During the two sessions of 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 China Writers Association, submitted a proposal to "propose to raise the basic remuneration standard and stimulate writers to have more creative motivation." After the matter was reported by Red Star News, it caused widespread discussion.
Why is it so difficult to increase the remuneration? Is the current remuneration standard for mainland literary journals balanced? How to break the dilemma of remuneration? Red Star News reporters launched an investigation on this, a number of well-known literary journal editors have a common point, the current manuscript fee is difficult to rise there are two main reasons: one is that the literary fever is no longer there, and the other is the high cost of the magazine. It is imperative to change this situation, change the business model of literary journals, and increase the circulation of journals.
Yan Jingming (People's Daily video screenshot)
The standard of remuneration has been improved, but it is difficult for writers to increase their income
Yan Jingming pointed out in the proposal that in 1958, the mainland for the first time clarified the remuneration standard: 4-15 yuan per thousand words; subsequently, the remuneration standard was raised four times in 1980, 1984, 1990 and 1999, and the remuneration standard for original works reached 30-100 yuan per thousand words. After that, it was not until 2014 that the National Copyright Administration and the National Development and Reform Commission jointly issued the "Measures for Paying Remuneration for The Use of Written Works", and the basic remuneration standard was raised again, and the original work was 80-300 yuan for 1,000 words. This provision still applies today.
In the latest investigation, the Red Star News reporter found that many literary journals are indeed implementing a remuneration standard of about 300 yuan per thousand words, but there are also some literary journals whose remuneration is increasing.
Luo Weizhang, editor-in-chief of Sichuan Literature (data map, photo by Zhang Zhi)
Luo Weizhang, editor-in-chief of Sichuan Literature and vice chairman of the Sichuan Writers Association, told Red Star News that about 5 years ago, the remuneration of many literary journals began to rise, and "the increase standard was at least 2 times higher than before." In fact, many national literary publications have long exceeded the standard of remuneration stipulated by the state. Taking "Sichuan Literature" as an example, the current average number of its remuneration is 200-300 yuan per thousand words, and the high is more than this number. ”
Zong Yongping, deputy editor-in-chief of October magazine, said that the average salary of "October" is about 600-700 yuan per thousand words, and the high is 800 yuan and above, "about 10 years ago, we rose to about 500 yuan in thousand words; five or six years ago, it rose into 600-700 yuan in thousand words." If other people's manuscripts are paid high and our manuscripts are paid low, the quality of the manuscripts will have an impact. ”
Harvest magazine
Yongxin, the chief programmer of Harvest magazine, said, "Our remuneration is relatively high in literary journals, and the current low is 500 or 600 yuan for 1,000 words, 800-1,000 yuan for 800-1,000 yuan, and the highest is 1,000 yuan for 1,000 words." For example, a writer may be about 1200-1300 yuan per thousand words. The Propaganda Department of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee is very supportive. At present, the Propaganda Department allocates us annual remuneration subsidies and printing subsidies, mainly with remuneration subsidies. ”
Cheng Yongxin recalled, "Shanghai was the first to increase the remuneration of writers, and later the whole country began to imitate. He admitted that before 2014, the "Harvest" fee per thousand words was less than 100 yuan, "the first rise in 2014, rose to 300-500 yuan per thousand words; around 2016, the second increase, rose to 500-1000 yuan per thousand words." ”
When investigating the current situation of the manuscript fees of major literary journals, the Red Star News reporter noted that according to the "China Publishing Media Business Daily", after the "Flower City" increased the remuneration in 2016, the maximum amount was 800-1000 yuan per thousand words. The fee for some key columns of the "Poetry Journal" is raised to 20 yuan per line. On February 7, 2017, People's Literature announced that the remuneration for excellent manuscripts that year rose to 800 yuan for thousand words, and the average remuneration for other manuscripts was about 500 yuan for 1,000 words... However, what bothers many writers is that the standard of remuneration has increased, but their income may not have increased with it.
