every day and ask: "Don't you think about it? Sir, we can discuss a better publishing plan, which guarantees your satisfaction."
!”
"Dear Mr. Stephen, we would like to know Mr. Qin's contact information. We have good ideas to communicate with him. Is it convenient to let him know?"
"Our publishing is open to all Chinese and we have the largest distribution channel in the Chinese community. If you don't cooperate with us, you will regret it!"
"Your translation is great. I like it very much. Is the original version of "The Three-Body Problem" in Chinese? Oh, maybe I should go to China myself!"
Stephen's job is the editor-in-chief of National Geographic magazine. His biggest workload every day is reviewing manuscripts and accepting submissions from photographers from all over the country. He has no time to visit forums every day, so he has never read these text messages.
I just occasionally browse the "Three-Body" serial posts when I'm at work to check the number of replies and clicks.
These two indicators are related to the best-selling degree of the book, and some people in the industry have already figured out the relevant rules.
If the number of hits exceeds 100,000, it is a sign that it is a small hit, and sporadic publishers will come to it.
The number of clicks has exceeded 500,000, which is already a sign of a big fire. As long as they are willing, there are many publishers coming to negotiate contracts.
With more than one million clicks, it is not only a must-have! It is also an absolute masterpiece! Even the six major publishing groups will come forward to fight for the copyright.
Now, it is already mid-July, and the serial post of "The Three-Body Problem" has already reached 450,000 views!
And it has only been a month and a few days since Stephen posted it!
…
As one of the six major publishing groups, Harpers Publishing Group has been established for more than 200 years. It is headquartered in New York. Its sales last year exceeded 1.5 billion US dollars. It has more than a thousand stores in the United States and distribution channels all over the world.
Everywhere, there are established publishing giants.
Twenty-seven-year-old Hannah joined this publishing group. Although she was only a small assistant to the chief editor, her busy work every day left her with almost no time to drink coffee to refresh herself.
Finally, Huangtian paid off. With diligent efforts, in just one year, she became the official editor-in-chief of Harpers Headquarters Publishing House. She no longer served tea and water, ran errands and bought coffee, and completely got rid of the role of a servant.
, and finally sat on his own desk and had the right to review manuscripts.
But new editors don’t have connections, so it’s not possible to find good authors to write for.
Excellent authors basically have fixed one-on-one services from editors, and she has no advantage to poach them, so she changed her mind and began to enter major literary forums to find new sources of writers.
This is the advantage of the new generation. While the old editors don’t even know how to type on a computer and are running around maintaining connections with authors, young editors already know how to take advantage of the Internet to discover new authors.
However, after two days of browsing various major literary forums, Hannah discovered that the Internet is really a mixed bag, with all kinds of authors daring to call themselves writers.
Those serialized articles that she thought were good before became full of errors in grammar and story structure after she became a professional editor.
She gradually became a little disappointed.
Until she visited the Science Fiction World Forum and opened the serial section.
Then I saw the "Three-Body" series of posts that had been artificially pinned to the top, with more than 3,000 replies, and a total of over 500,000 clicks.
Hannah's eyes suddenly widened.
"God, what do I see?"
The number of hits exceeded 500,000!
The number of replies exceeded 3,000!
In the entire science fiction community forum, we can count on two hands the number of serialized posts with over 500,000 hits.
But this unheard-of serialization post of "The Three-Body Problem" has such data. Even its serialization time was one and a half months ago, not even half a year!
Hannah felt her heartbeat speed up and her fingers began to tremble a little. She quickly opened the post, browsed the work a little, and focused on the readers' replies.
"Unimaginable shock! The Trisolaran civilization is so terrifying!"
"The supervisor is so miserable. In order to prevent this beautiful planet from ending, he is willing to die of dehydration. I am moved!"
"Yes, I couldn't stop crying when I read this chapter!"
"The people on Earth are too insignificant. They haven't even met the Trisolarans, and yet a sophon and a water droplet flew directly to the solar system and made mankind so miserable..."
"Qin's imagination is so powerful!"
"The Three-Body Problem is great. The whole story is completely new. I have never seen it before. I never guessed it right once. I thought it was a dead end but suddenly it became clear. I thought it was a counterattack but I was pinned to the ground.
, I thought it was a terrifying ending, but it was actually a horror without an ending.”
