allonlinenovel Chapter 319 Qingdao Science Fiction Monthly
Chapter 319 Qingdao Science Fiction Monthly
"Haidong, the publishing house has issued an internal notice. Have you read it?" Wang Qiang approached Zhang Haidong with a mysterious look on his face.
"What notice?" Zhang Haidong asked without raising his head as he was concentrating on organizing his drawings.
“It is said that in order to compete with those comic strips from abroad, our domestic publishing houses are planning to promote comic strips with science and technology themes this time.
As long as it is a science fiction theme and passes the review, the manuscript fee will be directly increased by one level, or even doubled! "
"Is the fee doubled if I upgrade to a higher level? I am a level 3 painter now. If I upgrade to a higher level, the fee for a painting will be 17 yuan.
A comic book has 100 pictures, which is 1700 yuan. Double the amount is 3400 yuan!
This is much more than what you can earn from drawing ordinary comic strips!"
When Zhang Haidong heard this, he immediately became alert and stopped what he was doing.
"Of course not! Do you know what the benefits of drawing science fiction comics are?"
"What other benefits are there? Stop keeping me in suspense and tell me now!"
“This comic strip with science and technology themes is easy to sell overseas and can generate foreign exchange.
If you earn foreign exchange, you will get another payment, which is equivalent to four times the payment! You can earn 6800 yuan for drawing a comic book.
Moreover, you can get copyright fees if the film is distributed overseas, which is another 3400 yuan.
By this calculation, if you draw a science fiction comic strip, you can become a millionaire!"
In the early 80s, 1 yuan was considered a "huge sum of money" with strong purchasing power. At that time, the monthly salary of an ordinary worker was about 30 to 50 yuan, and 1 yuan was equivalent to 200 to 300 months' salary of an ordinary worker. It could buy a nice house in a big city.
"Is this true? Then who would still draw ordinary comic strips? Just draw science fiction comic strips!"
Zhang Haidong's face was filled with excitement, and his voice unconsciously rose a few degrees.
Wang Qiang looked at Zhang Haidong who was extremely excited, but he did not laugh with him. Instead, he shook his head and said nothing.
"Why do you look like that? What's wrong?" Zhang Haidong noticed something was wrong and asked in confusion.
"Do you know what science fiction is? You're so excited!" Wang Qiang looked helpless and rolled his eyes at Zhang Haidong.
Zhang Haidong was stunned for a moment. He opened his mouth and finally said, "What is science fiction?"
"Oh, you don't even know this, and you're still thinking about drawing a science fiction comic strip!"
"Then tell me, what exactly is science fiction?" Zhang Haidong looked at Wang Qiang eagerly.
"The notice said that science fiction is based on scientific knowledge and scientific principles.
A fictional work that combines rich imagination to explore the future world, science and technology, space exploration, alien life, and social changes caused by technological development.
It often explores the relationship between science and technology and humans, society, and nature, as well as the possible impacts.
It contains elements of science fiction and certain scientific logic, and is highly forward-looking, exploratory, and thoughtful. ”
"Even after you've told me so much, I'm still confused and don't understand what science fiction is all about." Zhang Haidong frowned, looking distressed.
"Alas, it seems that you are not destined to make a lot of money. You should just stick to drawing your ordinary comic strips."
Wang Qiang sighed with a hint of mockery on his face.
"Is there really no way out?" Zhang Haidong was unwilling to give in, but there was still a hint of expectation in his eyes.
"It's not that there is no solution. The reason we can't draw science fiction comic strips is mainly because we lack good stories.
If we can find someone who can write science fiction stories, wouldn't that solve the problem?" Wang Qiang touched his chin and gave his own idea.
"Yes, but where can we find someone who can write science fiction stories?" Zhang Haidong's eyes lit up and he asked quickly.
"Of course, we look for college students who are exposed to the most cutting-edge technology. College students have active minds and understand the latest technology, so they are the perfect fit for writing science fiction stories."
"Then which school's college students can have access to the most cutting-edge technology?" Zhang Haidong asked immediately.
"It has to be Tsinghua University and Peking University in Beijing! The best students in the country are in these two schools.
They have access to top scientific research resources, so there is no shortage of material for writing science fiction stories.”
"That's great! I haven't decided what to paint for my next work yet. I'll pack up and go to Beijing!"
In life, some people are good at talking, but when it comes to taking action, they are silent. They are typical talkers.
But Zhang Haidong is different. He is a practical man and will do whatever he wants.
Zhang Haidong thought that seeing is believing, so he had to go to the publishing house to take a look at the original text of the notice.
When he arrived at the publishing house, he read the notice carefully and felt that it was more and more reliable.
Just as he was about to leave, he heard from the staff that the content of the notice would be published in the newspaper soon.
Zhang Haidong was waiting for the newspapers to go on sale, so he waited in front of the newsstand early in the morning and bought several copies in one go.
After returning home and discussing with my family, I hurriedly packed my luggage, rushed to the train station, and boarded the train to Beijing.
