Chapter 8

For a smoker, when their mood is bad, they will smoke; when their mood is good, they will also subconsciously take out a cigarette to smoke.

At this moment, with a pleasant mood, Lu Yang subconsciously took out the cigarette case and lit a cigarette.

In the rising smoke, Lu Yang habitually squinted his eyes, still gazing at the email on the screen.

Two publishing houses had already agreed to publish his new book.

Should he sign a contract with one of them?

With the cigarette in his mouth, Lu Yang was already considering this issue.

As mentioned earlier, these two publishing houses are the ones with the fastest review speed in Taiwan that Lu Yang knows of.

At the same time, they are also the ones with the lowest submission standards.

The reason their submission standards are the lowest is naturally because they cannot compete with other publishing houses that have stronger capabilities in抢excellent manuscripts.

In other words, these two publishing houses are relatively weaker in the publishing industry in Taiwan.

A book can only be signed with one publishing house.

Should he sign with one of these two?

Lu Yang did not take long to make a decision.

Wait a bit longer!

Lu Yang said to himself.

Although Publishing House E was the one that published his first work before his rebirth, its strength is relatively weak, and it even closed down a few years later, so it is not a good choice.

Publishing House F's strength is not much different from that of Publishing House E, so Lu Yang decided to wait.

A few days after Lu Yang sent out the five submission letters, all five publishing houses had sent brief replies. The content of the replies was not about the review results, but simply to inform Lu Yang that they had received his submission and would give a reply after the review was completed within a certain period.

Publishing House A, which Lu Yang remembers, is a very powerful large publishing house, but they generally only publish works by famous authors.

Publishing House B and Publishing House C are also very strong, having published many works by top authors.

They and Publishing House A all gave Lu Yang a review period of 15 working days, excluding the two weekends, so Lu Yang would need to wait about 20 days.

Thinking about having to wait another week or so, Lu Yang was somewhat worried that if these three publishing houses all refused to publish, Publishing House E and Publishing House F might change their minds due to the long waiting time and no longer be willing to publish his work.

However, this worry did not change Lu Yang's decision.

The possibility of Publishing House A refusing is very high, but Lu Yang believes that at least one of Publishing House B and Publishing House C should be interested in his work.

After finishing one cigarette, Lu Yang closed the computer and left the internet cafe.

For the requirements of signing with Publishing House E and Publishing House F, Lu Yang did not give any answers, as if he had not even seen those two emails.

For the next week, Lu Yang's heart was always somewhat worried and restless.

He was afraid that the matter of publishing, which was already possible, would change.

After each evening class, when Lu Yang was writing in Building 3, his state of mind was affected. Sometimes, he would open the manuscript paper, hold the pencil, but due to his chaotic thoughts, he could not start writing.

This situation worsened over time.

It became so severe that there were a few moments when Lu Yang could not resist the urge to go to the Star Rain Internet Cafe, reply to one of the two publishing houses, and agree to sign the contract.

After all, the royalties for the first work would be about the same no matter which publishing house he signed with.

However, the wavering thoughts did not last long, and Lu Yang quickly calmed his chaotic thoughts, continued to stick to his original decision, and kept waiting.

A week passed in this state of mind.

During this week, Lu Yang did not go to the internet cafe once.

Even when he wrote until late at night, around 12 o'clock, and was very hungry, Lu Yang endured and did not go to the back gate of the school to buy food as he did in the past.

He directly took the written manuscript back to the dormitory and ate instant noodles.

Lu Yang was afraid that if he went to the back gate of the school and got close to the internet cafe, he might waver and walk into the internet cafe, agreeing to sign with one of the publishing houses.

Once the contract is signed, it would be almost impossible to change it.

After the last class on the afternoon of the seventh day, Lu Yang, as usual, brought his paper and pen to the classroom in Building 3 where he stayed every day, and sat in his usual seat.

Spreading out the white manuscript paper and holding the freshly sharpened pencil, he could not start writing for a long time.

What he was thinking about was no longer the plot of the novel.

His mind was full of the replies from the remaining three publishing houses.

Shouldn't they have replied today?

