Chapter 110: Newspaper Publicity

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Zhang Tan felt surprised, yet it made sense.
He received a call from Li Yan, who reported on the publishing progress of "The Legend of the Condor Heroes." The traditional Chinese edition was advancing quickly, with publication intentions already secured with two publishers they had previously cooperated with — New Asia Culture in Hong Kong and Fresh Culture in Taiwan.
Both publishers offered very high royalty rates, comparable to those given to prominent Hong Kong and Taiwan authors like Zhang Feifan and Li Tiebai.
As for the simplified Chinese edition, Li Yan preferred to collaborate with the Anhui Literature and Art Publishing House.
Recently, Anhui Literature and Art Publishing had been actively expanding into popular literature, with Li Yan leading the charge. Their cooperation intent was clear, and their offer generous, not inferior to that of Hunan People’s Publishing House, and even slightly better in terms of distribution channels.
“Li Jie, I don’t mind who we cooperate with. Naturally, whoever offers better terms, I’ll sign with them. But if Hunan People’s Publishing’s offer isn’t bad, I’d prefer to work with them since they’re old friends,” Zhang Tan replied to Li Yan.
Hunan People’s Publishing had partnered with him during his low point, so Zhang Tan definitely remembered their kindness. He was also somewhat acquainted with Wang Guohua there. In principle, he wanted to continue the collaboration. His previous work, “The Four Great Constables Meet in the Capital,” had been published by them. However, business is business; when it comes to real interests, one must deal pragmatically and not be swayed by mere sentiment.
Zhang Tan was not a pure businessman, but he was not an impulsive hothead either.
Li Yan immediately said, “Understood. I’ll weigh the offers from several publishers, and if the terms are similar, I’ll lean toward Hunan People’s Publishing.”
“Good, Li Jie, thanks for your effort. Call me anytime if there’s anything,” Zhang Tan responded.
After speaking with Li Yan, Zhang Tan no longer concerned himself with publishing matters.
He had already handed over the tedious publishing details to Li Yan. All he needed to do now was stay home and wait for publishers to bring the advance payments.
During the two-month summer vacation,
he drafted a schedule.
Basically, he arranged five to six hours daily for writing, one hour for math tutoring, one hour for reviewing other subjects, and two hours for exercise. The remaining time was free — he could go fishing and shrimp-catching to enjoy the carefree rural youth life, or play guitar, accordion, sing, and compose to indulge in an artistic lifestyle.
Alternatively, he could chat and joke with his grandfather Zhang Henong while practicing calligraphy.
Or he might visit the internet café to play a few rounds of Red Alert, CS, Age of Empires, Warcraft, and the like.
He could also go into town to check the real estate market, paying special attention to the storefronts that he recalled would become commercial districts. Future housing prices would soar like rockets, so buying now was a surefire investment. Moreover, he understood Hefei’s development plan better than most, knowing how the city center would evolve over the next decade or so.

