Special Treatnt for a Rising Star
"Hello, Skywalker. This is the Editor-in-Chief of the Great Ming Imperial Publishing House. Congratulations, The Legend of the Condor Heroes has passed our final publishing review. Would you be interested in signing a publishing contract with us?"
Chu Tianxing was absolutely willing.
He had already done so research online and confird that the Great Ming Imperial Publishing House really was backed by the imperial family.
Getting your book published through them ant you didn't have to worry about promotion, sales, or royalties. They'd handle everything perfectly. If the book took off and made enough of an impact, they could even arrange film adaptations.
The Great Ming Imperial Family might no longer have real political power, but in business? They had massive advantages.
For reputation reasons, the Imperial Family stayed away from controversial industries like real estate or finance. Instead, they focused mainly on cultural entertainnt and the now-booming internet industry.
Among the Great Ming's biggest publishing houses, the Imperial Publishing House held a top spot. The sa goes for the entertainnt field; the Imperial Family’s “Imperial Ming Pictures” was one of the major players.
So signing with Imperial Publishing House for the novel's publication would make future film adaptations incredibly convenient. For soone like Chu Tianxing who hated dealing with hassles, it was perfect.
He replied without hesitation. "It would be my honor to entrust my novel to your care. I look forward to working with you."
The Imperial Publishing House’s editor responded.
"The feeling is mutual. We have studied your novel's online popularity and its sales data since midnight. We believe your book has the potential to beco a massive hit. Publishing this novel should bring Imperial Publishing House considerable profits. This publication benefits both of us.”
"Additionally, do you have any requests regarding the royalty rate?"
Chu Tianxing thought it over and replied, "From what I found online, Imperial Publishing House usually gives new authors around 6%, right?"
The Imperial Publishing House’s editor responded.
"That's correct. For new authors who are just starting out and have no prior sales record, we typically only offer 6% royalties. But even so, every author whose work we believe in and sign is able to earn a very handso inco. After all, our strength in physical publishing is unquestionably powerful."
Excluding buyouts, physical publishing royalties are generally calculated by book price tis total printed or sold copies tis the royalty rate.
So if a book costs 20 yuan, sells 10,000 copies, and has a 6% royalty rate, the author gets 12,000 yuan in royalties.
If it sells one million copies, the author will receive 1.2 million in royalties.
Therefore, an author's royalty inco is directly linked to sales volu; the more copies sold, the more the author earns.
And just as the Imperial Publishing House’s editor said, they had deep backing and serious strength, possessing a vast number of promotional channels and an extensive sales network.
Plus, for the sake of the Imperial Family's reputation, Imperial Publishing House never hid actual sales numbers to cheat an author.
On top of that, the Great Ming took intellectual property seriously and cracked down hard on piracy. For physical books, at least, pirated copies are almost impossible to find on the market.
The Great Ming had a massive market of 1.6 billion people, and the Great Ming culture radiated to the surrounding areas. Neighboring countries like Goryeo, Fusang, and Annam are all greatly influenced by the Great Ming’s culture. A popular novel that becos a bestseller in the Great Ming will most likely beco a bestseller in these neighboring countries as well.
And so, as long as the Imperial Publishing House believed in and signed your novel, even that rookie-level 6% royalty would bring a massive amount of money to the author.
As a new author with no track record, Chu Tianxing would've gotten the standard 6% according to Imperial Publishing House's usual rules.
But the editor seed particularly excited about The Legend of the Condor Heroes. After explaining Imperial Publishing House's standard policies, they continued.
"However, our editorial departnt is especially optimistic about your novel. We unanimously believe it's destined to be a massive hit and is especially suitable for film and television adaptation. Because we believe in your future potential, we've decided to break with tradition and improve your terms.”
"As long as you promise your next novel will also be published through us, we can raise your first volu's royalty to 7%—and I want to emphasize, that's for the first volu.”
"Your Legend of the Condor Heroes should be around a million characters, right? That ans we can publish it in five volus. The royalty for the first volu will be seven percent. If sales et our expectations, then starting from the second volu, the royalty rate will increase progressively. And from the fourth volu onward, it will be raised to the maximum legal rate of ten percent."