"After reading "The Three-Body Problem", the floodgates of my thoughts were opened repeatedly. Waves of unstoppable majestic waves kept impacting my soul. I learned to look up at the stars and think about the grandeur of the universe and the insignificance of human beings.
, the short time of floating life..."
But some readers also expressed other opinions:
"I'm a little confused. Is this science fiction? Why are the characters in it playing games? Also, King Wen of Zhou and Newton are standing together? What does this game want to illustrate? What is the story of the Cultural Revolution? Evans? Planting trees? God
Ah, I feel dizzy looking at it, can anyone give me some popular science!"
"Very good, the author successfully made me buy the high school physics textbook and take it home and study it on my own again!"
"I think maybe my IQ is not good enough to read science fiction!"
Hannah was shaking.
She seemed to see a treasure waiting for her to discover.
Although she didn't understand what this movie called "The Three-Body Problem" was about, the terrifying number of clicks, the astonishing number of replies, and the favorable rating of more than 85% made her feel that this treasure was sparkling and dazzling.
She suppressed her excitement and quickly used her account to send an on-site text message to the author of the "Three Body" series.
"Are you there? Master, I am Hannah, the editor of Hubbs Publishing House. I have noticed this excellent work "The Three-Body Problem" and want to discuss cooperation with you. Can you give me your contact information?"
After sending the text message, Hannah continued to wait excitedly for a reply.
However, an hour later, Hannah sent four or five messages in succession, but these messages disappeared without a trace.
Hannah's fiery heart finally cooled down.
She thought calmly and sent another text message: "Master, my contact information is XXXXXX. Forgive me for being very eager to contact you. In short, you must give me a chance to negotiate. Our Harpers Publishing House
It is the largest publishing group in the world. Whether it is channel resources or publishing strength, it is obvious to all in the industry. I dare not promise anything else, but what I can guarantee is that for your work, no matter what conditions and treatment other publishers give you
, what we at Harpers Publishing House can give must be higher!”
After sending the text message, Hannah took a deep breath and started browsing the "Three-Body Problem" series again.
She wanted to see what kind of magic power attracted so many people's attention.
It is even more important to understand this story so that you can lobby the editor-in-chief!
Soon, as she watched, Hannah's back felt weak. She stood up and twisted her body. She looked up at her watch and was stunned.
Two hours have passed!
Time flies by so fast!
She had not experienced this kind of immersive experience for a long time.
She finally understood the charm of "The Three-Body Problem".
Western science fiction literature, such as those Star Wars blockbusters, always fights against those people, but they dare to claim to be the universe, the galaxy...
Compared with "Three-Body", the layout is really too small!
Almost all Western science fiction works take the earth as the center and stage, and have a Western-dominated world view of the universe.
It can only be said that the Renaissance of Western civilization and the scientific and technological revolution were at the forefront, making Westerners at the forefront of humankind in the Age of Discovery.
Colonize the New World and the uncivilized world, use gunboat diplomacy to break the way, and let the whole world learn Western civilization, language, clothing, culture, etc.
Therefore, nowadays, modernization means Westernization.
These historical experiences have given Westerners great confidence, so much so that people are extremely optimistic when facing the universe, believing that humans can dominate the civilization of the Milky Way and that the Earth will become the center of the Milky Way.
But in fact, such an idea is too arrogant!
Hannah's eyes showed thinking.
As for China, what did we see during the Age of Discovery and the Period of Humiliation?
What they saw was the massacre of backward civilization by advanced civilization!
The West only asked China to open ports for trade, but in America and Europe, it directly treated people as monkey-like animals and killed them. In Africa, it even captured and used people as slaves.
It took a hundred years of humiliation for China to stand up again.
Therefore, they are not as optimistic as us Westerners, and they are self-righteous and think they can rule the universe.
Therefore, in "The Three-Body Problem", the weakness and despair displayed by human beings when facing the civilization of the universe is an experience that Western people have never had before. This sense of reality makes all readers unable to help but be attracted to it.
Hannah felt as if she had really unearthed a treasure.
She continued, and after another hour, she finally finished reading the current series. Her mind was filled with the mystery and vastness of outer space, and she couldn't calm down for a long time.
"Ding dong!"
A crisp sound came out, and the text message box at the top of the forum page began to flash.