How to break the difficulty of increasing the remuneration of literary journals?
During the National People's Congress this year, Yan Jingming, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and vice-chairman of the Chinese Writers' Association, submitted a proposal to "improve the basic remuneration standard to stimulate more creative motivation for writers". For a while, voices such as "good advice", "low pay for writing have almost wiped out the industry of freelance writers", "it is too difficult to increase pay for writing" and so on emerged one after another, swiping the circle of friends.
Why is it difficult to increase the remuneration?
Is the current remuneration standard of Chinese literary journals balanced?
How to solve the problem of remuneration?
The Chengdu Business Daily-Red Star News reporter launched an investigation on this. The editors-in-chief of many well-known literary journals have a common point. There are two main reasons for the difficulty in increasing the manuscript fee: one is that the literature is no longer popular, and the other is the high cost of magazines.
It is imperative to change this situation, change the business model of literary journals and increase the circulation of the journals.
The standard of remuneration is improved, but the income of writers is difficult to increase
Yan Jingming pointed out in the proposal that in 1958, my country for the first time clarified the remuneration standard: 4-15 yuan per thousand words; then, the remuneration standard was upgraded four times in 1980, 1984, 1990 and 1999. The standard of remuneration is 30-100 yuan per thousand words.
Since then, until 2014, the National Copyright Administration and the National Development and Reform Commission jointly issued the "Measures for Payment of Remuneration for the Use of Written Works", and the basic remuneration standard was raised again, and the original work was 80-300 yuan per thousand words.
This provision applies to this day.
A reporter from Chengdu Business Daily-Red Star News found in the latest survey that many literary journals are indeed implementing the standard of about 300 yuan per thousand words. However, there are also some literary journals whose remuneration is increasing.
Luo Weizhang, editor-in-chief of "Sichuan Literature" and vice chairman of the Sichuan Writers Association, said that about five years ago, the remuneration of many literary journals began to rise, "the standard of increase has been at least 2 times higher than before. In fact, many national literary journals have already broken through the national level. The stipulated remuneration standard.” Taking Sichuan Literature as an example, the current remuneration “average is 200-300 yuan per thousand words, and the high number is more than that.”
Zong Yongping, deputy editor-in-chief of "October" magazine, said that the current average remuneration for "October" is about 600-700 yuan per thousand words, and the high is 800 yuan or more. "About 10 years ago, we increased to about 500 yuan per thousand words. ; Five or six years ago, it rose to 600-700 yuan per thousand words. If other people's remuneration is high, our remuneration is low, and the quality of the manuscript will be affected. "
Yongxin, the chief programmer of "Harvest" magazine, said, "Our remuneration is relatively high among literary journals. The current low is five or six hundred yuan per thousand words, the high one is 800-1000 yuan, and the highest is one thousand yuan per thousand words. It is higher than ours. There are also some. For example, a writer may be around 1,200-1,300 yuan per thousand words. The Propaganda Department of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee is very supportive. Now the Propaganda Department allocates us a subsidy for author remuneration and printing every year, mainly author remuneration subsidies. "
Cheng Yongxin recalled, "Shanghai was the first to increase the remuneration, and later the whole country began to follow suit." He admitted that before 2014, the remuneration of "Harvest" per thousand words was less than 100 yuan, "In 2014, it increased for the first time, and it rose to 300-500 per thousand words. Yuan; it rose for the second time around 2016, rising to 500-1000 yuan per thousand words.”
According to the "China Publishing and Media Business Daily", after the "Huacheng" increased its remuneration in 2016, it can reach a maximum of 800-1000 yuan per thousand words.
The remuneration for some key columns of "Poetry Magazine" is raised to 20 yuan per line.
On February 7, 2017, "People's Literature" announced that the remuneration for outstanding manuscripts that year was increased to 800 yuan per thousand words, and the average remuneration for other manuscripts was around 500 yuan per thousand words... However, what troubles many writers is that the standard of remuneration has been improved. Its revenue has not necessarily increased accordingly.