For a new author, this was incredibly generous treatnt.
Chu Tianxing thought for a mont and asked, "May I ask, what exactly does 'sales et expectations' an? How many copies does the first volu need to sell to be considered as eting expectations?"
The Imperial Publishing House’s editor replied. "For a new author, you only need to sell one hundred thousand copies in the first month for it to be considered as eting expectations."
100,000 copies in the first month?
Isn’t that a bit too much?
And yet, it wasn't.
With a massive market of 1.6 billion people and an environnt where physical books had virtually no piracy, the Great Ming’s market on this was thriving.
Last year's top-selling novel that topped the book sales charts had a total annual sales figure of over twelve million copies. That was an average of more than a million copies sold every month.
Of course, those were the kind of numbers that only established bestselling authors could pull.
But with the Imperial Publishing House's powerful channels, it’s possible for a new author to sell 100,000 copies in their first month.
Naturally, this was a target set for a potential blockbuster.
If they weren't so optimistic about Condor Heroes and weren't giving Chu Tianxing this unprecedented special treatnt, then for a pure rookie's debut work, selling 40,000-50,000 copies in the first month would already count as a bestseller.
And Chu Tianxing was confident about hitting the sales target.
100,000 copies in the first month?
Just a small number.
"Then it's settled," he replied to the Imperial Publishing House’s editor. "I trust Imperial Publishing House's reputation, and I'm prepared to publish my next novel with you as well. So, can we sign the contract now?"
The Imperial Publishing House’s editor imdiately sent over the contract.
Chu Tianxing downloaded the file and skimd through the main contract. He found that it was a standard-form book publishing contract, the template for which could be found online. He then looked at the contract's addendum, which was a priority licensing agreent.
The agreent stipulated that Chu Tianxing would promise to grant the physical publication rights of his next novel to the Imperial Publishing House. In return, the Imperial Publishing House would give his first novel the "rising star treatnt."
The specific terms of the rising star treatnt matched what the editor had said: a 7% royalty for the first volu, and if first-month sales exceeded 100,000, then an 8% royalty for the second volu, and so on, up to the legal maximum of 10%.
Seeing this addendum, Chu Tianxing realized the Imperial Publishing House had been prepared for this all along. But this just proved how much they valued his novel's potential and his next book's potential.
Chu Tianxing had nothing to complain about.
He pulled up the standard book publishing contract template online one more ti, carefully compared it with their contract to make sure it really was the standard template without any textual traps, then imdiately made his decision.
"Excellent. Then the contract is settled. I'll head out right now to print and mail it."
The publishing editor replied with a big smiley face. "Once we receive the contract, we'll imdiately start promotion. The first volu of the novel will be on the market in no more than half a month. So, here's to a pleasant cooperation?"
"To a pleasant cooperation!"
After finishing his conversation with the publishing editor, Chu Tianxing got ready to head out and mail the contract.
He had just finished changing his shoes and hadn't even stepped out the door when he suddenly received a phone call from Qin Ling. "Tianxing, the class is organizing a three-day graduation trip. We leave tomorrow morning. Do you want to co?"
Chu Tianxing asked, "A graduation trip? Are you going?"
Qin Ling said, "We'll all go our separate ways soon. This might be the very last ti our whole class does sothing together. As the face of our class, of course I have to participate."
Chu Tianxing said, "But it's already July 10th, and the Martial Arts Tournant starts July 15th. Aren't you busy preparing for that? Where do you have ti for a trip?"
Qin Ling said, "It's just a three-day cruise! We'll be at sea most of the ti, and that won't interfere with my internal energy cultivation, so of course I can join! Co on, Tianxing, are you coming or not?"
Chu Tianxing thought about it and asked cautiously, "A sea voyage? Won't that be dangerous? For example, what if we run into a giant Kun, or pirates, or sothing..."
"Chu Tianxing, what the hell goes on in your head all day? Where would there be pirates around the Great Ming? And what's a giant Kun anyway?"
"Haha, it's a type of fantasy creature, a very scary one... Anyway, about the trip, let think it over carefully. We can talk about it in detail when you co over tonight."
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