United States, New York.
From the backwardness of Tuvalu to the prosperity of New York, the gap in Li Daniu's heart is very big.
As the current king of Tuvalu, Li Daniu has basically missed these international metropolises all his life. How can there be a king who does not stay in his own country every day and always goes abroad?
"One day, my Tuvalu will develop better than your poor New York." Sitting in a taxi, Li Daniu uttered bold words.
Why is there no king car?
Because of poverty.
Although I just got 200 million US dollars, and even after the necklace auction, it is possible to get more, but the money to be spent is really too much. It is impossible for Li Daniu to spend money to buy a car in the United States for his own enjoyment. I don't know how many times he can drive a car a year, right?
After stopping and stopping in the taxi, Li Daniu finally arrived at his destination—Moon Publishing House.
Although Burns didn't quite believe what Li Daniu said, first write a few books and earn hundreds of millions of dollars, but as the king of Burns, Burns couldn't ignore anything Li Daniu said. So through the only contacts I had, I introduced Li Daniu to an editor-in-chief of the Moon Publishing House.
Originally, Burns wanted to follow his king at all times, but Li Daniu arranged for him to start negotiations on the purchase of the island as soon as possible, so he could only send two guards and a national lawyer from Tuvalu to follow.
"Your Majesty, we are here." Seeing the huge signboard of the Moon Publishing House, Castro, who is a national lawyer and part-time assistant to the king, said.
"Your Majesty the King? Man, did I hear you right? He called you Your Majesty the King?" The taxi driver seemed unable to believe his ears.
"Yes, my nickname is very domineering." Li Daniu replied awkwardly.
"It's really domineering, but you must at least have a good car to be worthy of this nickname."
After getting out of the car, Li Daniu hurriedly told the people who were following him, "Don't call me His Majesty the King outside, just call me the boss."
"Can…"
"No, but, this is an order." Li Daniu waved his hand, and took the lead to walk into the publishing house.
To be honest, Li Daniu really didn't want to take these people with him. He looked very handsome with the people around him, but he didn't even have a car when he went out, so he had to take a taxi, which was embarrassing. One mouthful of His Majesty's, as if afraid that others would not know that this is the poorest king in the world.
But Li Daniu had never written a book before traveling, let alone published a novel, so he had to take Castro, one of the only two lawyers in Tuvalu, with him. The two guards were naturally arranged by Burns, in the name of protecting the king's safety.
Keep me safe? Li Daniu sneered in his heart, he couldn't even bring a gun to the United States, how could he protect me in the United States where basically every household has a gun?
Speaking of carrying a gun, Li Daniu was also full of anger. It stands to reason that when a sovereign country like Tuvalu recognized by the United Nations, when visiting abroad, there must be security personnel with him who can carry weapons, even Datianchao When leaders go abroad for visits, even cars can be flown there by themselves. But this time when Li Daniu came to the United States, when he submitted his application for carrying weapons through diplomatic means, he was turned back on the grounds that the United States was very safe.
America is safe? You must be kidding me, right?
In a rage, he planned to find a publishing house in another country, but Burns dispelled Li Daniu's idea with one word.
"Uh...Your Majesty, when the old king visited abroad, there were no guards with guns."
Well, although it is said that a weak country has no diplomacy, you are too weak. No matter which country you go to, people will reject you.
Li Daniu, who gave up asking for guards because he couldn't carry a gun, brought two guards with him under Burns' persuasion. The original words of Burns are: "At least there is someone who can carry luggage, open the door of the car, and hold an umbrella when it rains."
Thus, Li Daniu, who is more like the owner of a small business than the king of a country, walked into the gate of Lunar Publishing House.
Lunar Publishing House ranked 41st in last year's global publishing house ranking. Don't think that 41 is very low. This is 41 among hundreds of thousands of publishing houses in the world. The ranking of Lunar Publishing House in the United States can even reach the top ten.
From the perspective of royalty income, the annual net profit of Lunar Publishing House can reach 300 million U.S. dollars, while the annual GDP of Tuvalu owned by Li Daniu is only a little over 10 million U.S. dollars, which is 30 million U.S. dollars. one-third.
At the front desk, the lawyer Castro asked Li Daniu to sit in the rest area with a wink, and then he went to communicate with people.
Li Daniu sat and waited in the rest area for a while, and Castro came over and said that the communication had been made, and he could go up to see the editor-in-chief Burns had introduced.
Why didn't you come down to meet me? This question passed in Li Daniu's mind for a while, and then disappeared with the wind. In the final analysis, the national strength is still too weak, not even as good as a single company.
Going upstairs, Li Daniu met the editor-in-chief Burns had introduced in an office, an ordinary-looking middle-aged white man.
"Hello, Your Majesty, I'm Harry, Burns' friend. I heard Burns said that you have written a novel and are about to publish it?" Harry stood up and greeted him, but he didn't show much respect.