According to media reports, in 1958 the average monthly wage of state-owned enterprise workers was 45 yuan.
According to this standard, if a writer is paid 15 yuan for a thousand words, he can earn a month's salary for an ordinary person by publishing an article of 3,000 words.
According to Zhaopin Recruitment data, the national average salary in the third quarter of 2021 will reach 9,739 yuan per month, which is 216 times higher than that in 1958, while the maximum basic salary standard has only increased by 20 times.
Over the years, the price level has continued to increase, but the standard of remuneration has never kept pace with the development of the times.
The current remuneration standards are unbalanced
Yan Jingming said, "Some publications may not be balanced in terms of remuneration. For example, the remuneration of famous writers and headlines is slightly higher, and the remuneration of a large number of manuscripts is relatively low."
"It is very difficult to get the manuscripts of famous artists. Of course, the price will be higher. This is a natural market law." Luo Weizhang admitted, "Of course it will not be much higher. And the manuscripts of famous artists, if the quality itself is not very good. , we will not give it very high; the manuscripts of ordinary authors are well written, and our remuneration will be higher."
A deputy editor-in-chief of a well-known magazine who did not want to be named said, "It is usually a ladder arrangement. Famous artists with particularly good quality and heavy weight will be higher. Moreover, each column is different, and the remuneration for novels, prose and poetry is different. .We average 600-700 yuan per thousand words." She said, "We actually want to increase, because if the remuneration of similar journals is increasing, and we do not increase, the development will be more difficult. This is a problem of competition between magazines." But it is not easy to increase the salary.
During the COVID-19 epidemic, various literary activities were cancelled, which objectively affected the distribution of publications.
Some editors-in-chief of literary journals said in an interview that there is no obvious distinction between the remuneration of famous authors and ordinary authors.
Zong Yongping said, "October is more inclusive, and the difference between famous artists and newcomers is not that big. It mainly depends on the quality of the manuscript. The quality is high, and the high quality is given. The works of many famous artists are sometimes withdrawn."
As the earliest professional poetry publication in China's contemporary poetry circles, "Star" poetry publication has witnessed the growth of poets from generation to generation.
Many poets are willing to publish their poems in the "Star" Poetry Magazine, in addition to its national influence, and its equal payment standards.
Gong Xuemin, editor-in-chief of the "Stars" Poetry Magazine and vice-chairman of the Sichuan Writers Association, said that whether it is a mature poet or a young poet, as long as they are published in the "Stars" Poetry Magazine, they will be charged with the top price of 300 yuan per thousand words (that is, 30 yuan per line of poetry). The remuneration is distributed. Some famous journals and Toutiao have slightly higher remuneration, and a large number of manuscripts have relatively low remuneration.
This point will not appear here, because poetry that meets the standards of "The Star" is worth the money.
We have not treated the famous, nor the newcomers.
"
Gong Xuemin did not hesitate to express his support for the suggestion of "raising the basic remuneration standard", "The remuneration should be increased, especially for poetry." In his opinion, in some comprehensive literary publications, the remuneration for Toutiao novels will be increased. The payment is quite high, there are cases of thousands of words and thousands of yuan, and the remuneration of poetry is low.
He gave an example, "According to the calculation of 20 lines of a small poem, a mature poet writes 1,000 lines of poems a year, that is, he needs to create 50 small poems. This is a very high requirement for a poet, but the remuneration is only 30,000 yuan. This is equivalent to a mature writer's remuneration for a novella. I think it is absolutely impossible to draw an equal sign, but in fact, in the remuneration, an equal sign is drawn. "
Gong Xuemin said, "Compared with the novels of writers, now we hardly see the phenomenon that the literary circle is chasing a certain poet's poetry collection. In fact, this is a distrust of poetry, and there is no good poetry." He explained , good poetry still exists, but even a mature poet does not produce too many good poems in a year.
"In recent years, we have insisted on paying 300 yuan per thousand words." Gong Xuemin said that although the state finance has allocated some funds to the "Star" poetry magazine, there is still a big gap.
