"Mr. Lin, this novel is really written by you?"
After quickly skimming through the manuscript, Hu Zhiwen was very surprised.
"Please don't take it the wrong way—I'm not doubting you. It's just that this novel is indeed quite good. For your very first attempt at writing a novel to turn out this well, it's truly astonishing."
The quality of The Storm Riders was beyond his expectations. After all, Lin Baicheng was still a young man who hadn't even attended university. Hu had originally assumed his writing would be mediocre at best, perhaps even terrible.
The only reason he had agreed to meet with Lin, and to talk with him at length, was because he had been hitting wall after wall recently. He didn't want to just sit by and let the newspaper collapse, so he took a chance, adopting a "why not" attitude to see what Lin's manuscript was like.
Unexpectedly, the novel's quality was quite impressive. After reading it, Hu even felt a bit fortunate that he hadn't dismissed the young man outright. Giving Lin a chance also meant giving himself a chance.
Lin didn't take offense. "Chief Editor Hu, then we can move forward with cooperation?"
"Yes, of course!"
Hu immediately nodded, but then added with some regret:
"It's just a pity, Mr. Lin. Your prose is a little too plain. Otherwise, the quality of your novel could be raised another level. I can't guarantee it would become a huge hit, but at least a moderate success should be no problem."
Lin understood exactly what Hu meant—that his style wasn't refined, not half in classical Chinese like many novels of the time. The problem was, in his previous life he had written web novels in straightforward, easy-to-read language. And in this life, the original body had only graduated from Form 5 with average grades. Where would he have learned high-level literary prose? All he could do was write the way he always had.
At this time, novels weren't typically written in such plain, direct style. To a professional editor, Lin's prose felt unsophisticated.
"Chief Editor Hu, you also know I only graduated Form 5. For me to write like this is already pretty good."
Lin smiled lightly. He didn't bother to argue that plainer prose was actually easier for ordinary readers to follow, since in this era literary polish was still more respected.
"That's true," Hu admitted. "For your very first novel to be at this level, I can imagine you'll definitely become a great writer in the future."
He gave Lin a genuine thumbs-up.
"Thank you."
Lin nodded politely, then continued:
"Chief Editor Hu, about the cooperation method you proposed—I'm willing to take a gamble. But the terms still need to be renegotiated."
Before Hu could object, Lin pressed on:
"You must know, even for a newcomer like me, the manuscript fee for a long serial is around HK$20–30 per thousand characters. Let's take the middle ground at HK$25. My novel already has nearly 200,000 characters written in the first volume alone, and the full story will be around 2 million characters."
"That means if serialized under normal terms, my manuscript fee should total about HK$50,000."
"But as you yourself said, the assets of Star Daily are only HK$100,000. Ten percent of the shares would only be worth about HK$10,000. That's equivalent to just 20% of my rightful manuscript fee—not to mention, if the paper goes under, that value would shrink even further."
"So while I don't mind the cooperation model, the stake you're offering is too small. Ten percent of the shares is simply not enough."
Hu didn't immediately argue back. Instead, he said:
"Mr. Lin, your novel is indeed good. But I doubt any other newspaper would be willing to serialize it. In fact, I'd say very few editors would even bother to read it. You're young, and you lack academic credentials. Editors won't waste their time."
"It's only because my newspaper is on the verge of collapse, and because I can't resign myself to failure, that I'm willing to gamble some money and read your work. Since your novel is indeed decent, I'm prepared to serialize it. But if you miss this chance, I believe it could be years before your work appears in print."
"So, this partnership is already a rare opportunity for you. And ten percent of the shares is not a small offer. To be blunt, if your novel fails to save the paper, I'll still have to pay you thousands in manuscript fees. My loss would be even greater."
"Chief Editor Hu, I'm also taking a huge risk here, don't you think?"
Lin shot back immediately:
"If my novel is serialized in Star Daily but fails to save the paper, then my novel is ruined too. No other newspaper would dare continue the serialization. A completed serialization can lead to book publications, film adaptations, comic adaptations, and more—all considerable sources of income. But if the serialization gets cut off, I earn nothing. That's a massive loss for me."
"So, I need 30% of the shares. Otherwise, my risks and rewards are completely out of balance—it just wouldn't be worth it."
Lin raised three fingers. "Thirty percent."
"That's impossible!"
Hu shouted, shaking his head repeatedly. "You're asking for far too much. Rather than pay such a high price for a gamble, I'd sooner just let the paper collapse."
"Fifteen percent. That's my bottom line."
After some thought, Hu gritted his teeth and increased his offer. He did still believe in The Storm Riders. As he'd said earlier, even if it didn't become a smash hit, a moderate success was highly likely. He was willing to take that gamble and didn't want to miss the chance.
"Fifteen percent is too low."
Lin shook his head firmly. Anything less than 20% was unacceptable.
The problem was Star Daily's assets were too small—only HK$100,000, according to Hu. But who knew how much truth there was in that number? It might be worth only HK$80,000, or even less. Lin would be a fool to take Hu's word at face value.
Since he had no way of verifying the paper's actual net worth, the only way to protect his own interests was to demand a larger share. Otherwise, it was better not to cooperate at all. After all, he wasn't desperate.
And so, the two went back and forth, neither yielding ground.
Lin held firm at 30%. Hu refused to go beyond 15%. By the time Lin left Star Daily, they still hadn't reached an agreement.
But both still wanted to cooperate, so the discussion didn't collapse entirely. Each left some room for further negotiation.