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With the development of online literature, its influence is gradually expanding, and more and more colleagues meet the need to deal with these authors in their work. For the author group, most of the time, the author is only heard of the book, but not the person. When dealing with such groups, soliciting manuscripts and seeking cooperation, you will encounter many problems that can only be encountered when communicating with authors. Let’s talk about it briefly today.

1. How to find and contact authors

Unlike star artists, most writers have agencies, agents and assistants.

The authors in general is a person alone in the way, in addition to the industry’s top rare the author already has a broker or assistant so that professionals to help them handle affairs, the rest of the vast majority of authors are still in a state of primitive, sitting at home at ease, wait for manuscripts such as the business activities of the door.

Because of the long-term creation at home, seldom go out activities, coupled with the author circle, few people are familiar with them. Therefore, the social information of online literature writers is generally closed, which also brings a little trouble to contact them.

When we have several candidate authors, we need to contact them, how to find them first. Generally speaking, we can consider three ways.


  • q


It is the most direct and convenient way to ask your friends if they have the author’s contact information. There is a theory of six dimensions in which you can know anyone in the world from at most six people. You may have a friend who can help you get the author’s contact information.


  • Social account


If you can’t find the author’s contact information, you should take the second approach, starting with social media accounts.

Nowadays, most writers have their own microblog and wechat official accounts, and a few of them are good at tieba and Zhihu.

Most writers understand the need to use social media to promote themselves, but unlike celebrity artists who are run by professional teams, most writers are not equipped to do so. They basically manage the accounts themselves, with at most one or two “avid readers” to help.

Such operation has resulted in the low number of fans and followers of most authors, but the advantage is that it is easier to contact authors through these channels and see the authors themselves.


  • Fan base


If the previous two methods did not work, there is a final way to save the country curve, from the fan base.

There are many places where authors leave their official readership, such as testimonials or book review sections. Sometimes the author will also attach wechat or Q group numbers at the end of the introduction of the novel or a section of the main content.

Once you have joined the reader group, you will normally find the author in the group owner or group manager…


2. Negotiate and solicit manuscripts

When you have established contact with the author, you can enter the negotiation stage.

At this point, it’s more appropriate to get straight to the point and avoid too much small talk. Most writers, in fact, don’t like small talk. On the one hand, you have just looked for the past, and are not familiar with people, for the author’s hobbies and interests, etc., do not know deeply, even want to talk about small things will appear stiff. On the other hand, for writers, it is hard enough to type on the computer for several hours every day, and they want to relax and have fun instead of chatting on the Internet. And these authors write text is also typing, chat is typing, simply according to their income calculate words, dozen a word cheap a few hair, expensive to a few pieces, chat for a while the number of words calculated by the price is afraid to……

After getting into the topic, if you want to communicate with the author more effectively, it is best to understand the author’s concerns while our needs are clear. Knowing what the authors are generally concerned about, knowing yourself and your opponent, and putting yourself in others’ shoes, often makes it easier to talk about cooperation.

According to my long-term feedback with authors, they are most concerned about the following issues:

What to write, how much to write, how long to write, what price, how to get.

  • What to write


It is easy to understand what to write. From the author’s point of view, if you come to me as a writer, you need to tell me clearly what you want me to write. Demand for clear understanding without ambiguity, the author received the demand after easy to understand and creation.

In the current market, pen names have become more and more important. Writers with a bit of reputation pay great attention to the maintenance of their pen names, and do not want to destroy their reputation for years of hard work because of one or two works. Therefore, when the author chooses to accept commercial manuscript cooperation, the first thing he will pay attention to is what subject matter and what type of work he needs to write. And then they evaluate themselves, can I write it, do I want to write it. If the author feels that the subject matter is not suitable for what he is good at, he is likely to decline. To the writer, the author’s willingness to sign a pen name to write a work, to a certain extent, also has a certain guarantee.

