Current situation of the domestic "genius catcher" industry: low income, and a fledgling career has not yet been established

in China, although writers' agents have been around for years, they are still in their infancy. Star agent, you may be familiar with it, but what on earth is a writer's agent?

original title: why are domestic writers and agents known as "genius catchers" not popular?

Genius Catcher, starring Colin Firth, Jude Law and Nicole Kidman, is showing in theaters. The film tells the story of the feud between Perkins, the most famous legendary editor in the American publishing world, and the talented writer Wolf. As the driving force behind the world's famous writers, Perkins once won the popularity of Fitzgerald (the author of the Great Gatsby) and Hemingway (the author of the Old Man and the Sea), which can be called the "great god" book planning editor in the American publishing world.

for writers, publishing house editors are similar to Bole. In recent years, in the western publishing world, in addition to editors, writers also have an agent. Without the operation of his agent Christopher Rowling, Harry Potter author JK Rowling would not have made the bespectacled wizard popular all over the world on her own.

in China, although writers' agents have been around for years, they are still in their infancy. Star agent, you may be familiar with it, but what on earth is a writer's agent?

strong > what on earth does a writer's agent do? A book is busy from beginning to end / strong >

six years ago, Fu Xingwen, who had been engaged in editing and planning in the publishing industry, decided to start his own business and chose the book topic selection planning with lower capital requirements as the starting point. Slowly, he found that there was still a blank in domestic writers' agents, while the business of writers' brokers in Europe and the United States was already quite mature, so he turned to writers' agents.

starting in 2012, Fu Xingwen became a professional writer agent. "the writer's agent is not simply to help the writer conduct business negotiations." unlike the star's agent, the writer's agent also undertakes the responsibility of topic selection, such as selecting manuscripts and exploring the highlights of the manuscript.

the general environment of the traditional book publishing industry is not very prosperous, and the annual publishing volume is not small, so the major publishing houses are very cautious about the topic selection of books. As a writer's agent, Fu Xingwen will first screen the manuscripts and topics of ordinary authors, then conduct market research on similar books, fully explore the advantages and selling points of manuscripts, and then strongly recommend them to publishers that are good at publishing such books.

according to Fu Xingwen, the work of writers' agents runs through the whole publishing process: strive to promote writers to sign contracts with publishers, cooperate with publishers to do a good job in publicity and promotion, safeguard the interests of writers, coordinate the relationship between writers and publishers, and strive for the maximization of the rights and interests of writers in all aspects.

for writers, the ideal state is to devote all their energies to creation. The tedious work of market research, tapping the advantages of selling points, contacting publishers, negotiating contracts, pressing for royalties, and later promotion to professional writers and agents who are familiar with all this. "in this way, everyone performs their own duties and gives full play to their strengths and strengths, which is more conducive to the creation of writers and the operation of books," Fu Xingwen explained. "almost all mature writers need writers' agents. In this way, writers can devote themselves to creation and write more and better works. " He said firmly.

strong > what will a writer ask an agent for? Ye Xin, Zhang Kang and Wang Zhaoqian are very straightforward / strong >

"many powerful publishing organizations already have long-term cooperative relationships with famous writers, so it is difficult to shake them," says Fu Xingwen. When he first started as an agent, most of the writers who signed up were not well-known. After a long time of exploration, he has represented a number of representative works for famous artists such as Ye Xin, Zhang Kangkang, Yuan Weishi and Wang Zhaoqian.

so far, Fu Xingwen's most impressive work is the series of "Qingliu of the Republic of China" by Mr. Wang Zhaoqian, a famous editor and literary critic.

at that time, Mr. Wang Zhaoqian's daughter, who was only in her thirties, was unfortunately in the terminal stage of cancer. Mr. Wang was not in the mood to deal with the tedious matters related to publishing. Coupled with the introduction of Wang Zhaoqian to Wang Zhaoqian by his writer friends who had worked with him before, he successfully served as his agent in the special period of his life to help with publishing affairs. The Qingliu series of the Republic of China has sold about 100,000 copies so far. After working with Wang Zhaoqian, Fu Xingwen received entrustment from a number of celebrities and successively signed eight republished masterpieces such as Ye Xin's wasted years and debt of iniquity. Zhang Kang's "Love Gallery", emotional prose collection "memories find me" and other works, and then signed to Mr. Yuan Weishi's essays. "none of the famous teachers made any demands, and we took the initiative to propose royalty conditions, and then all the teachers readily agreed," Fu Xingwen said.

at the same time, Fu Xingwen also admits that, in fact, writers' agents can play a greater role in dealing with non-famous works. However, in the depressed book market, it is difficult for general authors to sign contracts, which requires more sufficient market research and refined selling points that are more attractive.

strong > where is the domestic writer broker system card? Low book pricing / strong >

Writers' brokers have long been a mature industry in European and American developed countries. It is understood that 80% of the popular books in Europe and the United States are copyrighted by writer brokers. In China, it is still in its infancy. Zhang Ting, a senior book editor at Modern Publishing House, said that people who come into contact with in their work can generally be called copyright agents, but there are still relatively few people who work full-time as agents for a writer or author. In his view, at present, domestic writer brokers are still in the initial stage, and the packaging system for writers is not yet mature, sometimes only as an intermediary for the authorization of writers' works.

strong > where is the card of the domestic writer broker system? / strong >

according to reports, European and American writers have relatively close ties with publishers and brokers. Publishers help writers provide publishing and printing opportunities, and brokers discuss distribution methods with publishers. The broker will contact the reader, send an order to solicit the number of orders, and then contact the printer to conclude a printing contract. For literary works in Western countries, the first edition of some books only prints about 1,000 copies, as long as brokers and publishers think it is profitable and suitable for the needs of readers.

in addition, the prices of books in western countries are relatively high, with a novel equivalent to 100000 Chinese words priced at more than $20, and science and technology books costing dozens of dollars, some reaching hundreds of dollars. According to industry insiders, the pricing of books in China is generally on the low side. Except for popular writers, few people can afford the fees of brokers based on royalties alone. According to the practice of the international publishing market, writers' brokers charge 10% of the agency fee of 15% in the process of copyright agency. "the average writer earns tens of thousands of yuan in royalties, and according to this ratio, the broker gets even less."

it is understood that the China copyright Protection Center submitted an application for a relevant professional project in 2012 to include "writer broker" or "copyright broker" in the "National Professional Classification Code", but so far no results have been obtained.

however, the popularity of film and television IP has led to a sharp increase in the copyright value of online literature, and has also provided an environment for the expansion of writer brokers. At present, there are two profit models for writer brokers: one is short-term income, selling copyright to film and television companies or game companies, and sharing royalties with writers, and the other is long-term income, joint development projects with film and television companies, and project sharing with writers.

even in the field of traditional publishing, Fu Xingwen is no longer "fighting alone." searching on the Internet, you can find the names of several writers and agents. And in early 2016, Rhino Story APP, a story-sharing platform, officially launched the "writer broker" business. So far, they have signed up 30 writers and have signed up to publish more than 500000 copies of literature books of different types.

Edit: nancy