'Classmate Yiping, please sit down,' said Manager Chen, the stern-looking manager of the publishing departnt. 'You were in your year, and you were your province's top liberal arts student in the college entrance exam, right? I heard that you did a lot of big things in high school, and now you own a group company that is not small in scale. First-year coursework is already intense, and you have written such a book, which is really not simple and really not easy!'
'Thank you, Manager Chen, for your praise. To be honest, it was also because of my family's poor financial situation that I was forced to do it,'
'Oh yes, looking at the resu, your area was a revolutionary base area, so developnt is indeed relatively slow,'
This manager Chen has a way of doing things. He didn't go straight to the point right away, but first got close to Feng Yiping to understand his background and incidentally learn about his style of doing things. There was also a lot of testing in his words, such as asking if you are wealthy, etc., to prepare the ground for the negotiations that followed.
However, Feng Yiping has long since been no longer a rookie.
'Now that the economy is doing well,' said Shi Fangsheng, the editor, 'I heard that you drive a rcedes Benz now, which is even better than the principal's car.'
This ti, Feng Yiping was a little stunned. It really is true that you can't judge a book by its cover. He looked at this person, who seed more amiable than Manager Chen, and thought, Is this the wrong way to approach the subject?
'It's even more difficult now. In the past, I only had to worry about my own family. Now, the company has more than 5,000 employees and the number is still increasing. I have to consider the jobs of so many people, so the pressure is even greater,'
The other person was considered an elder, and perhaps that was his style of speaking. Feng Yiping didn't want to argue for the ti being, so he didn't respond directly, but he also didn't answer his question directly.
Manager Chen glanced at Shi Fangsheng and said, 'Yiping, I want to know, which regions have the rights to your book been sold to Harvard Business School Press?'
'All regions except mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau. Also, I have my own publishing house in Hong Kong and Macau, and I want to take this opportunity to do so business there.'
'Oh yes, we have heard of your publishing house. Your book Frontier is doing well,' Manager Chen added in a tily manner.
'The main reason is that the team at the publishing house is very capable, and I don't need to be involved in the specific affairs.'
'To be frank, that only leaves the mainland?' Seeing that the atmosphere was improving again, Shi Fangsheng suddenly said sothing that made everyone uncomfortable.
Teacher Jin also felt that there was sothing wrong with this person in the editorial departnt, and that there was sothing wrong with his attitude. He spoke up for Feng Yiping, saying, 'There are over a billion people in mainland China, so it's better to have multiple countries.'
Manager Chen coughed and looked down, 'The rest of the mainland is also quite good. I know the way those people at Harvard work. They usually want global agency rights. It's not easy for you to get to keep such a big piece.'
Shi Fangsheng didn't know what was going on, so he interjected again, "As a student at the school, since the book is going to be published, why didn't you think of your school's publishing house in the first place? Why did you have to take advantage of outsiders, and an overseas publishing house at that?'
Feng Yiping glanced at Manager Chen, who called out, "Laoshi!'
Shi Fangsheng still looked at Feng Yiping with so resentnt.
'I didn't want to publish at first, I wanted to serialise it in my own magazine. Harvard approached repeatedly, and since my magazine was doing well, I thought publishing would be fine too. They offered very favourable terms, so I agreed.
The first few issues of my publication were sent to all the schools at the university, to the university leadership office, and to many teachers. The publishing house was of course not left out either. Why didn't anyone think of this at the ti?
And with due respect, Mr. Shi, the focus of the school press's current distribution is still on the dostic market, which ans that they will represent all the global rights for you. Can we do as well as Harvard?
It only took Harvard Press less than a month to achieve the results they have so far. For the sa results, Mr. Shi, do you understand distribution? How long do you think it will take? Is one year okay?'
He said this to Shi Fangsheng, looking him straight in the eye, and then he tapped the table with his finger, not being very polite.
His attitude towards people did not change with his personal wealth, and it was still the sa as what his parents taught him when he was young: 'If people respect one foot, I will respect them one yard.'
It's not that I'm begging you, it's that you ca to on your own initiative. Is this the attitude of the person in charge once the leader leaves?
Feng Yiping has a bit of a temper, and now that he has so capital to throw around, he can afford to lose his temper.
As far as this book is concerned, to be honest, when he was writing it, he never worried about the publishing problem, so he deliberately kept so of the copyright in his hands.
Moreover, Harvard is now operating so successfully that he is more confident when dealing with dostic publishers. He reckons that in just a day or two, many dostic publishers should be knocking at his door.
If Shi Fangsheng had a beard, it would be standing on end with anger right now. But he has only himself to bla. Feng Yiping is not his student, nor is he one of his editors. If he doesn't want to give him face, then he doesn't have to.
Feng Yiping watched as his cheeks trembled, and the whites of his eyes were all that could be seen behind his glasses. He guessed that his next words would be nothing more than an attempt to lecture him on his qualifications. So be it. Face is sothing that people give, but if you want to trample it under your feet, no one can stop you.
Shi Fangsheng was thinking the sa thing. When was the last ti a sophomore had the nerve to act so defiantly in front of ?