In Harry's view, although his friend Burns is a prime minister, his salary and benefits are not as high as his own, and Tuvalu, which he serves, is also a small country that cannot be smaller. Alas, he should have been persuaded to stay in the United States and not return to Tuvalu.
If Li Daniu knew what Harry was thinking, he would definitely spit on him. When my Tuvalu catches up with Britain and the United States, if you want to hug Burns' thigh, you may not be able to hug Burns' thigh, at least I will not agree.
"Yes, Mr. Harry. Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule. Would you like to read my manuscript first?"
"Of course, the manuscript is the most important thing." Harry smiled, took the stack of A4 papers passed by Castro, and flipped through them absent-mindedly.
Ever since he received the call from Burns, Harry had always believed that the young king who had just taken over the position of Lord of a country was just seeking some fame just like those powerful people in the past. I don't know how many Lunar Publishing Houses have accepted, this kind of job of publishing books at their own expense for the sake of fame.
After reading for a few minutes, Harry had already finished flipping through more than ten pages of the manuscript.
"I've already read it. Your writing is very good. Let's talk about the publication."
finish watching? Are you **** kidding me?
Li Daniu thought that, with his reading speed cultivated by more than ten years of experience in reading novels, he couldn't read this stack of manuscripts in a few minutes. What's more, this "Lord of the Rings", as a classic masterpiece that took 12 years to brew, has a very high reading value in itself, and it is impossible to understand the essence of this story without every single word.
Could it be that this editor-in-chief is born with a photographic memory and ten lines at a glance?
"My lawyer will talk to you about publishing matters." Li Daniu thought to himself, since he can achieve the position of editor-in-chief, he must have something special, so it's better for him to be patient.
"Okay." Harry didn't care who to talk to, in his opinion, arranging other people to talk to him about publishing the book proved that the book was of no value, it was just for fame.
"Mr. Harry, I am Castro, the national lawyer of Tuvalu. You can communicate with me about the publication of this book by His Majesty the King." Castro reported himself confidently. As Tuvalu’s national lawyer, this is the second time he has negotiated on behalf of the Tuvalu royal family. The first time was when the old King’s plane crashed, and he negotiated compensation with the airline.
"Mr. Castro, it's like this. Our Lunar Publishing House often receives similar publishing requests, such as a certain singer, a certain congressman..." After reporting a series of American celebrities, Harry said: "We The publishing requirements for them are all charged at the cost of a book of 5 dollars. Because the printing house needs to typeset first, this price can be changed according to the size of the printing volume. If your printing volume is 5 If you have less than 10,000 copies, then the price of 5 dollars per copy is not less than a penny, and if your printing volume is 100,000 copies, then the cost can be controlled at 4.5 dollars per copy.”
Ignoring Li Daniu and Castro who were stunned, Harry continued: "Of course, I hope you don't make it public about the price I mentioned, because normally, our publishing house adds $2 profit, after all, we have to typeset, contact publishers, and even put these printed books in bookstores across the United States through our channels. Because of Burns' relationship and the actual situation in your country, I can call it a day and not charge the $2 profit per copy."
Now that Li Daniu has arrived, he is finally sure that Harry didn't pay attention to the novel "The Lord of the Rings" at all just now, and it can even be said that he didn't even count as reading it once, otherwise, it would be impossible to say such a thing.
Because the U.S. cracks down **** piracy, authors’ royalties are much higher than those in other countries. UU Reading ’s highest can reach 60%, and the lowest is basically around 20%. And the price of a book is uncertain, similar to novels like "The Lord of the Rings", Li Daniu consulted the pricing of similar novels in this world, and expected that it would be around 20 US dollars a book.
On the way here, Li Daniu had already thought about it. Although the book "The Lord of the Rings" is very attractive, but after all, he is a new writer, so it is impossible to get the legendary 60% royalties. However, this book sold over 100 million copies in the world before traveling, and it can be said that even a 1% royalty is a huge wealth close to 20 million US dollars.
Therefore, Li Daniu's request to Castro is that the royalties for this book should not be lower than 40%.
But now, Harry doesn't mention royalties at all, but treats him as a self-published book, and directly quotes you how much to print a book.
Castromon circled, this is completely out of routine, so how can I talk about it? Could it be that the second time a lawyer in this country went out, it ended in failure? Will His Majesty the King fire me, but it's really not my fault.
"Mr. Harry, are you sure you don't need to read the manuscript again?" Li Daniu was going to give Harry another chance for Burns' sake.
"Well, Your Majesty, I think I've finished reading it, and there's no need to read it a second time. I believe that after this book is on the shelves, there will be a lot of stock for me to read slowly." Harry even finished this sentence While talking, he put the manuscripts together and put them on the edge of the desk.
Li Daniu sighed, Burns, it's not that I don't give you face, it's that you, a friend, are too good at killing.
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