I finally couldn't hold back and placed an order in Dong Yuhui's live broadcast room.
It is this set of "People's Literature" magazines for the whole year of 2024.
This set of magazines, in just four hours of live broadcast on January 23, sold more than 82,600 copies, 992,000 copies, and sales of more than 17.85 million, creating a sales miracle of magazines and periodicals.
At first, I didn't expect that I would become one of the contributors to sales. When you think about it, it's not surprising. Many years ago, I was also a big fan of paper magazines.
I still remember the last time I subscribed to the magazine, I think it was "Reader" in high school. Those days of looking at The Reader for inspiration for writing seem to be some years old. But in the green days that were once accompanied by magazines, the smell of ink has never dissipated.
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Every time I think of this thing, there is always a trace of nostalgia that I will never forget. It lives somewhere in the heart, but it's not often talked about. Perhaps, many people who can't help but place orders also have a similar mood.
When was the last time you subscribed to a magazine?
01
I was also full of hope
They have also illuminated each other:
Speaking of the People's Literature magazine, it is quite a story.
It is the first literary journal founded since the founding of the People's Republic of China, and Chairman Mao Zedong once wrote an inscription for the inaugural issue of "People's Literature": "I hope that more good works will be published";
Mr. Mao Dun, the first editor-in-chief, made a belief in the "Speech" - "to reflect the growth of New China through various literary forms" and "to create people's literature rich in ideological content and artistic value, which is loved by the people".
In that hopeful era, it was a key literary and artistic position, and a vane leading the development of literature. The spiritual power it brings to the people is unimaginable.
Since then, the journal has experienced countless stories such as the suspension of the publication, the resumption of publication, the continuous change of literary style, the wide dissemination of foreign exchanges, and the impact of the Internet and the decrease in sales.
Today, it is 75 years old.
The first issue of People's Literature Image Source Network
For many readers, especially a large part of the post-70.80s readers, "People's Literature" is a ray of light in the ordinary life of that era, a pastime and companionship in the dead of night, and a driving force and direction when wandering and confused.
"In the past, the sun became slow, the cars, horses, and mail were slow, and there was only enough to love one person in a lifetime. ”
In the years of "once upon a time", a magazine in the hands of young people was even more precious, and it was always read and savored repeatedly. They are more sensitive to words, and they can feel the fulfillment and joy brought by reading, and they just touch the old time into a different taste.
As Dong Yuhui said during the live broadcast: "In our youth, we used to gather together in the name of literature and laugh. Later, we all received the blessing of literature, and our lives were illuminated. ”
The young people of the past have entered their prime in a blink of an eye, and "People's Literature" has become the dusty light in the hearts of many of them. Fortunately, the dust is not thick, and it is gently blown away, and the memories are still touching and tearful.
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02
Find empathy in life
Finding the Antidote in Literature:
The reason why this live broadcast can arouse the resonance in the hearts of many officials is that in addition to their feelings for "People's Literature" itself, the arrival of several other dialogue guests is also indispensable-
Writer Liang Xiaosheng, just one copy of "The World" has earned the tears of countless readers. His stories are full of ups and downs, plain and heavy, and meaningful. It records the color of the times, and writes the real life of the people who have dreams and beliefs despite their hardships.
Coincidentally, Liang Xiaosheng is the same age as People's Literature magazine, and they were both born in the world in early 1949, witnessing the same changes of the times and writing the years with the same traces. They have experienced hardships in a down-to-earth manner and have been moving forward under pressure, which has led to the moving words that have been passed down for decades, and have shaped the "spiritual hometown" for countless readers.
Liang Xiaosheng, Dong Yuhui, source network
Cai Chongda, a post-80s writer, debuted at the peak of his essay collection "Skin". His works are flesh and blood: a resilient mother, a sick father, and the warmth and simplicity of family affection are all narrated in his pen.