One side clear demand, the other side careful assessment, and then solemnly signed, this represents a healthy start of cooperation between the two sides, is also the premise of follow-up issues to start negotiations.


  • Write how much


After the author has the intention to accept the manuscript, how many words to write, is their next concern.

The community of online literature writers is particularly sensitive to the number of words created. The development of online literature is characterized by payment by word count. Users and readers are paid according to the number of words read, and authors are paid according to the number of words created.

And the creation of the word also directly with how long to write, what price two issues linked.

  • Write how long


How long to write means how long the writer can be given to write, the deadline and the deadline.

Generally speaking, the need to create more words, the natural creation cycle will be longer; The creation of fewer words, the creation cycle is relatively not so long. But some writers are slow writers, some rely on inspiration, some are still serializing or have other creative plans…

Therefore, when the author knows the content and the number of words to be created, he will figure out the time needed to complete the creation in his mind.

If the writer is given too little time to write, the writer may feel that it is difficult to finish the work on time and may reject it. Or the writer may reluctantly accept the work, but the work will be delayed.

For the writer, negotiating a suitable writing period is conducive to the author’s writing and the control of the project process.

In some cases, the writing period given by the writer has been fixed, and it is inconvenient to discuss with the author flexibly. It is also possible to screen out the authors who cannot meet the requirements at the early stage of the writing appointment, so as to improve the efficiency of seeking authors and avoid the occurrence of disastrous delayed manuscripts.

For writers, it is important to remember that most writers are in the habit of procrastinate. Even if the deadline is agreed, it is necessary to allow a little extra time in case the writer delays or other accidents. This is a lot of blood and tears.

  • What’s the price


The fourth issue concerns the price of draft cooperation.

Price should be one of the biggest concerns for contributors and writers. In the network literature industry, the price of an author is generally reflected by the number of yuan per thousand words. For the writer, the price per thousand words, multiplied by the number of words created, is the total amount of money to be paid, which can then be compared with the cost of the project.

Specific to the price of a thousand words an author wants, if it is good to meet some straightforward author, will directly say what price I am now, if I accept this job, what price I hope to have. Then the writer went along with the price and started talking…

However, many writers are shy, or have a unique sour smell of literati. They never talk about money or offer prices first, as if asking for money first is vulgar, uncultured and not classy. They will ask for manuscripts to quote a price first, sometimes known as “have a look at your sincerity” manuscripts, but actually consider the commissioning party funding level, manuscripts urgent degree and the familiarity of the market, looking for the opportunity to take a price higher than usual, the first open quotation “ball”, is playing to the commissioning party there.

If the bidding party offers the price first, if the price is too low, it will be considered by the author as the project capital strength is general, the project team does not understand the market; If you overbid, you will be treated as a sucker.

It seems to be a game in which the one who speaks first is weaker. The key lies in what kind of price is a more appropriate price for both an author and a writer.

In view of the actual situation encountered over the years, it is generally necessary to take the author’s current income level and add a certain amount of premium, which is almost appropriate price, and it is easy to reach cooperation between the two parties.

If the author must ask the writer to offer a price first, it can also use the author’s current income level as the price to offer, and the premium range, depending on the author’s feedback, slowly test the author’s ideas and requirements.

Unless there is a special reason, an offer below the author’s current income level will not be accepted.

To find out what the author’s current income level is, ask the author directly. In many cases, the author will reveal some of his income. On the one hand, they do not want to talk about the price first, but on the other hand, they do not exclude the disclosure of their income. In fact, the author group does not want to collapse at the beginning of the interview and cannot continue to talk.

If the author does not disclose, or if the author does disclose, but the writer still intends to verify it from the side, you can use some publicly available information to roughly calculate. For example, some authors will mention the network subscription of their works in their own works, or find the network subscription of this work on some professional data websites, which can roughly calculate the price of the author’s thousand words. (Note: Under normal circumstances, due to the existence of various novel distribution channels, the real price of the author is bound to be higher than the just estimated value, but the estimated value is still important for reference.)

