Chapter 455 Strange place

Chapter 455 Strange place

Chapter 455 Strange place
"Manager Xiao, I know you are anxious, but don't worry." President Wang said, "I also saw the news, but I think it belongs to a series of books and has nothing to do with personal publishing. Everyone knows Teacher Xiao Gu, who has a special sense of personal responsibility..."

Manager Xiao was impatient to begin with, and was annoyed by this nonsense. He couldn't hold it in any longer, "President, I'm very sorry to interrupt you. I understand what you said. Should we pay attention to the progress of Teacher Gu's creation?"

Lao Xiao's impatient personality has at least hindered his ability by a small margin. Just look at this habit of frequently interrupting his boss. If it weren't for President Wang's magnanimous character, who could have tolerated this?

Speaking of which, it is already the beginning of summer, and according to Gu Lu's speed of creating two medium-length or long novels a year, it is about time.

"I'm not urging you, but it's time to pay attention to the progress." President Wang made the call and said, "Don't worry, there won't be any changes. I've been working with Xiao Gu for a few years, so why don't I know?"

Seeing that Manager Xiao was still nervous, President Wang said a few words to comfort him.

The call is connected——

Twenty seconds later, Gu Lu answered the phone. Wang and Gu exchanged greetings for a while, while Manager Xiao pricked up his ears to listen to the conversation.

"President Wang, there is a small problem with the new book Songzi." Gu Lu had originally planned to bring it up after he finished writing Ovi, but the other party happened to call to ask about the status of the work, so he decided to talk about it.

President Wang, who was holding the phone, no longer had a calm expression on his face, as if a water monster suddenly emerged from the calm lake.

"What's going on? Is it because of the book series?" asked President Wang.

Even the cell phone wasn't on speakerphone, so Manager Xiao next to him could only put his ear as close as possible, which made his neck stretch as far as possible.

"It has nothing to do with the series. I had conceived The Borrower before, so it won't interfere with the preparation of the new book. The details are a bit complicated..." Gu Lu paused, "To make a long story short, I need a new book that can be published in Europe. But the plot of the previous work was a bit too limited, so I'm going to change the direction of the new book."

President Wang breathed a sigh of relief and was shocked. He thought it was something serious, just changing a book. It turned out to be no surprise. He scared himself.

Seeing the silence on the other end of the phone, Gu Lu also added assurance, "President Wang, don't worry, the submission time will not be delayed."

"No problem, no problem." Upon hearing this, President Wang was completely relieved and took the initiative to speak, "Does the new book need to be released globally? How can our publishing house cooperate?"

"Of course no problem, fine."

"Teacher Gu should also take a rest."

"Just find time to sign a supplementary contract."

Soon, the call was hung up in a pleasant atmosphere.

The next second, Manager Xiao asked, "President, what exactly is going on?"

President Wang did not keep the audience in suspense and explained that the writer wanted to change the subject matter and that the book had to be released simultaneously in conjunction with publishing plans in multiple countries.

He finally said, "Manager Xiao, I need you to pay more attention to sales matters."

"It has been jointly launched in more than 20 countries. Except for From the New World, I have never seen a book sold jointly like a movie." Manager Xiao is not afraid of being tired, and he even loves big scenes.

"Especially this time, the number of students has increased from China and Japan to more than 20. It seems that Teacher Gu is very confident about the new assignment." This is good news for their publishing house, and Manager Xiao is finally relieved.

Manager Xiao took the initiative to leave the president's office and secretly made up his mind that he must create a hit that is even more popular than "From the New World".

He returned to his office and checked out the recent developments in the publishing circle. Naturally, he further noticed that the Five Family members, Qiao Manshui and others were eager to make progress.

A poll initiated on Weibo [In the new fairy tale series, is Gu Lu the author of the main work? Does he deserve the title?]

Seventy-three percent of the audience chose "well-deserved", but the atmosphere of the comments was not so friendly.

“Don’t make a writer a deity. Gu Lu is really inappropriate for this event.” “I’m a long-time Gu Lu fan. In fact, it’s more appropriate to focus on the five families, right?” “Gu Lu should be a judge and guide for the event. It feels too senior for him to focus on it.”…

It is obvious that it is convenient for ordinary passers-by to click on it, but they will not leave a message specifically, so there are many water armies in the comment area.

"Yangtze River Children's Publishing House turned a blind eye to this? Now they are letting this group of people ride on Teacher Gu's reputation? This is a really poor way of promoting it."

"If I were to be in charge of the promotional planning for this event, first of all..."

For publishers, the best way to deal with disputes involving authors is to do nothing.

Manager Xiao naturally knew this, but at this moment he was not involved in the matter, so he could act in a condescending manner and bully others.

