In the afternoon of that day, Zheng Qian informed Stephen of his choice. He wanted to choose between Scholars and Habers, because the strength and channels of the two were comparable, and they were also ranked high among the six major publishing houses.
.
Most importantly, they promised Zheng Qian that he would publish "The Three-Body Problem" in no fewer than twenty languages and market it around the world.
They have such strength.
Stephen smiled and said: "To tell you the truth, originally I wanted to recommend you to Scholars Press because my old classmate is the deputy editor there, but the conditions offered by Harpers Press were obviously higher...
"
Zheng Qian understood.
Hannah, the editor of Harpers Publishing House, has been shouting the slogan "No matter what the conditions of other publishing houses are, we at Harpers will always be higher than them", which is very impressive. It is impossible to shout such words without strong strength.
.
In fact, Hannah's coming to China does represent the editor-in-chief's intention.
The Harpers family has a huge business. Faced with a work as phenomenal as "Dynasty of Power", they are definitely willing to take a gamble. You know, the emergence of "Dynasty of Power" directly caused the market value of Blue Lantern Bookstore to soar by 30%.
Nowadays, there are even adaptations of TV series linked to it, and peripheral copyrights are blooming, which has already made other publishing groups jealous.
Therefore, in the face of a work like "The Three-Body Problem" that can be compared with "Dynasty of Power" in terms of data, they will of course attach great importance to it. Even the six major publishing houses are corporal Li Xian and personally send people to China to discuss it, which is enough to get a glimpse
their sincerity.
Zheng Qian signed no matter which one he signed, but what he wanted was an attitude, and Harper's editor Hannah was obviously more sincere than other editors. Of course, they also gave her the highest copyright rate, a full 17%.
It is 2% more than other publishers, and in addition, it also includes the translator’s $40,000.
You must know that 15% is the current rule, and any royalty rate exceeding 15% is basically the treatment of super best-selling authors, such as JK Rowling, the author of "Harry Potter" in his previous life.
Zheng Qian, on the other hand, doesn't need to do anything. He only needs to sign the contract. He doesn't even need to hold a special signing party. Habs will be responsible for all after-sales.
Zheng Qian just needs to immerse himself in writing.
Of course, the reason why Habers did this was because he wanted to sign a contract with Zheng Qian for the rights to the second and third parts of "The Three-Body Problem".
Zheng Qian was very satisfied with this.
On the same day, Zheng Qian took his lawyer Cheng Jinming to sign an agreement of intent with Hannah from Hubbs. Hannah flew back to the United States as quickly as possible, and then handed it to Zheng Qian with a formal signing contract in two copies, all in English.
The publisher's seal has been stamped in advance, and as long as Zheng Qian signs his name, the two contracts will take effect immediately.
After confirming that it was correct, Zheng Qian signed his name.
At the same time, the translator Stephen also got his contract. The sudden payment of 40,000 US dollars in royalties did not make Stephen very happy. His annual salary was nearly 100,000 US dollars, plus some bonuses, as well as his usual photography and writing income.
With his royalties, he is already firmly in the American middle class.
To put it simply, his desire for money is not high, but he attaches great importance to reputation.
Otherwise, he will definitely choose royalty sharing.
Even a fool can see that "The Three-Body Problem" is so valued by more than a dozen publishing houses, and its future sales will definitely have astonishing results.
But Stephen still wants to wait and continue to translate Zheng Qian's second and third works, because he can predict that with the publication of "The Three-Body Problem", the popularity of this science fiction will definitely increase rapidly, and there will be countless people by then.
The translator will be eager to cooperate with Zheng Qian. If he is too greedy, he will never get the translation copyright for the next film.
Here, after settling the signing, Zheng Qian continued to fly to Hong Kong non-stop.
Universal Music has been waiting for a long time, because the new album will be released in one week, and they have a lot of work to communicate with Zheng Qian and prepare in advance.
Because that day is not only the album release date, but also Zheng Qian’s birthday.
This time, Universal Music wanted to hold a birthday party for Zheng Qian on the day of the book signing, and planned to invite major and popular artists under Universal Music to come and support him. This obviously gave Zheng Qian a great deal of face.
In addition, during this trip to Hong Kong, Zheng Qian also had to meet a Japanese singer Nazhi Hayakawa.
The other party wanted to obtain the copyright for the Japanese cover of "Midnight Serenade", and this trip to Hong Kong was also a way to resolve the matter.
The EP album "Mr. Qianqian" has now sold 700,000 copies.
The album has been reprinted four times in a row and has become a hit throughout Southeast Asia. The songs in the album can be heard everywhere in Hong Kong.
After more than a month of sales summary, Universal Music finally settled the first batch of album sales, totaling 3.74 million yuan.
It is worth mentioning that this money is settled before tax and is kept in public accounts. If you spend this money before the tax payment day, it will be a reasonable tax avoidance.
Zheng Qian has already thought about buying two more houses for himself in the name of the company, but this is suspected of being illegal. If he is found out, he will become the next Fan Bingbing. Of course Zheng Qian will not do this. He is still very conscious, so he can only
Use this money to continue to contribute to Yuexiang Entertainment.
Such as investment.
Another example is recruiting some professional managers, etc.
The development of a company is inseparable from talents. If you want to become bigger and stronger, you can only make continuous investment.
It is worth mentioning that after many share redistributions in Yuexiang Entertainment, Zheng Qian alone holds 65% of the shares, followed by Lin Qianqian’s 25% and Ren Xin’s 10%.
This is the final result of the negotiation and no further changes will be made.
On Monday, after arriving in Hong Kong, under the arrangement of Universal Music, Zheng Qian met with Japanese singer Nazuki Hayakawa.