The author’s current income level is a relatively certain figure, this is objective existence, how much.

It’s a little bit of a mystery, a little bit of a bargain and it’s the premium. There are more factors to consider.

1. Comfort level. The author’s daily creation can basically be regarded as free play, writing where I think, while the draft is generally “thesis composition”, there will be a certain framework and rules. Therefore, if the price is the same, the author will basically choose to continue their own “free play”, especially for network writers who have mastered certain creation skills of irrigation. In this factor, the author is very subjective, this is the need to communicate with the author.

2. Copyright factors. And the more advanced the author, the more at the top of the industry, the more concerned will be the price of this factor. There are even a very small number of head authors who choose to retain part of the copyright in the cooperation, and ask for the subsequent sharing of income (such as the sharing of game flow, film box office, etc.), project investment and bonus rights (more commonly seen in film and television cooperation).

The reason is that the proportion of copyright income is getting bigger and bigger in the author’s income. It is normal in the industry for a work to earn hundreds of thousands or even millions in royalties from the sale of various Copyrights. And a work copyright income of tens of millions of yuan in the present is also common, there are many such cases every year.

Therefore, the author will almost certainly consider the issue of copyright when accepting manuscript cooperation. The copyright of daily freely created works belongs to the author, and it is possible to sell them. Even if they are sold through some websites, they can still get some copyright income. On the one hand, part of the copyright, such as the game adaptation right, is directly transferred to the copyright soliciting party. On the other hand, due to the limitation of “thesis composition”, the copyright development becomes more difficult, the direction is narrow, and there are too many interested parties, which greatly reduces the copyright cost. Even in many cases, the cooperation is in the form of “commissioned creation”, requiring the author to assign all the copyright to the manuscript soliciting party.

“Although MY income is only 100,000 yuan now, I can earn another 100,000 yuan by selling the copyright after I finish my work. You can’t just count my income as 100,000 yuan now.” Therefore, many authors in line with the “simple idea” of copyright compensation, will accept the psychological price of draft cooperation, plus a certain amount of copyright costs. The proportion of this price increase, generally depending on the author’s popularity, the work of the previous copyright sales and determined. If it is an ordinary author whose previous works do not have the right to be published, or whose sales price is not high, the normal markup is basically better than nothing. However, when communicating with the leading authors in the industry, almost 100% of their works can sell the copyright, often with multiple bidders for a copyright, and the price is high. In this case, to reach cooperation with the author, it is necessary to take this income into account, and then a reasonable price can be obtained. More copyright-conscious authors, like the one mentioned above, choose to keep some of their copyright, and they already have the option of not writing “works that are not their own.”

3. Face.

The author’s price is not only related to the author’s income, but also related to the author’s face. Although the author circle is not large, the competition of industry status, ranking and status has never stopped. The “how many words do you take, how many words do I take” between authors is often the easiest and most intuitive factor that can cause face comparison. For example, if a writer accepts a manuscript with a price of 1,000 yuan per thousand words, and let the news spread in the circle, then people of the same level with the writer will take this price as a bargaining price when accepting a new manuscript cooperation, even if the current income level is not at this level. There is a kind of “no first” complex among literati, no one is willing to admit that they are worse than others in writing, so naturally they are not willing to be less than others in price. Of course, face is face after all, can not be a meal, when some circumstances, the author can still put down a little face, choose to happily accept a payment. This, need to invite manuscript side to have clever communication with the author more. 4. Watch people unload dishes. There is also the possibility that some authors raise their expectations after learning about the background of the manuscript partner. For example, when the writer learns that the contributor is a company whose logo is an Antarctic animal, he adds a big chunk to his normal psychological expectation. That’s what people think of you as rich. What if you’re a writer and this happens to you? Either you really have money, or you can dispel that misconception with good communication.