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Within a few years, Hefei planned to develop a new lakeside city, shifting the center southwards to create a lakeside urban area.
Subsequently, the Anhui provincial capital would dissolve the Chaohu-Hunan city, which originally surrounded Lake Chaohu. The residential districts of Chaohu and Lujiang counties would be annexed to Hefei, making the entire lake Hefei’s inner lake. The city center would then begin development around Lake Chaohu. The northern expansion would gradually slow, while the southern side would advance rapidly. Currently, Chaohu-Hunan city remained intact, but housing prices along the lake were pitifully low.
Buying at these low prices promised at least a several-fold increase within ten years.
Although Zhang Tan did not want to be so vulgar as to profit from real estate speculation, giving advice to relatives to buy early and enjoy some benefits from the property market was acceptable. Besides, he was not one to bend for a little money; however, to miss out on the windfall of rising housing prices would be foolish.
Buying several properties was better than letting money lose value in the bank.
...
Ten days flew by in a flash. The writing progress of “The Legend of the Condor Heroes” was good, with nearly 100,000 words completed. The first 60,000 words had already been sent to the magazine. The “Modern and Ancient Legends: Martial Arts Edition” confirmed its revision into a semi-monthly, and the first issue featuring “The Legend of the Condor Heroes” would be released in early August, the 10th issue in total.
During Li Yan’s negotiations, Hunan People’s Publishing gave up the rights to publish “The Legend of the Condor Heroes.” Wang Guohua confided to Zhang Tan that for the sake of caution, without certainty that “Condor” would be a hit, they dared not invest heavily. He hoped Zhang Tan would continue writing “The Four Great Constables.”
Ultimately, “The Legend of the Condor Heroes” was signed by Anhui Literature and Art Publishing, with a 12% royalty rate—an impressively bold move.
Zhang Tan also participated in the negotiations, mainly disclosing the planned word count of 1.2 million words; the content, tracing a generation of a great hero’s growth; and the timeline, aiming to finish by year-end or at the latest early next spring. Based on his responses, Anhui Literature and Art Publishing arranged the specific publication details.
The work would be published in eight volumes, each with 150,000 words, releasing one volume per month, with the first print run of 100,000 copies.
They also guaranteed the completion of all eight volumes, with a minimum print of 50,000 copies per volume. This clause was a protective measure—risky for the publisher but a guarantee for Zhang Tan, preventing the series from being cut off if sales were poor. Anhui Literature and Art Publishing won over other publishers precisely because of this protective clause.
Zhang Tan did not value the clause much; he was confident in his work. What mattered most was sincerity.
With such sincerity from the publisher, there was no reason not to cooperate.
So it was.
Another book was about to be published.
Zhang Tan’s spirits soared.
...
July passed like a fleeting shuttle, and before he knew it, August had arrived.

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That day,
Zhang Tan went out for a stroll.
He took a newly purchased fishing rod, planning to escape the scorching afternoon heat by fishing under the shade of trees beside a small pond.
There were many ponds in the countryside, some rented out for fish farming, but many remained communal property of the village or brigade. Fishing in such ponds was perfectly acceptable. However, the fish in these ponds were small; for truly large fish, one had to go to the river near San Zhan or the upstream reservoir.
If one had a motorcycle, they could also ride to Wushan Town, where there was a reservoir called Wei Lao Lake, known for mandarin fish free of any fishy smell—a real delicacy.
No matter which reservoir, Zhang Tan found them too far. He fished more for the process than the catch, so he stuck to the pond near his home.
Just as he scattered some fragrant rice and baited his hook with worms, his phone rang.
It was Li Yan.
“Hello, Li Jie, what’s up?”
“Zhang Tan, Anhui Literature and Art Publishing has finished proofreading the manuscript for the first volume of ‘The Legend of the Condor Heroes.’ They’ve also obtained the book number and are preparing for printing and publication. They’re planning to arrange some publicity for your book, inviting many reporters to interview you to increase exposure. When will you be available?”
“Journalists want to interview me?”
“Yes, for several newspapers.”
Zhang Tan felt dizzy—he hadn’t expected to appear in newspapers so soon. He had been writing for nearly a year, published two books, and had some fame in the martial arts circles of Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the mainland, but only within that small circle. He hadn’t become a public celebrity. Compared to Han Jingming, he was far behind.
Han Jingming hadn’t even published a novel yet but became famous nationwide due to the media buzz surrounding his school dropout story.
Zhang Tan had never received such treatment. Previously, only the “Modern and Ancient Legends: Martial Arts Edition” had championed him. Yet martial arts novels in the mainland were always considered lowbrow by the mainstream cultural circles, so Zhang Tan’s fame was naturally ignored by the mainstream. Had he been in martial arts hotbeds like Hong Kong or Taiwan, he would have been widely celebrated.
But now, finally, it was his turn to appear in newspapers and boost his fame.
“All right, I’m available for interviews anytime,” Zhang Tan said without hesitation after a moment’s surprise.
“Good, I’ll contact the coordinator right away and arrange the interview as soon as possible.”