This is a beautiful little lolita, only about 1.55 meters tall, in her twenties, with twin ponytails. She mainly sings theme songs for the increasingly developed Japanese comic industry. She is actually not very famous in Japan.
"Hello, Mr. Zheng!"
In the reception room, Hayakawa Caizhi looked at Zheng Qian, his eyes a little distracted.
She was a little short-sighted, so she accidentally knocked over the contact lens cup when she woke up in the morning, so she had to change to a pair of black-framed myopia glasses, but the power didn't seem to match...
This makes Hayakawa Caizhi look cute.
Zheng Qian had heard the other party's song beforehand, and his voice was extremely loud and contagious.
I heard that the brokerage company behind it has finally prepared to promote Hayakawa picking today after many years of consideration.
After the company's music director accidentally heard the song "Midnight Serenade" on the street, he wanted to let Hayakawa Nazhi perform the Japanese version.
This is a very common operation. Asian countries actually have very similar preferences for music, so they often cover each other's songs.
Zheng Qian replied in Japanese: "Hello, Miss Shipbuilding, welcome to China."
Hayakawa Caizhi was surprised and asked curiously: "Mr. Zheng speaks Japanese so well!"
Even Wan Feng and others were surprised.
They looked at Zheng Qian, each of them a little surprised.
Zheng Qian smiled and said: "Yes, I have learned some before. Not only Japanese, I also know Korean, Chinese and English. In addition, I also know some Russian."
Everyone came back to their senses and sighed secretly.
I have long heard that Zheng Qian studied in South Korea before, and it is normal to know Korean.
In fact, this new album also has Russian songs like "Opera 2", so it's not surprising that you know some Russian.
But I never expected that Zheng Qian could actually understand Japanese...
"What a language genius!"
Wan Feng smiled and said: "Zheng Qian, you have brought us such a big surprise!"
At this time, Junji Ito, the agent accompanying Nazaki Hayakawa, could not understand Chinese. After listening to the translation, he suddenly said: "If this is the case, we can cooperate more deeply. Mr. Zheng, would you consider coming to Japan for development?"
The songs in your EP album are very in line with the taste of our Japanese music scene, and they may achieve good results."
Zheng Qian was stunned.
Is there still this operation?
Junji Ito continued: "Many overseas singers have developed in our Japanese music scene. We are a country that tolerates diversity. As long as you have the strength, you can always succeed in Japan."
Zheng Qian nodded, that's a good thing.
Nowadays, after Korean artists reach their peak domestically, they will either enter Japan or the United States. These two places are always the highest goals for artists. As for China, at the moment, there are no popular artists willing to enter this continent.
But also because of the growing popularity of Korean Wave, mainland China has become the first choice for outdated Korean artists at this stage.
Of course, as the Chinese market gradually grows, especially after it has become the second largest ticket market in the world, popular foreign artists who come to make money are like crucian carp crossing the river. In the final analysis, today's leeks are still immature, and the interests at this stage are
Just too little.
At this time, Wan Feng said: "Qianzi, your Japanese is so good, it would be a pity not to break into the Japanese entertainment industry. It just so happens that Hayakawa is about to release his first new album this time, why don't you write another one?
Would you like to put a male-female duet song like "Broken Up With Kindness" in Ms. Hayakawa's album first?"
Ito Junji waited for the translator to finish. Knowing that Wan Feng was speaking for him, he said happily: "Hi! We also intend to ask you to compose an original song during this trip. Zheng Jun, if you are interested, the price is not an issue."
Although the Japanese economy has become increasingly sluggish after the Plaza Accord, the foundation left behind is very strong. The cover copyright of "Midnight Serenade" alone was directly priced at 300,000 yuan. It was precisely because of this that Zheng Qian was attracted to personally
Come and sign.
This is a very common market in Japan, but in mainland China it is a sky-high price.
Now, the other party is eager to invite Zheng Qian to sing.
Although Zheng Qian has just received more than three million, he is obviously more eager to grab more.
In addition, he also had some thoughts, so he nodded and said: "I'll give it a try. I don't know what style of music Ms. Hayakawa wants."
"Hayakawa is following the anime girl route, and so far, she has rarely appeared in public."
Junji Ito said: "Her singing skills are actually very good, and her singing is also very distinctive. If it weren't for her height that was not suitable for being an idol, she would not have been buried for so long. However, she has accumulated a lot of popularity now and has many die-hard fans.
Fans, so after careful consideration, the company is willing to help Hayakawa release records. She is a very hard-working child, and I hope Zheng Jun can help her more."
Zheng Qian didn't know whether to laugh or cry. I asked Hayakawa what style of music he wanted. You chatted so much, but did you mention the key point?
At this time, Nazaki Hayakawa, who had been silent, raised his head and said: "I want a very amazing song. No matter what style it is, I can control it. It is not limited to anime theme songs. Please trust me, Mr. Zheng."
Strength, if you want to enter the Japanese music scene, then let us sing together on this song, I can also..."
Zheng Qian watched Nazhai Hayakawa talking to the wall, then waved his hand in front of him and couldn't help but say, "I'm here."
Hayakawa picked himself up, turned around quickly, looked at Zheng Qian, his eyes were distracted, and his face was slightly red, and he said: "Uh, I'm so sorry, my eyesight is not very good..."
Zheng Qian was dumbfounded.
"In this case, we will stay in Hong Kong for two more days. If Mr. Zheng has any inspiration, you can contact us at any time!" Junji Ito presented his business card with both hands and bowed: "I'm sorry to trouble you, Mr. Zheng."