make money
Textbooks are important varieties with huge sales and rich profits in the book publishing industry. Publishers generally don't let textbook writers draw royalties, but there is an exception in Shanghai Commercial Press, which is Model English Reader edited by Zhou Yueruo.
With the increasing sales of Model English Reader, Zhou Yueruo, who received royalties of several hundred thousand yuan, changed from a poor scholar to a rich man, built a garden house, bought a lot of ancient books and lived a leisurely life.
Zhou Yueruo's rapid success made many people jealous, and one of them was Lin Yutang, who was already quite famous at that time.
Lin Yutang has a profound knowledge of English. During the National Revolution, he left Peking University and became the secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Wuhan National Government. After the collapse of Wuhan National Government, besides becoming a university professor, he wanted to find another way to compile a middle school English textbook like Zhou Yue Ruo and become a rich scholar.
During his teaching at Peking University, Lin Yutang was closely related to Lu Xun, Sun Fuyuan and others. He knew that Sun Fuyuan was very popular in the publishing industry, so he specially asked Sun Fuyuan to be a contact publishing house.
At that time, there were two bookstores with the closest relationship with Sun Fuyuan, one was Beixin Bookstore and the other was Ming Kai Bookstore. Sun Fuyuan first approached Beixin, but failed. The reason is that Lin Yutang asked 300 yuan to pay royalties in advance every month after signing the contract, but Beixin felt that the risk was too great and didn't agree.
Sun Fuyuan turned to contact Ming Kai Bookstore. At that time, there was not much enlightened capital, and Sun Fuyuan didn't have much hope. But under a talk, the bookstore owner Zhang agreed without hesitation, and Sun Fuyuan and Lin Yutang were overjoyed.
From 65438 to 0928, Lin Yutang lived up to expectations and spent considerable energy, and soon compiled a well-written and high-level enlightening English reader. According to the agreement of both parties, Lin Yutang shall be paid royalties of 10%.
In order to promote sales, MingKate invited Feng Zikai to draw illustrations to increase his vitality. Lin Yutang specifically allowed him to take 2% royalties as a reward. The publishing house also emphasized the binding design of this book. It is these meticulous planning and efforts that once the Enlightened English Reader was published, middle schools all over the country rushed to buy it, and it didn't take long to seize the market of the Model English Reader. After the publication of Enlightened English Reader for more than 20 years, Lin Yutang received a total royalty of about 300,000 yuan, which made him known as the "royalty king". Enlightened Bookstore also became one of the giants in the book industry in the Republic of China from a little-known publisher. There must be a brave man under the so-called profiteering.
1930, Shen Zhifang, the owner of World Bookstore, saw that the sales of Enlightened English Reader were getting more and more popular, so he was greedy and wanted to imitate and share a piece of it. Therefore, Shen Zhifang is planning to ask someone to write a similar reading according to the style and content of Enlightened English Reader.
At that time, there were five private bookstores in China, including Commercial Press, Zhonghua Bookstore, World Bookstore, Dadong Bookstore and Ming Kai Bookstore, except the official Zhong Zheng Bookstore, among which the enlightenment power was the weakest and the scale was the smallest.
However, World Bookstore didn't spend a lot of money to hire a famous scholar like Lin Yutang like Ming Kai Bookstore, but invited Lin Handa, who just graduated from college, to do the writing work. After the book was compiled, it was named "Standard English Reader" and sold to all parts of the country.
Of course, what Shen Zhifang did can't hide from his competitors. Bookstore owner Zhang and author Lin Yutang have been keeping a close eye on every move of bookstores around the world, trying to find the best opportunity and attack method.
Lin Yutang, a doctor studying abroad who has always thought highly of himself, finds it hard to believe that a young man has the ability to write a middle school English book to compete with him. So, he deliberately found a set of "Standard English Reader" and read it carefully. If you don't read it, you will be surprised after reading it-he was surprised to find that this book compiled by Lin Handa is similar to his own book in many places, and it is obviously suspected of "plagiarism"!
In fact, standard English readers and enlightenment English readers are basically the same in form, and many texts are copied from enlightenment English readers.