However, he was unable to say this. This ti, Manager Chen did not give him an indirect reminder, but instead, he gave him a couple of direct slaps in the face and said sternly, 'Laoshi!'
'Yiping, listen to . Laoshi doesn't really understand publishing matters. You're right. In terms of global distribution, our publishing house, which was only founded in the 1980s, is definitely not as good as Hushang Publishing House. There's nothing we can do about it. Like them, in such a short period of ti, we have managed to get your book into the hands of so many influential readers.
But, as you may not know, we have also been implenting a go-global strategy over the past two years. We have established strategic cooperative relationships with many publishing companies in Europe and the United States, and have also exported a number of book copyrights abroad,' Manager Chen quickly saved the day after Shi Fangsheng stopped speaking.
'Can I take a look at the contract you signed with Hushang Publishing House?' It seed that Manager Chen did not have much of a deterrent effect on Shi Fangsheng. Leaning forward, he asked a new question in a fighting stance.
This guy! Feng Yiping was at his wit's end.
'Laoshi Shi,' Chen Manager next to him called out in an aggravated tone, and the girl involved in the reception also felt strange. Could this teacher Shi be an undercover sent by another publishing house? He had been so cold and sarcastic to the author who held the copyright to a bestseller, and now he was making such a request.
'Sorry,' Feng Yiping just wanted to say a few more rude things, but the vibrating phone made him swallow those words back. He stood up, 'I'll take this call,'
'Ah, what? Okay, I'll be right there,' he didn't bother to sit down either, and regardless of whether the few people from the publishing house could tell that he didn't want to talk anymore and was using the phone call as an excuse, he looked at Shi Fangsheng without a second thought and said to Manager Chen, 'I'm sorry, there's been an ergency at the company, I need to rush there to deal with it right away, so I'll have to leave for today. I'm very sorry!'
'It's fine, go ahead and take care of things, I'll make another appointnt with you,' Manager Chen stood up to see Feng Yiping off. He knew in his heart that even if there was a next ti, they wouldn't be talking in the conference room of the publishing house, and he would definitely go to Feng Yiping's place to find him.
He had also made up his mind that the next ti he went to find Feng Yiping, he would definitely go alone, without anyone else, especially Shi Fangsheng, who was more of a hindrance than a help.
The vice president had personally gone out of his way to create a good atmosphere, but Feng Yiping had ruined it with just a few words.
Feng Yiping had already made it clear from the outset that they were there to talk business, so why did you have to say all those unproductive things? He is just a student, and he has not joined any research institute at the university. He wrote the book entirely on his own, and the copyright has nothing to do with the university.
Do you think Feng Yiping's book is so personal monograph that so teachers at the university found a publisher to help them publish in order to fulfil their own wishes, and that it has no market value?
Feng Yiping left cleanly, and Shi Fangsheng was first shocked and then angry. 'He's obviously making an excuse. Are you just going to let him go?'
The girl who was packing the books rolled her eyes at the table and ignored him.
Manager Chen saw them off a long way, 'Laoshi Shi is just like that. I apologise for him. And don't worry, your book is so good, and this matter was personally assigned to you by the head of the publishing house, so the whole publishing house will do their best.'
'Thank you, Manager Chen, I really have an urgent matter today. Let's make another appointnt. Okay, you stay!'
She had to thank this Laoshi Shi, who had been rude to her for no reason, so that Feng Yiping, who was not willing to do this in the first place, simply didn't need to find an excuse.
'I didn't expect them to produce such a person,' said Teacher Jin, looking at the publishing house behind him. "It doesn't matter, you can do whatever you want, everyone will understand, and there's no need to worry. Although the publishing house belongs to the university, it is a separate system from us, and they cannot interfere with the work of our college,'
'Even if they interfere, what can they do? Fire ? Or not give a diploma? Teacher Jin, do you think I care about that now?" Feng Yiping put away the cautious appearance he had always had in front of his teacher.
Although the school press was not his ideal choice, as far as he could see, like the presses of other universities, the school press mainly focused on publishing textbooks, and of course there were also so monographs, but the proportion was not large, and it definitely included many books published by professors at their own expense.
In his opinion, the best publishing house in China for this book would be one like the Comrcial Press.
Nevertheless, out of a sense of collective honour and respect for the school, he had gone to today's eting with full sincerity. He had not expected the leader to say such nice things, but the people below were actually like this.
'Yes, you can certainly ignore all this now. You really ca to the university to enrich yourself. You can rest assured that none of the situations you described will happen.
Our university has finally produced a student who beca famous internationally in his first year, a student who will be rembered by people with enormous wealth and power in the world. How could they expel you? Wouldn't that be a disgrace?'
'I'm afraid that in the future, as long as you don't kill or set fire to the school, the college and the university will not pursue what you do,' said Teacher Jin with a smile. 'However, don't let this make you feel complacent. Whether you are really busy or just pretending to be, you should go to the company now to avoid embarrassing them.'
Feng Yiping hadn't really thought about what Teacher Jin had said, but it was true. If the school expelled a student like him, it would be slapping itself in the face.
'Thank you, teacher, you really understand !' Feng Yiping returned to his typical good student appearance.
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