MTL - King Who Will Cross-Chapter 19 The man who missed $1.2 billion
So far, no one in this world has read the book "The Lord of the Rings" except Li Daniu.
Burns was the first person to know the existence of this book, but in his opinion, Li Daniu, who claims to be the original author of this book, has no literary talent, and has never had any literary talent since he was a child. What a great achievement.
Burns clearly remembered that he was a computer major at Harvard University who handled the suspension procedures for Li Daniu. If Li Daniu said that he had developed some software that could change the world, then Burns might still believe it. After all, Harvard has produced many talents in this field over the years, but literature, isn’t it better than anyone else to type faster?
Therefore, in order to keep the face of His Majesty the King, Burns never asked to read the manuscript of the novel that Li Daniu said.
Afterwards, the person who found out about the existence of this book was Castro who Li Daniu brought to the United States. Castro didn't think as much as Burns, and, logically speaking, as the lawyer who will be in charge of the book's publication negotiations, Castro should read the manuscript of the book and take some initiative.
However, Castro dare not.
There is an old saying that goes well, being with a king is like being with a tiger. Although so far, the royal family of Tuvalu has only experienced the second generation. In the past few decades, the old king has not only not heard any tyrannical rumors, but also won the hearts of the people. But who knows what kind of temper Li Daniu's successor will have?
No one in Tuvalu knows about Li Daniu who just announced his enthronement, because Li Daniu has left Tuvalu and lived in the United States for more than ten years, from the age of 6 until he returned to the throne at the age of 23.
The only ones who really know Li Daniu are the old king and his wife, and a nanny who takes care of Li Daniu. But the old king and his wife died in a plane crash, and when Li Daniu turned 18 years old, he was resigned in order to save money, and then because he had lived in the United States for more than 12 years and had no bad records, he got a The US green card, since then, has never returned to Tuvalu.
Castro's cleverness told him that he must never offer to read the novel manuscript written by his king, because there is no way to comment.
you agree?
So where is the good?
You can't say well?
Come on, pull him out and shoot him.
Castro was very worried about the above conversation, so from going out with Li Daniu to now sitting in the office of editor-in-chief Harry, Castro has never read the manuscript that he held in his hand. .
And the only one who asked Li Daniu to hand over part of the manuscript was Harry. But Harry didn't care about the manuscript at all, he casually scanned it and saw that there was nothing discordant, and directly asked Li Daniu to publish it at his own expense.
Li Daniu was really afraid of the original author of this book, he would cross over angrily and strangle Harry to death.
"So, what are your thoughts?" Harry said indifferently: "The price of self-publishing really cannot be lowered, and I have already waived the handling fee we have to withdraw for each book."
Li Daniu was completely disappointed with Harry. Not only did he fail to see the true value of this book, but he even reached the point where he was familiar with it. Perhaps it was because Harry regarded Li Daniu and others as people who had been living in a small isolated country like Tuvalu, so he added water to the price of self-publishing.
Although Li Daniu has never lived in the United States, there are such things as search engines in this world. When Li Daniu came, he already knew how much it costs to print a book. Depending on the color and material of the book, it can range from a few dollars to tens of dollars. For example, some high-end magazines are all made of high-end coated paper. In a country like the United States, where labor costs are very high, the cost of a copy is not without tens of dollars, including the distribution fee.
But so far, Harry has never mentioned how the book will be printed or how many volumes it will be published in. He just quoted a price of 5 dollars in general.
If you print on newspaper-like paper, no one will buy my book no matter how classic it is.
"Mr. Harry, I have a few questions that I would like to consult before I can make a decision." Li Daniu completely ignored Castro's innocent eyes, and now he had to do it himself.
"It's my responsibility to solve your problem." Harry didn't really care about the deal. After the deal was completed, tens of thousands of dollars would be deducted from the cost of the deal. He never thought about it. This book will sell. In his opinion, even if the book was published, it would at best hang around in a few bookstores, and then put it in the warehouse until it was covered with dust and sell it as scrap.
However, I am also a king in front of me, so if I talk a little more, I will have a little more bragging capital when I get together with my friends, isn't it?
"The first thing I want to know is what kind of sample book will I get at the printing cost of 5 dollars."
When Harry heard Li Daniu's question, he felt that the king was not so easy to fool, he seemed to be a very face-saving person, so he could only earn a little less performance.
"It's about the same as this one." Harry pulled out a novel from the bookshelf behind him, with a very common packaging and printing style on the market.
Li Daniu took it over and looked at it, and said it was acceptable, at least the "Lord of the Rings" he bought was printed like this.
"Then, the second question, my book is going to be published in three volumes, and each volume is about half the thickness of this book, so how do you calculate the cost?"
"This..." Harry regretted accepting Li Daniu's question a bit. You said that you are a **** who publishes books at his own expense, is it necessary to care about the details so much? Published in three volumes? Do you think you can sell more?
"The specific price still depends on the printing volume, but if it is divided into volumes, the overall cost of your book will definitely increase. Because each volume is a separate edition, the cost of a set of books should be around 8 US dollars .”
In fact, Harry's quotation method is very irresponsible, because the real quotation can only be known after the typesetting. However, Harry only wanted to earn some performance, so he only added a dollar or two to the approximate quotation. As for why only such a small amount was added, it was because Harry knew the economic situation in Tuvalu, and was afraid that the price would be too high, which scared people away.