According to media reports, the average monthly wage of employees of state-owned enterprises in 1958 was 45 yuan. According to this standard conversion, if a writer can get a 15 yuan salary for a thousand words, publishing a 3,000-word article can earn an ordinary person's salary for a month. According to Zhaopin's recruitment data, the average salary in the third quarter of 2021 reached 9739 yuan / month, and the salary increased by 216 times compared with 1958, while the highest value of the basic remuneration standard was only increased by 20 times. Over the years, the price level has continued to rise, but the standard of remuneration has not kept pace with the development of the times.
There is an imbalance in the current remuneration standards
Yan Jingming told Red Star News, "Some publications may not be very balanced in terms of remuneration, such as the remuneration of famous artists and headlines is slightly higher, and the remuneration of a large number of manuscripts is relatively low." ”
"It is very difficult to get to the manuscript of a famous artist, of course, the price should be higher, which is a very natural market law." Luo Weizhang said frankly. He also said, "Of course it won't be much higher." Moreover, if the quality of the manuscripts of famous artists is not very good, we will not give them 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, told Red Star News, "It is generally a ladder arrangement. Famous artists with particularly good quality and particularly heavy weights will be a little higher. Moreover, each column is different, and the remuneration for novels, essays, and poems is different. Our average thousand words is 600-700 yuan. "We actually want to go up, because if the salaries of similar journals are rising, and we don't go up, the development will be more difficult, which is a matter of competition between magazines." "But it's not easy to raise the salary. During the COVID-19 epidemic, various literary activities were cancelled, which objectively affected the publication of publications.
October magazine
Some editors-in-chief of literary journals also said in interviews that there is no obvious distinction between the remuneration of famous artists and ordinary authors. Zong Yongping said, "'October' is more inclusive, the difference between famous artists and newcomers is not so big, mainly depends on the quality of the manuscript, good quality is given high." The works of many families are sometimes withdrawn. ”
As the earliest professional poetry journal founded in the contemporary Chinese poetry scene, the "Stars" poetry journal has witnessed the growth of generations of poets. Many poets are willing to publish their poems in the poetry journal Stars, in addition to its national influence, but also its equal remuneration standards. Gong Xuemin, editor-in-chief of the "Stars" poetry journal and vice chairman of the Sichuan Provincial Writers Association, said that whether it is a mature poet or a young poet, as long as it is published in the "Stars" poetry journal, it is paid at the top of the 300 yuan (that is, 30 yuan per line of poetry). This will not happen to us, because poetry that meets the standards of "Stars" is worth this money. We didn't treat the famous people badly, nor did we treat the newcomers poorly. ”
For the proposal to "raise the basic remuneration standard", Gong Xuemin did not hesitate to express his support, "The remuneration should be increased, especially for poetry." In his view, in some comprehensive literary journals, the remuneration for headline novels will be quite high, and there are cases of thousands of words and thousands of dollars, while the remuneration for poetry is low. For example, he said, "According to the calculation of 20 lines of a small poem, a mature poet writes a thousand lines of poetry a year, that is, he needs to create 50 small poems, which is quite high for a poet, but the remuneration is only 30,000 yuan." This is equivalent to the remuneration of a mature writer for a novella, which I think is absolutely impossible to draw an equal sign, but in fact, in terms of remuneration, an equal sign is drawn. ”
Gong Xuemin said, "Compared with the novels of writers, we can hardly see the phenomenon that the literary circle is chasing a poet's poetry collection. In fact, it is a distrust of poetry, feeling that there is no good poetry. Good poetry, he explains, still exists, but even mature poets don't produce too many good poems in a year.
"In recent years, we have been hard to give a thousand words and 300 yuan to the manuscript." Gong Xuemin said that although the state finance has partially allocated funds to the "Stars" poetry journal, there is still a big gap. They can only find money through methods such as expanding distribution, which can be used to make up for the lack of remuneration, printing costs, human resources and other funds. "I'm confident that even if the salary really goes up, we may still think of a way."