Manager Xiao, who gives advice to others on how to run a business, must have "world-class" wisdom.

Some people say that they have heard a lot of truths, but they still can't live a good life. This statement is not ironic enough. What is more ironic is that we ourselves can talk about countless truths, but we can't figure them out when it comes to ourselves.

Gu Lu was very clear about this, so he never lectured people. But there were times when he couldn't hold back, and he really couldn't hold back when he was sitting next to his deskmate.

"It's settled then." Gu Lu hung up the phone.

After finishing the conversation with President Wang, he called Zeng Jie. He was one of the tall F4 and one of the people Gu Lu envied and hated the most. To be honest, King Guru had forgotten what he looked like. He only remembered that Zeng Jie was a supporting actor and liked to interrupt the teacher in class.

Compared to the panda Wei Jiao's resolute attitude of not wanting to be filmed, Zeng Jie's attitude was more ambiguous. In the end, Gu Lu succeeded in persuading him at a small cost.

I am still working. Today's task is 30,000 words, which has not yet been completed.

Writers only need to focus on writing, but readers have more things to consider, and they need to urge for updates and leave messages on the novel.

"Ove is also very touching. I was a little tearful when I watched the movie. I didn't expect the novel version to be even more touching. For good works, film and television adaptations will only weaken their charm."

Even with that diminished appeal, the films were successful in making money, with both versions of A Man Called Ove Decides to Die and Otto the Unforgettable making money.

"Unfortunately, it still can't achieve the same depressing effect as pine nuts. I'll keep the happiness for myself and the sadness for the readers. I'll slow down my plan for now."

At around four o'clock in the afternoon, Gu Lu completed the typing task.

It was almost time. It should be nine o'clock in the morning in Paris time. My sister should get up. Gu Lu estimated the time before calling her.

"Busy brother, why are you calling me in person?" Gu Jiayu's first words after answering the phone.

"I have something to trouble you, Jiayu," Gu Lu said, "See if you can buy limited edition jerseys of Paris Saint-Germain in the second-hand market or at the stadium."

Gu Lu added, "I'll tell you the exact amount when the time comes."

"I thought it was a big deal, but it's just a small thing, I'm very happy." Gu Jiayu said immediately, "Haha, brother, you have more than enough living expenses for me, I don't need it at all." Gu Jiayu added on the phone, "Isn't it just a limited edition jersey of the Saint-Germain Club? Get two!"

"One is enough." Gu Lu said.

Then, Gu Lu asked about studying abroad in Paris. The two chatted for a while.

"Okay brother, I'm ready to go out." Gu Jiayu said.

"Okay, call me anytime if you have anything," said Gu Lu.

"Brother feels that you are in good condition recently," Gu Jiayu suddenly said when he was about to hang up the phone.

"Oh?" Gu Lu couldn't understand.

"Because in the past, I remember that after you were in the first grade of junior high school, you no longer asked me for help. You would find ways to solve everything on your own." Gu Jiayu said, "Now that you can ask me for help, it's - it's good."

"Has it been like this since the first grade?" Gu Lu asked.

"Brother, you don't remember? It doesn't matter. I always remember what you were like before, hehe." Gu Jiayu said, "I think this is better. A family can't always be about giving and taking. Besides, I'm also very happy that you asked me for help, which proves that you recognize my ability to help you."

"Okay, let's stop talking for now. I'm going out." After saying that, Gu Jiayu hung up the phone.

Gu Lu looked at the phone and wondered, has he never been able to ask people close to him for help before?

…………

Dangdang Reading is in a very bad situation at present, and is nicknamed "the small Zongheng of the physical network". The Zongheng here refers to Zongheng Novel Network, a website that once attracted a lot of great writers who wanted to compete with Qidian.

The end result was that it became a retirement home for great writers. The website had many readers, but they basically only read the works of great writers, so when new writers submitted their works, they all failed. It was not until the Qimao, a subsidiary of the company, emerged that the predicament was reversed.

Dangdang.com is a reading website that has a lot of readers, far more than many platforms that allow readers to view publishers for free.

But it seems that all of this traffic was attracted by Gu Lu's serialized martial arts works, and readers were not attracted to other works at all.

It’s simply the “Gu Lu Nursing Home”.

As the project leader, Lao Li also tried to do some things, such as sending more coupons, or launching "Four Famous Detectives' electronic peripherals" for watching other works, such as avatar pendants, wallpaper themes and the like.

But with little success.

The company has given the funds it should have given and basically provided the greatest support, so Mr. Li has no way to shirk the responsibility.

Therefore, Lao Li was worried, "Is Dangdang Reading Network going to be abandoned?"

Lao Li called the deputy editor-in-chief and wanted to find a way to make the performance report look better and use some creative thinking.