Zhang Haidong had just arrived in Beijing, and on the other side, a leader of the Ministry of Culture was sitting in his office reading a newspaper.
When he saw the information published by Qingdao Publishing House about responding to the impact of foreign comic books and promoting comic books with science and technology themes, he was full of disdain.
He had just finished looking at the statistics of the number of comic books published by all publishing houses this year, and the circulation had reached 7 million copies.
This is already the highest sales volume in a single year since the founding of New China. Where does the crisis come from?
In his opinion, the news released by Qingdao Publishing House was pure alarmist and exaggerated.
Of course, he knew that Qingdao Publishing House was earning a large amount of foreign exchange every year, so there was no need to argue with Qingdao Publishing House on this matter, so he just pretended not to know.
As for Zhang Haidong, he finally arrived in Beijing and headed straight to Tsinghua University. Standing at the gate of Tsinghua University, watching the students coming in and out, he was stunned.
He was worried: There are so many students, how should I ask them to find someone who can write science fiction stories?
Based on the information collected from asking students, Wang Haidong communicated with the best in mechanics, chemistry, and biology.
Zhang Haidong is willing to share half of the royalties with the creators. Although many people are very interested, they all shake their heads when they hear about writing scripts. On the one hand, they are too busy with their studies.
On the other hand, my ability to write a script with future technology is limited.
Zhang Haidong asked many people but got no results, and he became discouraged.
At this time, someone gave Zhang Haidong a suggestion and posted the information on the bulletin board.
At the same time, we should make it clear that foreign comic strips have invaded China, so that everyone can be patriotic! In this way, some capable people may stand up.
Zhang Haidong felt like he had grabbed a life-saving straw. After thanking the classmate, he went to the school bulletin board and wrote a notice in the largest font and in the most eye-catching way.
“Students, the current domestic comic book market is facing a strong impact from foreign counterparts!
Foreign comic strips, with their novel settings and exquisite pictures, are gradually eroding our cultural position.
In order to reverse the situation, Qingdao Publishing House decided to vigorously promote comic strips on science and technology themes.
Now, I urgently need all the talented students to lend a hand and work together to create a science fiction script.
I am willing to give away half of my royalties. More importantly, this is a battle to defend our local culture!"
As soon as the announcement was released, many people came to inquire about the situation, and Zhang Haidong quickly reached a cooperation with a person with literary literacy and professional ability.
Since reaching a cooperation intention with this classmate named Su Ran, Zhang Haidong and Su Tong quickly plunged into intensive creation.
Su Tong is an excellent student in the Chinese Department of Tsinghua University. He has a great passion and talent for literary creation. He also takes other subjects in his spare time, which gives him a unique advantage in the knowledge reserve of science fiction themes.
A few months later, this science-themed comic book, which embodied the hard work of Zhang Haidong and Su Ran, was officially published.
As soon as it was released, it was warmly welcomed by readers, especially young readers, who were deeply attracted by the magical technology and moving plot in the story.
The first print run of 50 copies was quickly sold out, and the publisher urgently printed more copies.
At the same time, the comic book was distributed overseas and received very good responses, which made Zhang Haidong and Su Tong earn a lot of money.
Wang Qiang looked at Zhang Haidong's fame and fortune, and his heart was filled with envy and regret.
At the beginning, he casually mentioned the internal notice of the publishing house to Zhang Haidong, and also suggested going to universities to find screenwriters. Unexpectedly, Zhang Haidong actually did it.
That science-themed comic book created a craze in China and was successfully exported overseas, making a lot of money.
Zhang Haidong went from being an ordinary painter to a celebrity in the industry and became a millionaire.
Many times Wang Qiang couldn't help thinking: "Why didn't I have the courage to try it? I missed such a good opportunity."
Zhang Haidong's success attracted many people in the industry to follow him. After hearing about his experience, they thought this method was feasible, so they followed suit and rushed to colleges with their bags on their backs.
For a time, there was a craze for finding science fiction talents on campus.
At the same time, Jiang Weimin was full of confusion. Jiang Weimin noticed that for a long time, Qingdao Publishing House had successively launched many excellent science fiction works, and the market response was enthusiastic.
Then Jiang Weimin called his secretary to investigate.
Soon, the secretary reported the investigation results to Jiang Weimin.
After listening to this, Jiang Weimin admitted that his vision and pattern were narrow.
After a meeting, Qingdao Publishing House decided to establish Qingdao Science Fiction Monthly, soliciting manuscripts from across the country and publishing a science fiction short story or long serialized science fiction literary work every month.
Of course, whether these works can be adapted into comics depends on the communication between the comic creators themselves.
Qingdao Publishing House is wealthy and offers higher royalties than those in the ordinary literary field.
Qingdao Publishing House has also established an award mechanism to review submitted works every six months and select first, second, third and excellent prizes.
The first prize is 5000 yuan, the second prize is 3000 yuan, the third prize is 2000 yuan, and the excellent prize is 500 yuan.
Such a generous reward is an irresistible temptation for science fiction creators.
The news spread, causing a stir in the literary world, and contributors flocked in from all over the country.