Chapter 87

Perhaps it was because the Spring Festival had just passed, or perhaps the Renmin University Press wanted to build a good relationship with Lin Han to secure the rights to his next book, so the settlement of the royalties proceeded very smoothly.

Inside the teahouse, Zhao Ming, the vice president of Renmin University Press, sat beside a rattan chair. He handed a piece of paper to Lin Han and Chen Jiaxuan, smiling and said, "Little Lin, we have the sales statistics for January. Although some funds have not yet been recovered, we have decided to pay the royalties in advance. It was too late before the Spring Festival, but it should still be in time now, right?"

"President Zhao, you are too polite. I have a very comfortable cooperation with your publishing house."

Generally, the settlement of royalties is not very fast, as the sales figures from various points across the country are different and have not yet been fully tallied.

Chen Jiaxuan carefully examined the sales figures on the paper. She had already been familiar with these numbers and was now just verifying them.

In January, "I, Robot" began selling, with physical bookstores and three major online retailers working together, the total sales exceeded 480,000 copies, and the e-book sales reached 210,000 copies.

The novel's explosive power was not very strong, but it was stable enough. In February, it still stubbornly remained at the bottom of the sales chart, while the other books that were released alongside it had mostly completed their one-month tour of the bookstores.

The sustained momentum was a key issue. Lin Han occasionally stirred up some news, and the reputation of "I, Robot" gradually improved. Now, the total sales have reached 620,000 copies, steadily moving towards a million.

Lin Han and Chen Jiaxuan were just thinking about when that moment would come, in May or June? Because once the English and Spanish versions of the novel were published, they would definitely boost the sales of the Chinese version.

Readers sometimes don't know what to read, and the appearance of some news helps them make a choice. In many people's eyes, a book that can be published in English must be a good book, so whether it's following the trend or not, it's a huge advantage.

For 480,000 physical books, according to the tiered royalty they agreed upon, they would receive a 10% royalty. With each book priced at 30 yuan, Lin Han would earn 1.44 million yuan in pre-tax income from the physical book sales.

This income is very high for an ordinary person, seemingly earning 1.44 million yuan in just two months.

However, for a writer, this income doesn't even rank in the top fifty of the richest writers. Others not only sell well but also sell copyrights, naturally leading the way.

As for the 210,000 e-book sales, according to the 3:7 split between the website and the publisher, Lin Han would only receive about 75,000 yuan from the 5 yuan e-books, which is negligible compared to the physical version.

This is mainly due to the low price and the low split ratio. After splitting with the website and the publisher, Lin Han would only receive about 7% of the selling price.

This is also why he chose to directly publish the English version of the novel on Amazon, where "I, Robot" can receive 70% of the sales.

What's the difference between 7% and 70%? Anyone with eyes can see that reducing the publisher's cut can significantly increase the earnings.

Getting back to the point, after seeing his pre-tax income of 1.515 million yuan, Lin Han couldn't help but raise his eyebrows. He smiled and said, "It seems that with just this one book, I can buy a house in Yanjing."

The first month's sales brought in the most money, and the following months would show a decreasing trend, but there would still be several hundred thousand. Monthly earnings of several hundred thousand yuan were something Lin Han could never have imagined before.

"As a debut work, to sell as well as you, Little Lin, is still a minority. Among the authors we work with, your income is already considered average. If you entrust us with your next book, I believe we can break this income."

Zhao Ming was getting to the point. If it was just about paying the royalties, there was no need to invite Lin Han and Chen Jiaxuan to the teahouse. Explaining the royalties was a pretense; the real intention was to want to represent "The Martian."

Lin Han responded calmly, "The next one has to be better than the previous one; it can't go backward. It must be step by step."

"President Zhao, regarding the royalty split, I have some objections. Our royalty agreement is based on the total sales, not the monthly sales. That is, the current total sales are 620,000 copies, so our royalty should be 12%, not 10%."

Chen Jiaxuan raised her point. A million yuan in income is nothing; even a ten million yuan endorsement deal must be carefully considered.

Zhao Ming laughed and explained, "Little Chen, this is the publishing house's convention. In February, we will add the 2% royalty for the previous sales, which is 480,000 copies multiplied by 2% royalty. This is part of the minimum guarantee agreement. Once it reaches a million copies, we will add the 3% royalty, gradually increasing."

This is also a trick used by publishers to control the author's money, making them have to continue working with them, otherwise, the settlement of the novel's publication might take a very long time.

However, Renmin University Press was not beneath using such tactics.

"Since it's an industry convention, we must follow it." Lin Han said, starting to calculate. He would have to pay 160,000 yuan in taxes, leaving him with about 1.34 million yuan.

At the same time, he would have to pay Chen Jiaxuan's literary agent commission. Including the 80,000 pounds from before, he would have to pay Chen Jiaxuan 10% of the commission, which is about 200,000 yuan.

Chen Jiaxuan had been busy for so long, and 200,000 yuan in commission didn't seem much, but it was just a part of it; there was still much more to be received.

"President Zhao, let's be straightforward. You know how popular Lin Han's new book, 'The Martian,' is online. We have decided to sell the English publishing rights to Penguin Publishing Group. You can check the quality of the novel. This time, we don't require a tiered royalty; we want it to be on par with Penguin Publishing Group, at 15%."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Ming first shook his head, "Impossible, 15% royalty is too high. Lin Han is at most a two-star author; five-star authors generally enjoy this treatment."

However, after seeing Lin Han and Chen Jiaxuan's relaxed demeanor, Zhao Ming couldn't help but feel uneasy and asked in a low voice, "Did Penguin Publishing Group really give you such a high royalty?"

"Of course. If you don't believe me, I can show you the contract; it's not a trade secret. If foreign publishers offer a high price, but domestic publishers offer a lower royalty, we cannot agree to it."

Lin Han was now confident. If he announced on Weibo that he was looking for a publisher, the calls from publishing houses would surely flood him.

Zhao Ming was now hesitant. He gritted his teeth and said, "Can you send me the first six chapters of 'The Martian'? I will discuss it with the publishing house. A 15% royalty is not something I can decide on my own."

"OK, I'll send it to your email later."

If he could work with a familiar and large publishing house, it would also be a good thing for Lin Han.

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