Gong Xuemin, editor-in-chief of the poetry journal "Stars" (Data chart, photo by Wang Qin)
How to break the dilemma of remuneration?
Speaking of the reasons for the low remuneration, Yan Jingming said that at present, the vast majority of literary publications have great pressure to survive, and most of them are in a state of weakness in terms of remuneration. Although major literary journals have continued to increase their fees in recent years, many writers and poets still feel low. Why can't we meet a relatively reasonable standard?
Gong Xuemin believes that there is a very embarrassing reason why it is difficult to increase the remuneration, "Most of the price increases of journals can be passed on to consumers, and the current public almost does not consume pure literature, so who will pay?" ”
"The fundamental reason for the low remuneration is that the entire literary industry is not the hottest time now, not as hot as it was in the eighties and nineties (of the last century), so the circulation is not so large, there were hundreds of thousands, millions of dollars in the past, and now it is not so high, so the remuneration depends on government allocations or other funds to support." Zong Yongping said that literary magazines may face three aspects of financial pressure: one is the salary of practitioners; the other 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 in the original journals of domestic literature, but it is far from enough, and the publication and printing, remuneration, and salary of personnel are our costs."
Zong Yongping recalled, "'October' is more special, belongs to the Beijing Publishing Group, is an enterprise management, so the main thing is that the group provides us with some help, but also needs the Beijing Municipal Propaganda Department to give us some funds, otherwise it is a heavy burden." In the past ten years, it is mainly the Beijing Municipal Propaganda Department that has given us part of the financial support. He explained, "Now the remuneration of mainstream journals has reached about 800 to 1,000 yuan per thousand words, and the remuneration is particularly high after a year." It's a lot of pressure on magazines, so there's a lot of financial support. ”
"Remuneration is related to the provincial appropriation of publications. Some provinces allocate more money, and the remuneration will naturally be higher. Luo Weizhang admitted that it is almost impossible to rely on sales to make profits, "because the paper is very expensive, and it must be mailed after printing, and readers and authors send couriers." Sending a courier will cost several dollars. Otherwise, the reader will not receive it, and there will be opinions. Selling books is not sold for money, and sometimes it costs money. ”
Mountain Flower Magazine
"We also really want to increase our remuneration." Li Ningdang, editor-in-chief of Shanhua magazine, told Red Star News, "Because it is not easy to create, but the amount of remuneration depends on the funds of the magazine, some magazines do not want to increase the remuneration, but have more than enough and lack of strength." ”
Unlike many literary magazines, Shanhua magazine does not rely solely on government funding, but adopts a cooperative business model with enterprises. Li Xiaodang said, "'Mountain Flower' is 'hybrid'. The state finance has a certain appropriation, the Propaganda Department of the Guizhou Provincial Party Committee has support funds, and we have cooperated with several large enterprises in Guizhou for many years. ”
In addition, "Mountain Flower" once cooperated with a real estate development enterprise to implement a double-author remuneration model, ""Mountain Flower" pays a sum, and the enterprise pays a sum." In Li's view, this move increases the reputation of the enterprise and shows the company's support for social responsibility and cultural undertakings.
At the same time, Mountain Flower added to 100 famous universities in the world, "including Oxford University, Cambridge University, etc." Of the national literary journals, we are the only ones who do this. It is conducive to Chinese culture and Chinese literature going out, and it is also a manifestation of Chinese cultural self-confidence. ”
Can the "Mountain Flower" model be promoted nationwide? In this regard, Li Xiaodang believes that it is necessary to adapt to local conditions.
Zong Yongping told Red Star News that at present, government financial support is indispensable, and in the long run, it is suitable for the reading habits of more audiences, or an important reason for increasing circulation.
Luo Weizhang believes that "literature is not a pure thing that should be introduced to the market, unlike other profitable things, it has a long-term impact on society and cultural construction, and it should be regarded as a social welfare undertaking, like education, it really needs support." ”
Red Star News reporter Peng Li Zeng Qi
Edited by Li Jie
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