They can't all refuse to publish, right?

As long as one agrees, it's fine!

His mind was full of similar thoughts.

After more than half an hour, Lu Yang found that he could not enter the state of mind needed for writing. In a fit of anger, he slammed the pencil heavily on the desk in front of him.

A good pencil was instantly broken into three pieces.

"Damn it! I won't write anymore! I'll go check the results now!"

Lu Yang suddenly stood up, grabbed the manuscript paper and teacup, and quickly went downstairs.

Lu Yang originally planned to write two chapters today like he did in the past few days, and then go to the internet cafe to check the replies.

But he overestimated his own willpower.

Thinking that the three publishing houses might have already given their replies, his mind was in a state of anxiety and uncertainty, making it impossible for him to focus on writing.

Realizing that he could not continue writing tonight, Lu Yang made up his mind and decided to break his routine and not write tonight!

If the three publishing houses all refused to publish, and the previous two publishing houses changed their minds, then even if he wrote more and better in the future, it would not make much sense.

But if he could publish smoothly, then not writing tonight would not matter.

Soon, Lu Yang arrived at the Star Rain Internet Cafe.

He swiped his card, turned on the computer, and logged into his NetEase email.

Lu Yang quickly finished these tasks.

He saw that there were 7 new emails in his inbox.

7 emails...

This number was completely beyond Lu Yang's expectations.

Shouldn't there be only 3?

Lu Yang did not know why there were 4 more, and this situation was completely beyond his expectations.

For a moment, he could not help but think: Did Publishing House E and Publishing House F change their minds and cancel the contract intention because I did not agree to sign for so long?

This thought made Lu Yang's heart sink.

Taking a deep breath, Lu Yang clenched his teeth, tried to calm down, took out the cigarette case from his pocket, lit a cigarette, and after taking two deep puffs, he steadied his mind and used the computer mouse to open the inbox.

After opening the inbox, the 7 new emails indeed included 4 from Publishing House E and Publishing House F, with each sending 2.

The other 3, as he expected, were replies from the other three publishing houses.

Lu Yang hesitated slightly about which email to open first.

After only two seconds of hesitation, Lu Yang opened the reply from Publishing House A.

"Hello, Mr. Wen Chou! We regret to inform you that your work 'Post-Apocalyptic Wasteland' did not meet our publishing standards. We look forward to your better works, and welcome you to submit again in the future. —Cherubim"

As expected, Publishing House A, which has always adhered to the famous author route, refused his manuscript.

His heart felt cold.

Although he had expected such a reply, seeing the rejection letter still made Lu Yang feel a wave of disappointment.

Taking a deep breath, Lu Yang opened the reply from Publishing House B.

"Dear Mr. Wen Chou: Your submission has been reviewed by our editorial department. Unfortunately, it did not meet our publishing standards. We hope for the opportunity to cooperate in the future. —Reflection of the Sky"

Seeing this reply, the coldness in Lu Yang's heart intensified.

At this moment, a wave of regret could not be suppressed in Lu Yang's heart.

He regretted being so confident and waiting for the replies from these three publishing houses. If he had signed with one of the previous two publishing houses earlier, it would have been fine. After all, the royalties for the first work would be about the same no matter which publishing house he signed with, regardless of their strength.

There was still the reply from Publishing House C...

With the last hope, Lu Yang opened the reply from Publishing House C.

If Publishing House C also refused, even if he could still publish with one of the previous two publishing houses, it would be a significant blow to Lu Yang's confidence.

Because such a result would mean that even after being reborn 10 years ago, his writing level could only meet the lowest publishing standards of a small publishing house in Taiwan.

He was not as excellent as he imagined.

"Hello, Mr. Wen Chou! Your work 'Post-Apocalyptic Wasteland' has been reviewed for 15 working days and has passed the final review by our editorial department. May I ask if the rights to the traditional Chinese edition of 'Post-Apocalyptic Wasteland' are still in your hands? If they are still in your hands, would you be willing to cooperate with us and sign a contract for the traditional Chinese edition? —Salmon"

Request for recommendations and collections.