They can only find money by expanding distribution and other methods to make up for the shortage of author remuneration, printing fees, human resources and other funds.
"I am confident that even if the remuneration does increase, we may still find a way."
How to break through the difficulty of remuneration?
Speaking of the reasons for the low remuneration, Yan Jingming said that at present, most literary publications are under great pressure to survive, and most of them are in a state of powerlessness in terms of remuneration.
Although major literary journals have continued to increase their manuscript fees in recent years, many writers and poets still feel low.
Why can't it reach a relatively reasonable standard?
Gong Xuemin believes that there is a very embarrassing reason for the difficulty in increasing the remuneration. "Most journals' price increases can be passed on to consumers. At present, the public hardly consumes pure literature. In this case, who will pay?"
"The fundamental reason for the low remuneration is that the entire literary industry is no longer the hottest time, not as hot as in the 1980s and 1990s, so the circulation is not so large. It’s not that high, so the remuneration has to be supported by government allocations or other funds.” Zong Yongping said that literary magazines may face financial pressures from three aspects: one is the wages of practitioners; the second is the cost of printing paper; and the third is the remuneration.
"At present, the circulation of each issue of "October" is about 50,000 copies, which is very high among domestic original literary journals, but it is far from enough. Publishing and printing, author remuneration, and staff wages are all our costs. "
Zong Yongping recalled, "October is quite special. It belongs to the Beijing Publishing Group and is managed by an enterprise, so the group mainly provides us with some help, but it also needs some funds from the Beijing Municipal Propaganda Department, otherwise it will be very difficult. In the past ten years, it was mainly the Beijing Municipal Propaganda Department that gave us some financial support.” He explained, “Nowadays, the remuneration for mainstream journals is around 800 to 1,000 yuan per thousand words. After a year, the remuneration is particularly high. It’s a lot of pressure to rely on magazines, so financial support is very much needed.”
"The remuneration is related to the province's allocation to the journal. Some provinces allocate more, and the remuneration will naturally be higher." Luo Weizhang admitted that the magazine can hardly rely on sales to make profits, "Because the paper is very expensive, it has to be mailed after printing. , Both readers and authors send express. For express delivery, it will cost several dollars for a copy. Otherwise, readers will have opinions if they cannot receive it. Selling books can’t sell for money, and sometimes even lose money.”
"We also very much hope to increase the remuneration." said Li Jingdang, editor-in-chief of "Shanhua" magazine, "Because it is not easy to create, but the amount of the remuneration depends on the funds of the magazine, so some magazines do not want to increase the remuneration, but do their best. insufficient."
Unlike many literary magazines, "Shanhua" magazine does not only rely on government funds, but adopts a business model of cooperation with enterprises.
Li Jidang said, "The Mountain Flower is a 'mixed' type. There is a certain amount of funding from the state finance, and the Propaganda Department of the Guizhou Provincial Party Committee has support funds. At the same time, we have cooperated with several large enterprises in Guizhou for many years."
In addition, "Shanhua" once cooperated with a real estate development company to implement a double payment model. "Shanhua pays one fee, and the company pays one." In Li Jidang's view, this move has increased the company's reputation and demonstrated Corporate social responsibility and support for cultural undertakings.
At the same time, "Shan Hua" added publications to 100 famous universities in the world, "including Oxford University, Cambridge University, etc. Among the national literary journals, we are the only one that does this. It is conducive to Chinese culture and Chinese literature to go out, and it is also China's A manifestation of cultural confidence."
Can the model of "Shan Hua" be promoted nationwide?
In this regard, Li Jidang believes that it is necessary to adapt measures to local conditions.
Zong Yongping said that at present, government financial support is indispensable, and from a long-term perspective, it fits the reading habits of more audiences, or an important reason for increasing the circulation.
Luo Weizhang said, "Literature is not something that should be marketed purely. Unlike other profitable things, it has a long-term impact on society and cultural construction. It should be regarded as a social welfare undertaking, just like education. There is a real need for support.”
Chengdu Business Daily-Red Star News reporter Peng Li and Zeng Qi