Li Daniu was very satisfied with this quotation. Based on the price of 20 US dollars for a set of books, 8 US dollars is equivalent to 40% of the royalties. Calculated in this way, Li Daniu is equivalent to getting 60% of the highest royalties in the publishing industry, which is much more than the 40% he expected. However, what Harry is talking about is self-publishing, that is to say, Li Daniu spends money to print, no matter whether they sell it or not, they can get 8 US dollars, only earn money, and have no loss.
For normal publishing, the publishing house pays for the printing. If it cannot be sold, the publishing house will get back 8 dollars for each book, and even the printing cost will not be recovered. Of course, for publishing in some places, the oil publishing house will deduct the printing cost before calculating the share.
"The third question is also the last question." Li Daniu was happy after finishing the calculation, but there is one thing that needs to be confirmed: "If this book is sold, for example, a thousand sets, and I The fixed price is 20 US dollars a set. So, does the 20,000 US dollars belong to me?"
A thousand sets? Hehe, this requirement is really low enough. Harry sneered in his heart and said: "Of course, all of it belongs to you. You must know that the cost of self-publishing books is still very high. A lot of money, but they all rely on their own fame to sell part of the recovered cost. Of course, whether the cost can be recovered depends on the printing volume, and the printing volume is generally proportional to the number of fans. Our Moon Press We have cooperated with many celebrities, so you don’t have to worry at all, let alone a thousand sets, even if you sell 10,000 sets, all the money minus the shipping fee will belong to you.”
Hearing what Harry said, Li Daniu really wanted to find a printing house to publish this book, but publishing a book requires a serial number, and it is impossible to get it if it is not a formal publishing house. Moreover, publishing houses, publishers, and bookstores all have cooperative relationships. Otherwise, why do many writers like to find large publishing houses? It is entirely because the bigger the publishing house, the wider the market. If there is no market, even if you have fans, they will not be able to buy your book.
Smile, laugh well, and when my book becomes popular, see if you can still laugh. After thinking about it for a while, Li Daniu said: "Okay, then I will definitely publish this book with your publishing house, Castro, you and Mr. Harry go through the formalities."
Do you still need me? Castro waited by the side for a long time, and finally got his chance to play.
As a professional lawyer, Castro is still very capable, otherwise he would not be hired by Tuvalu as a national lawyer, although only Tuvalu is willing to hire him.
The procedure is very simple, Harry has a complete contract template here. However, Castro kept Li Daniu's instructions in mind, and marked the following points on the contract.
First, Lunar Publishing House only owns the book publishing rights in the United States, and the other copyrights of "Lord of the Rings" are still owned by Li Daniu.
Second, if other countries want to publish this book, they can only contact Li Daniu, and Lunar Publishing House has no right to interfere.
Third, the initial printing run was 100,000 sets, and Lunar Publishing House had to ensure that the 100,000 sets of "Lord of the Rings" were distributed reasonably according to the purchasing power of different regions.
Fourth, if there is a reprint due to market demand, it must be authorized by Li Daniu, and the right to reprint belongs to Li Daniu himself, and Lunar Publishing House only has the priority right to reprint under the same conditions.
…
On the surface, this contract looks like Li Daniu's interests are greatly protected. But the premise is that this set of books can be sold and recognized by the market.
The reason why Harp is willing to sign this contract is because he is not optimistic about the prospect of this book at all, or in other words, he does not believe that a king will write a book at all. If someone like the president of the United States, who stands at the top of the earth's rights, writes an autobiography, the sales volume is still very good. But you, the king of a small country with the size of sesame seeds and mung beans, want to write a book? He also wrote stories about messy elves and dwarves. Does your country have this kind of cultural heritage?
After the contract was signed, both parties were very satisfied, Li Daniu because he was going to make a lot of money, and Harry because Li Daniu was about to print 100,000 sets of books, and his performance this month was guaranteed. UU reading www.uukanshu. com
Castro asked Harry to stamp the seam seal on the original manuscript, and after taking pictures, he handed over a manuscript to Harry with confidence.
And Harry casually handed over the full draft that Castro had handed over to the assistant he called over. And scoffed at Castro's caution.
"Mr. Lawyer, please rest assured that our Lunar Publishing House has been established for more than 50 years, which is longer than the founding of your country, and our reputation is still very guaranteed."
Castro smiled awkwardly and didn't reply. It's not that he doesn't believe in Moon Publishing House, but because of occupational disease and fear of Li Daniu. You know, Tuvalu does not submit to the United States, but there is a capital offense, and the laws of Tuvalu can basically be formulated by Li Daniu alone.
What if Li Daniu is a tyrant? Then the first time I did something for Li Daniu, if I failed, wouldn't I be dead?
Li Daniu didn't know Castro's inner thoughts. If he knew, he would definitely say that he was very satisfied with his prudence and would reward him well in the future. And let alone killing people, the biggest animal I have ever killed in my life up to now is a fish.
"Happy cooperation!" Li Daniu laughed heartily at this moment, then he didn't care about Harry's contempt, and took the initiative to shake hands with Harry.
Because in Li Daniu's view, let alone the book's previous sales volume of 150 million, even if it can reach 100 million sets, then the 60% of the royalties he originally planned to give up is 1.2 billion US dollars, and Harry made him The company missed the editor-in-chief worth 1.2 billion dollars, and this life is doomed to be extremely gloomy. Why should you be angry with such a person?
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