So, comprehensive consideration of these premium factor, though not necessarily separate lines carry out with the author, but overall, according to the conditions and reasons, the commissioning party can at least get a basically is to rely on spectrum and reasonable price, are not overpay, can use the limited funds, the maximum and the author to reach a good commissioning work.


  • How to get


When a price satisfactory to all was finally reached, it came to the question of how to get the fee.

How to take this? It has two main meanings. The first layer is when you get paid; The second layer is who pays the taxes.

About the time to get the money, generally speaking, as long as there is a clear node date in this respect, the author is easier to talk.

Under normal circumstances, if the work is not long, it is generally a lump sum payment after the completion of the manuscript. If the length is very long, it is generally settled once a month, or how many words of each manuscript settled once. In addition, there may be individual authors who require an advance payment at the time of signing a contract, which is similar in nature to a deposit.

As for the part of taxes and fees, the author should bear the general situation in the industry. Unless the author clearly points out that the price should be the price in hand, the price negotiated just now is the pre-tax price.

However, the author bears the tax, usually only refers to the case of the tax. Before January 1, 2019, the tax rate was around 12 percent. However, under the new measures, the tax rate will be reduced to 56 percent of the total income from writing fees. In both cases, taxes on royalties are subject to a relatively low rate. If the solicitor cannot pay remuneration and tax returns to the author in the form of remuneration, but in the form of labor and other higher tax rates to pay, then based on the principle of good faith cooperation, it is necessary to explain this situation to the author, and then communicate the tax part. Otherwise, when the author discovers that the amount of money handed out is much less than normal, there will be much more trouble for both parties to resolve.

Last but not least, the author owns his own cultural company or studio and can issue invoices. This is the easiest case to deal with, and I won’t go into it.

After the above major issues are communicated, in most cases, the issues between the two sides end here.

However, occasionally you will have some additional questions that you might encounter. For example, there are draft problems and publicity problems.


Writers spend a lot of time trying to find the right author, but at the end of the day they expect the chosen author to write a short piece of content to read first. It’s like picking a watermelon, knocking and patting, carefully selecting one, and finally cutting a small slice down to taste.

In view of this situation, the author group is not willing to accept the majority. The author group is generally independent and full of personality, so they will think that you come to him to ask for a manuscript, which represents the approval of the creation level, while the audition is the doubt of the creation level. However, the author does not reject the provision of a detailed creative outline, and will consider it as a normal creative requirement.

Another thing that happens with the demo is that the price per thousand words of the demo will go up a little bit more than normal. Free audition is basically impossible to get the author to agree, just like the probation period does not pay salary. As an author conceives a work, he also takes time. Although the sparrow is small, the short draft also needs a complete idea. And to write a story well in a very short and limited space is more difficult than usual. It was time-consuming, laborious and difficult, and the reward was small because there were not many words. Of course, few people are willing to accept this kind of work, and even if it is accepted, it will require a certain reward.

In terms of publicity, most of the time, in addition to hoping that the author can participate in the writing, but also to participate in some publicity activities, rather than just hand in the manuscript and finish the work.

For example, the author is expected to make announcements on Weibo and wechat official accounts and participate in the offline activities of contributors. It is better to make it clear in advance whether the author is required to participate in these promotional activities, as well as whether additional money is required, and even if necessary, it can be written into the contract. Communicating about these projects early on allows the author to prepare ahead of time and schedule some activities. For the solicitor, it can prevent some unpleasant situations of late cooperation between the two sides, and it is also a kind of protection.

Generally speaking, after all these are done, the communication of draft cooperation is basically completed. The rest, according to the results of communication, need to draft the contract, review the outline of the work, follow up the creation progress, acceptance of manuscript content and other follow-up work.


This article comes from netease Cloud community and is published with the authorization of the author, Shen Binfeng, Netease Literature and Comics Product Department.

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