After Lin Yutang's suspicion was confirmed, he immediately told Zhang and asked him to negotiate quickly and stop this reckless behavior.
Therefore, Zhang and others conveyed Lin Yutang's opinion to the audience, and explicitly asked the world bookstore to stop publishing and implement adaptation.
However, the enlightened party did not expect that Shen Zhifang would not buy their account at all. Zhang was very angry to see such arrogance and irrationality. Not to be outdone, he decided to solve the matter through legal channels. Zhang asked the enlightened legal adviser to write to the World Bookstore to protest against copyright infringement, and at the same time issued a severe warning to the World Bookstore, demanding that it immediately "stop the infringement, stop publishing standard English readers and compensate for the losses".
When this letter of protest was sent to Shen Zhifang, Shen Zhifang actually gave this letter to Lin Handa, who had no experience in this field, and asked him to solve it himself. Afterwards, it was proved that this action was very unwise, which led to the open dispute between the two sides.
Lin Handa was embarrassed, after all, he had just left college. Just when he didn't know how to deal with it, it happened that Fan Ceng, the nominal editor-in-chief of the World Bookstore, worked with Zhang, and Fan suggested going to talk to Zhang directly. Fan also volunteered to write a letter of introduction.
Fan mentioned in his letter that "The Standard English Reader published by our bureau is similar to the Enlightenment English Reader published by your store". The speaker was not interested in watching the excitement, but when he hurried to see Zhang with a letter of introduction, Zhang was very happy. The word "similarity" is crucial, which is tantamount to the world bookstore "inviting yourself not to be beaten". This will be one of the strong evidences that bookstores in the world will be forced to admit plagiarism in the future. Zhang quietly told me, "You should go to the author Lin Yutang, because this letter is from his opinion. As long as Lin Yutang agrees to settle, neither I nor Ming Kai Bookstore will have any problems. " In order to show his kindness, Zhang also specially wrote a note.
Lin Handa relaxed and hurried to visit Lin Yutang. Lin went three times in a row, but I didn't see him twice before, so I had to leave a business card and write a few words on the back, saying, "It's a pity that I didn't see him twice." Please tell me which parts of that textbook you think should be revised. I am willing to accept it and abide by it completely. "
This time, Lin Handa made the same mistake as Fan Liuyun. Lin Yutang immediately handed Zhang his business card, and these messages became another evidence that the world bookstore was indefensible.
When Lin Yutang finally met Lin Handa, Lin Handa mistook Lin Yutang, who was only five years older than himself, as an "old-timer" and modestly asked him for advice, saying that he had no experience in compiling textbooks, so mistakes were inevitable. If there is anything wrong, please correct me and so on. Unexpectedly, these humbly asking for advice were later used as criticism by Lin Yutang.
After some discussion, Zhang and Lin Yutang decided to openly attack the world bookstore with the evidence in their hands. The bookstore quickly made Fan's letters, messages and conversations with Zhang and Lin Yutang into photographic zinc editions, compiled large advertisements, and published them in prominent positions in major newspapers and periodicals in Shanghai with the title "Hard evidence that standard English readers in world bookstores copied enlightened English readers".
Faced with the strong publicity pressure from Ming Kai Bookstore, World Bookstore did not flinch. Shen Zhifang decided to "pre-empt", while asking a lawyer to refute the advertising campaign of Ming Kai Bookstore, and at the same time took the lead in initiating legal proceedings to file a criminal lawsuit against Ming Kai Bookstore in the concession court.
In order to ensure the success of the lawsuit, World Bookstore hired Zheng Yuxiu as its defense lawyer at a sky-high price of 3,000 taels of silver.
Zheng Yuxiu was hired by the world bookstore at a high price, not only because she is the dean of Shanghai Law School, but also because this female lawyer has a special and close relationship with Wang Chonghui, the Minister of Justice of the National Government who manipulates the appointment and removal of judges in Shanghai. At that time, there was a saying in the judicial circles that all cases handled by Zheng Yuxiu could only be won, not lost.
