Chapter 9

Lu Yang submitted his manuscript to five publishing houses. Two rejected it, while three passed the final review and were willing to publish it.

On the surface, it seemed to be just that.

But in fact, it was not so.

Because Publishing House A had always only published works by famous authors, and had always followed the route of publishing works by well-known authors. They did not even consider publishing works by authors who were not widely known.

Therefore, in reality, there were only four publishing houses that might publish Lu Yang's novel.

Out of the four publishing houses, only one indicated rejection.

If understood this way, Lu Yang's novel "Post-Apocalyptic Wasteland" was still quite popular among the publishing houses.

After reading the reply from Publishing House C, Lu Yang finally breathed a huge sigh of relief. Choosing to wait for the replies from these three publishing houses was the right decision. The strength of Publishing House C far exceeded that of Publishing House E and F, and its distribution capabilities were also far superior to those two. If "Post-Apocalyptic Wasteland" could be published and distributed by Publishing House C, it would definitely allow more readers in Taiwan to see it, which would greatly help in boosting Lu Yang's popularity in Taiwan. If he could establish a long-term cooperation with Publishing House C in the future, his prospects would definitely be much better.

With Publishing House C agreeing to publish, whether Publishing House E and F changed their minds about publishing was no longer important.

However, Lu Yang was still a bit curious about whether Publishing House E and F had changed their minds.

So, he subsequently opened the four replies from the two publishing houses.

After reading all four replies, Lu Yang smiled.

Those four letters were all urging him to contact them as soon as possible to sign the contract, and none of them had changed their minds because he had not replied for a week.

This made Lu Yang find it a bit amusing, laughing at himself for being too timid for a whole week when there was nothing to worry about.

This time, Lu Yang did not waste any more time. In fact, he also hoped that his work could be signed and published as soon as possible, so he could get the royalties earlier and improve his current poor financial situation.

He immediately replied to Publishing House C, inquiring about the terms of the contract.

Fortunately, the other party was online at the time. A few minutes after Lu Yang sent the email, they replied, attaching an electronic document of the contract.

Lu Yang spent about ten minutes reading the reply and the contract.

He found that the terms of the contract were exactly as he remembered.

Each episode of the manuscript was 65,000 words, with a royalty of 4,500 yuan, and at least one episode had to be delivered each month.

Lu Yang knew that at this time, most publishing houses in Taiwan, regardless of their size, offered similar terms to new authors, leaving little room for negotiation.

However, Lu Yang still tried to ask if the royalties could be increased.

The other party firmly replied that this was set by the editorial department, and he had no authority to increase the royalties. However, after this work was completed, depending on its sales, the royalties for the next work could be increased during the signing of the next contract.

Lu Yang had asked this question just to try. Since the other party firmly refused, he did not waste any more words and immediately agreed to sign the contract.

Lu Yang knew that he currently had no reputation, and his first work did not have the qualifications to negotiate with the publishing house.

He just wanted to smoothly publish his first work and build up a certain level of popularity before discussing terms in the future.

To avoid any delays, Lu Yang printed out the electronic contract sent by Publishing House C at a typing and photocopying shop off-campus that evening, signed his pen name and real name, and sent the contract to the post office the next morning.

According to the editor "Salmon" from Publishing House C, the publishing house would withhold the royalties for the first episode, and the royalties would start from the second episode.

They also said that they would arrange the publication of "Post-Apocalyptic Wasteland" as soon as possible after receiving the contract, and would send two sample books to Lu Yang before each episode was released.

Lu Yang was looking forward to all of this.

Whether it was the royalties or the two sample books sent to him.

After sending the contract, there was nothing left for Lu Yang to do, and he just had to wait for news from the publishing house.

During this period, what Lu Yang needed to do was simply to focus on writing the subsequent episodes.

No matter how many words were said, as a web novel author with no background, everything could only be determined by his work.

If his work was not good enough, there would be nothing!

Money and fame would be out of reach.

Even the desire to earn enough for a pack of cigarettes would be a luxury.

Lu Yang was well aware of this.

Therefore, after that, Lu Yang's life returned to its original rhythm. He attended classes during the day and went to the third teaching building in the evening, entering a classroom with the fewest people to write.

When he was in a bad state and lacked inspiration, he would take the already written manuscript to the Star Rain Internet Cafe to input the text into a computer, create an electronic document, and save it in his email.

Before long, Lu Yang sent the second episode of the manuscript.

The only change in his life was during the day.

Those who have been to college, and even many who have not, know that college life is very free.

This freedom is most directly reflected in the personal time management.

Compared to junior high and high school, the course schedule in college is at most one-tenth of that.

Not only are there often entire mornings or afternoons without classes, but weekends are completely free, and the most surprising thing is that skipping classes is allowed.

Many teachers do not take attendance, and no one cares whether you attend class or not.

There are also differences between major and non-major courses.

Especially for non-major courses, most non-major course teachers do not care whether students attend class, and even if you do not attend a single class for the entire semester, the teacher will not care.

This freedom gave Lu Yang the time to practice boxing during the day.

Since joining the martial arts club and becoming the first member other than the president, Lu Yang had already included practicing boxing in his college plans.

Lu Yang hoped that through several years of practice in college, he could have a strong body in this life, and not be as unhealthy and weak as he was before his rebirth.

Because he wanted to practice, during this period, when he had no classes in the morning or afternoon, Lu Yang would change into his newly bought sportswear, put on his newly bought boxing gloves, and go to the martial arts club's classroom to practice.

Sometimes when he went, President Teng Hu was also there. Seeing Lu Yang take the initiative to practice, Teng Hu would smile and give Lu Yang some guidance.

Sometimes when he went, Teng Hu was not there, but Teng Hu had already given Lu Yang the key to the martial arts club's classroom, so Lu Yang could go in and practice alone.

Practicing boxing is a physical activity that requires focus.

Naturally, it is very hard and tiring, and after practicing for a while, he would be drenched in sweat.

This was something Lu Yang had expected. Although it was hard and tiring, he did not back down.

Before his rebirth, although Lu Yang had not practiced boxing, he was inherently resilient, or he would not have quietly written novels alone for ten years.

Lu Yang did not mind the hardships of practicing boxing.

Especially as the days of practice went on, he clearly felt that his physical condition was getting better.

Lu Yang has always cared more about the results of his efforts.

As long as he gained something from his efforts, he would feel it was worth it.

As long as he felt it was worth it, he could persist.

Writing novels was like this, and practicing boxing was also like this.

One day, Lu Yang had no classes in the afternoon. After lunch, he returned to the dormitory, changed into his sportswear and sports shoes, and was about to go practice with his boxing gloves when the class representative walked into their dormitory with a thick registered letter.

"Lu Yang! Your letter."

The class representative smiled and handed the thick registered letter to Lu Yang. Lu Yang was a bit surprised and quickly said thank you.

Seeing the address on the registered letter was in Taiwan, Lu Yang's heart rate suddenly increased, and he guessed it was the contract and sample books from the Taiwanese publishing house.

"Do you have relatives in Taiwan?"

The address on the envelope was very noticeable, and since the class representative had brought the letter, he had naturally noticed the address. He asked Lu Yang with a curious look on his face.

Lu Yang smiled and said, "Yes! I have one."

Seeing that Lu Yang did not intend to elaborate, the class representative wisely nodded and smiled, then left.