A large part of this story is based on his real life experience. The hard life makes Cai Chongda's words more sensitive and delicate, and also makes him have a deeper understanding and experience of fate and death.
Both writers are good at expressing the awakening of individual lives and their self-perception of the other and the world. The description between the lines is transformed into the reader's every inch of breath. For literary works, the truth is the most poignant.
Cai Chongda Liang Xiaosheng Image source network
In addition, Shi Zhanjun, the editor-in-chief of "People's Literature", who believes in "the way of literature, that is, the march of travelers", has a firm and persistent goal in the long journey of literature and life.
The three of them got together with Dong Yuhui, who is the best at using "small compositions" to inspire others quietly, and naturally they sympathize with each other, and golden sentences are frequent.
They truly represent that literature makes every ordinary person extraordinary.
Precipitate from reading, draw on life, and record every difficult and bumpy day with words but never bow your head. It's them, it's us. We see ourselves in them, so we are more willing to pay for this literary feeling.
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"I walked thin and stumbling in the shadows, uncared for, unrecognized, until literature allowed the world to see me and understand me. ”
We are all looking for resonance in life and obtaining the "antidote" in literature.
No one doesn't need literature.
03
Young friends
We meet in our publications:
Nowadays, fragmented information has flooded our lives, so is paper literature still a necessity?
This question has been discussed countless times.
In today's rapid development of the Internet, we get any information in an instant, and paper books seem to be getting farther and farther away from us. Sometimes people even have the illusion that we don't need paper magazines anymore, or that paper magazines have long been withdrawn from the market.
However, this live broadcast of "only selling one literary magazine in the whole process" is enough to prove that this is not the case.
Shi Zhanjun Image source network
In the words of editor-in-chief Shi Zhanjun: "For People's Literature, this live broadcast is a 'family search', and we hope to let this 75-year-old literary journal face to face with more young people and find more readers and friends." ”
Paper publications have a thicker soul of their own. Its medium is old-fashioned, but because it is old-fashioned, it has more enduring vitality. Virtual information is fleeting, but publications can be passed on orally at the center of each generation of readers.
Nowadays, we are using the Internet to let young people have more channels to know our "old" things and good things.
The so-called "breaking the circle" of magazines is not limited to reading on the e-book cloud, and generations of readers naturally have new ways for them to learn about paper publications. This kind of ink and book fragrance that is originally melted into the bones of the Chinese people will naturally continue to spread in the most suitable way for the current trend.
Fortunately, there is a communicator like Dong Yuhui, who uses the style he is best at and promotes the most traditional items in the most trendy way, and creates this live broadcast miracle with his friends.
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Of course, in addition to "People's Literature", there are many excellent paper journals that need everyone's attention. This live broadcast is just the beginning.
Recently, Guangdong's "Huacheng" magazine tweeted on social platforms "In addition to the "People's Literature" of 'Walking with Hui', which other literary magazines are worth subscribing to".
"Harvest", "October", "Contemporary", "Flower City", "Writer", "Youth Literature" and other publications, with different styles and inclusiveness, they are also looking forward to more readers with resonance and tacit understanding to unlock and read.
At the same time, we hope that these magazines and publications will not only achieve the effect of hot sales through traffic dissemination, but also the quality of the content of the publications, the thinking of the present, and the new works in line with the times, which are the basis for a good magazine to be passed on to future generations. A good promotion method is naturally the icing on the cake.
I hope that young people will not only read with their hearts, but also use their works to express their own stories, or speak out for their works, so that publications like "People's Literature" can truly become people's literature again.
Yu Minhong, Shi Zhanjun, Cai Chongda, Liang Xiaosheng, Dong Yuhui, source network
"Literature is very much like a tunnel with light, and when people walk through the tunnel and come out from the other end, there is light in itself. ”
I use Liang Xiaosheng's sentence to end this article.
The light that literature brings to us is long-lasting, comprehensive, warm, and imperceptible.
May every reader be full and happy, and meet a bigger and brighter world in literary publications!