How to create it? Just like Luckin Coffee can explain losses as "imminent profits". If we don't issue coupons, we will make a profit from current sales...

After hearing what the editor-in-chief of the website said, deputy editor-in-chief Lao Lin was moved. He looked at his boss who had no confidence and was a little speechless. With such ability, how did he become a supervisor?
"The company's original goal was to complete a closed loop of online and offline books. Buy books on Dangdang, read books on Dangdang, and it would be best if we could seize Douban's ecological niche. At present, we have failed..." Deputy Editor-in-Chief Lao Lin was interrupted by his boss before he could finish his words.

"It's not a failure, it's just that Dangdang Book Network has not yet adapted to the market version." Lao Li corrected, "Currently our daily active users are quite good."

"Editor-in-Chief Li, don't worry." Deputy Editor-in-Chief Lao Lin said, "Even if the initial strategic plan fails, didn't Migu Music survive for a while because it had Jay Chou's copyright? So, as long as Mr. Gu Lu's martial arts novels continue to be serialized and our website has real user discussions, the company will not give up."

Hearing his subordinates say this, Lao Li felt a lot less pressure, because Gu Lu had revealed that there was quite a lot of content in The Four Famous Detectives.

"Of course I know what you said. I just want to give an explanation to the boss. Well, get out if you have nothing to do." Lao Li was demolishing the bridge after crossing it. His anxiety was relieved, but he did not express gratitude. Instead, he was seen through by his subordinate and became angry and embarrassed.

The duck was stubborn and didn't even have the courage to face his fear. Deputy Director Lao Lin sneered in his heart.

Indeed, no matter how much courage Mr. Li, who has elderly parents and young children to take care of, has, it will all collapse when faced with the possibility of losing his job.

Deputy Editor-in-Chief Lao Lin used to be a martial arts reader, and "The Four" really awakened some interest in martial arts in him.

In fact, he knew in his heart why Lao Li became his boss, because he had connections. Being able to move Gu Lu to serialize martial arts novels, this was an amazing connection.

"Society is a network, and connections are more important than abilities." Lao Lin sighed and said this with the office door closed, probably so no one could hear him.

Gu Lu has been serializing the Four Famous Detectives series for nearly half a year (with a one-month break in between), and has accumulated a group of loyal readers.

Over a four-month period, he updated "The Ruthless Youth", "The Great Duel", "The Cold-blooded Youth" and "Meeting in the Capital" with 4,000 words every day, and is currently serializing "Against the Cold Current".

Precisely because martial arts novels have been replaced by fairy tales and have become a rather niche hobby, the message area has a very healthy community environment.

"Gu Long produced male gods, Jin Yong produced female gods, and beasts are the most praised. I didn't expect that Gu Lu's Four Famous Detectives had both male gods and female gods! Xi Honglei is the heroine, look at what she said to Qi Shaoshang: Who chopped off one of your arms... I will make him suffer ten times more!"

"Gu Long's Gongsun Da Niang makes me feel that Da Niang is a dangerous title in martial arts, but Gu Lu's Xi Da Niang makes me think of Da Niang in martial arts with a different perspective."

"I feel that the Four Famous Detectives series is so grand. Qi Shaoshang, a minor villain picked randomly in "Meeting the Imperial Guards", can be so wonderful."

"Is this the legendary road warrior? You chase me and I flee, and many forces appear during the chase. I heard that Noon Sunshine is preparing to adapt it into a TV series, and I am looking forward to it."

……

Juewu, a unique martial arts writer in the parallel world, is best known for his double entendre in the word "beast". On the one hand, Juewu's description of the eagle that grew up with the hero and the horse that saved his life are very good in describing the relationship with animals. On the other hand, the villains written by Juewu are really beasts.

The discussion forum is not all serious, and there are loyal readers who raise "questions" about this work.

"It doesn't look like a Gu-style martial arts work at all. The women aren't being abused, and there aren't any traitors among the decent people. And from what I've seen in the plot, it seems like the villains are going to suffer. It's incredible!"

This comment received a lot of likes.

Old Li, who was browsing the comment area, saw this comment and smiled, and started leaving comments. His ID is "木子杍", the same name as the Penguin account. As people get older, they don't like to change their names or avatars.

Muzi: [Do you really think that all of Gu Lu's works are praises of the goodness of human nature? When he debuted, Ichi-inch Master, Mirror Hell, and Inhuman Love were almost not even published in Story Club. So the beautiful women in the first few films all had tragic endings, and the villains didn't die, which happened to be Gu Lu's debut style.]
The dog survived secretly in the quiet environment, and the day came when Gu Lu and the people from the diplomatic department flew to Moscow together.

It was also the day when "Escape to God", a congratulatory article for China, was exhibited.

(End of this chapter)