At the first trial, I almost got a sentence just after the trial. Yuan Xilian, the lawyer of the defendant Ming Kai Bookstore, had little chance to defend himself, because the judge in charge of the trial was partial to the plaintiff. After the first trial, Yuan Xilian trembled with anger. When he saw Zhang, he threw his bag on the table and said angrily, I'm not sure, thank you! (in feudal times) beat the drum before the magistrate withdraws from the court
Zhang was as anxious as a cat on hot bricks, but he still kept a clear head at the critical moment. On the one hand, it continued to advertise in newspapers and periodicals, stepped up its propaganda offensive, and argued with world bookstores many times; On the other hand, he is going to go beyond Shanghai judicial organs and ask the Ministry of Education of Nanjing National Government for help.
At the same time, Lin Yutang is also deeply involved. At Zhang's instigation, he repeatedly compared the two kinds of readers, tore off the pages with similar or identical forms and contents, enumerated them one by one, expounded the ironclad evidence of plagiarism, and accused the world bookstores of serious infringement.
Later, Zhang sent these materials, which proved that The World was plagiarized and took effect in Ming Kai, to the Nanjing Ministry of Education, asking for a detailed appraisal to protect Lin Yutang's copyright and the copyright interests of the bookstore. At that time, Lin Handa's English Reader was in the stage of being sent to the Ministry of Education for examination by the World Bookstore. Most people who actually take the exam in the Ministry of Education think that standard English readers are really better than enlightened English readers. But at that time, Lin Yutang had a certain reputation and was a confidant of Cai Yuanpei, president of Academia Sinica. Therefore, the requirements of Lin Yutang compiled by the Ministry of Education will naturally not be taken lightly. In addition, the two bookstores are well-known publishing houses, and this matter has been raging in the city, so the Ministry of Education is very cautious in editing.
Therefore, Jiang Menglin, then Minister of Education, frequently held special meetings to discuss solutions and schemes repeatedly. Finally agreed to the enlightened request. Jiang Menglin personally criticized, and concluded that the Standard English Reader was indeed plagiarized and took effect on the Enlightened English Reader, which was not approved and prohibited from publication.
When these words were sent to Ming Kai Bookstore, it was the day before the Shanghai Concession Court held a court session to pronounce a verdict. The whole bookstore is ecstatic, and Zhang is more like grabbing a lifeline and being ecstatic. That night, Ming Kai Bookstore immediately made the ministerial document "English Textbooks for Bookstores in the World Prohibited by the Ministry of Education" into a photographic zinc edition, made a big advertisement, and quickly sent it to major newspapers and periodicals for publication.
When the advertisement was issued the next day, it happened to be the day when the court opened the court to pronounce the sentence. The judge has drawn up a judgment, ready to find out that Kai Bookstore falsely accused the World Bookstore of plagiarism. However, when the judge suddenly saw the advertisement published by Ming Kai Bookstore before the trial, he was shocked and embarrassed, and immediately hastily rewritten the judgment.
However, the content of the judgment still claims that the advertisement previously published by Ming Kai Bookstore insulted Lin Handa, so 30 yuan should be fined for libel.
Of course, Ming Kai Bookstore refused to accept this judgment and immediately declared to the court that it would appeal. With the approval of the Ministry of Education, it continued to publish a large advertisement in newspapers all over the country, "Why are enlightened English readers plagiarized and invalid?"
Therefore, those schools that use standard English readers have returned their books to the World Bookstore. Therefore, the foundation of the world bookstore was destroyed by the enlightened bookstore. Shen Zhifang, the manager of the World Bookstore who was cornered, had to mediate through Liu Dabai, the executive vice minister of the Ministry of Education.
The final result is: World Bookstore agreed to compensate Ming Kai Bookstore for its losses, and sent the paper version of Standard English Reader to Ming Kai for destruction; Ming Kai Bookstore agreed not to publish newspapers to attack the World Bookstore.
After the debate, the power of world bookstores and Ming Kai bookstores changed, and the publishing situation took on a new look.
Lin Handa did not fear setbacks, worked hard from adversity and wrote famous historical popular books, such as Five Thousand Years Up and Down, History of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, and Challenging Traditional Education.