Lin Baicheng listened carefully without interrupting Hu Zhiwen.
"It's already mid-March now. In these past three months, the newspaper's operations haven't improved at all. Daily circulation has actually dropped below two thousand copies, and the losses keep growing—so much that I can no longer bear them."
"I don't have much money myself, so I can't cover such a huge gap. That's why the paper is already facing the risk of bankruptcy."
"By the end of this month, unless something changes, I'll have to close the newspaper."
"But as long as there's even a slight chance, I don't want to shut it down. Not only because I enjoy editing and have worked in this field for over ten years, but also because if the paper closes, I won't be able to sell it for much. So, I want to save it."
"Everyone's been brainstorming ways to keep the paper alive. After narrowing down the options, I decided to take a gamble—serialize a new novel. With a novel, we might at least stabilize circulation, and if we're lucky, even increase it."
At this point, Lin Baicheng knew Hu Zhiwen was getting to the part that involved him.
"For the past half month, I've been trying to secure a novel for serialization, but nothing worked out."
Hu Zhiwen sighed helplessly. "The reason is simple. The paper is already running at a loss, so we can't afford to pay authors their manuscript fees."
Hearing this, Lin Baicheng raised his eyebrows. If Hu Zhiwen wanted to take his novel for free and promise to pay later, he would never agree. Who knew if that money would ever come?
Sensing Lin Baicheng's thoughts, Hu Zhiwen explained, "Mr. Lin, here's the situation. I want to serialize your novel, but I can't pay you cash. You'd have to take a gamble and shoulder some risk. I don't know if you're willing."
"Editor Hu, please explain in detail, especially how my fees would be handled."
Since he'd already listened this far, Lin Baicheng didn't mind hearing the rest. As long as he wasn't expected to give away his work for nothing, everything else could be discussed.
"As for your manuscript fees, Mr. Lin, I won't be paying them in cash. Instead, they'll count as an investment into the newspaper in exchange for shares."
Seeing that Lin Baicheng was willing to listen, Hu Zhiwen continued, "The paper's assets aren't much—about 100,000 HKD in total. I can give you 10% of the shares as your manuscript fee. Of course, this only holds if your novel isn't too bad; otherwise, I can't take such a risk."
Small newspapers usually rented office space, so they didn't have many fixed assets. Their most valuable assets were their printing equipment and circulation.
"Editor Hu, is that 100,000 HKD your net assets? The paper doesn't have debts, right? Also, if the paper still fails after serializing the novel and closes down, how much would remain?"
Lin Baicheng didn't immediately agree or refuse; instead, he asked questions.
"Of course it's net assets, you can rest assured. And the paper has no debts. If you're still uneasy, we can write these conditions into the contract when we sign."
Hu Zhiwen answered each point, then added, "As for remaining assets if the paper closes—if we don't print large amounts in advance—there'd still be about 70,000 to 80,000 HKD left. Severance pay for staff would take 20,000–30,000 HKD."
"I'm willing to cooperate, but the exact terms still need to be negotiated."
After a brief pause for thought, Lin Baicheng made his choice. But instead of stating his conditions immediately, he pulled out his manuscript. "Editor Hu, this is the first volume of my novel. Please review it. If you find it worthy of serialization, then we can discuss terms."
"Very well."
Hu Zhiwen didn't say more and accepted the manuscript. Conditions could wait until he decided whether the novel was worth serializing. Otherwise, any talk would be meaningless.
The reason he had said so much earlier was to make sure Lin Baicheng understood the situation: there was no cash fee. If Lin wasn't willing to take the risk, there was no point in reading the manuscript.
Hu Zhiwen's proposal didn't bother Lin Baicheng much. If the novel revived the paper, his shares would gain value. If the paper still failed, he would still receive compensation equivalent to his shares.
What dissatisfied him, though, was that 10% was too little—only about 10,000 HKD at current valuation.
Over the past week, though he hadn't sealed any deals, Lin had inquired about new authors' fees. They averaged about 20–30 HKD per thousand words. That meant a one-million-word novel could earn 20,000–30,000 HKD.
For The Storm Riders, the first part alone would be about two million words. That meant it should bring in at least 50,000 HKD in fees.
Yet here, the value was cut down to a fifth immediately, and would shrink further if the paper collapsed. How could he be satisfied with that?
What Lin Baicheng clearly understood was this: if The Storms Riders began serialization in Star Daily but the paper folded before completion, no other newspaper would be willing to continue it later. After all, if the novel could truly attract readers, Star Daily wouldn't have collapsed.
In other words, if the paper went under, he'd be left with only a few thousand HKD, while his novel's future would be ruined.
Of course, if the novel became a hit, not only would the paper be saved and circulation rise, but the shares would also become much more valuable. Moreover, the novel's success could bring various copyrights and royalties—a huge potential windfall.
That would also save him the trouble of finding another paper for serialization. After over a week of trying, he already knew that given his age and lack of formal education, it was extremely difficult to convince any paper to take a chance on him.
This was clearly a gamble. The question was whether it was worth it—and in Lin Baicheng's eyes, 10% of shares wasn't worth it. He needed more.
The fact that Hu Zhiwen spent nearly an hour reading his manuscript was a good sign for Lin. At least Hu didn't find it bad, otherwise he'd have set it aside in minutes.
And if Hu was satisfied with the novel, that meant they had the foundation for cooperation—negotiations could move forward.