26: Chapter 26 Eloquent

Lying on the bed, he let his consciousness sink into the wealth store within his mind.

Ever since the item [Secondary Bone Development] had appeared in the refresh last time, it was the only thing he hoped to see again.

He was no longer worried about his grades; his only obsession now was growing taller.

Opening the store, Chen Fan felt a bit disappointed. The scene he had envisioned did not appear; it seemed he would have to keep waiting.

However, his consciousness was quickly drawn to one of the items.

[Eloquence] 20,000 wealth points.

Seeing the name, Chen Fan was a bit surprised. What kind of thing was this?

When he moved his consciousness over the item, a text explanation immediately appeared.

[Eloquence]: After use, permanently improves the host's ability to express themselves. This includes but is not limited to: speaking with more coherence, being more infectious, being more persuasive to others, not having stage fright in public settings, and having clear logic during impromptu speeches. The effect lasts a lifetime.

Chen Fan was stunned for a moment. Isn't this just being better at talking?

He remembered back in his previous life, while working, he had to speak at a meeting. He had prepared what he wanted to say beforehand, but as he spoke, he lost his train of thought.

Fortunately, his boss saved him at the last minute, taking over the conversation to smooth things over for him.

After the meeting, the boss patted him on the shoulder and said it was fine, just practice more.

But he knew clearly that this wasn't something you could just practice into existence. Some people were born eloquent, while others were not good with words.

Chen Fan was the latter.

Chen Fan was quite envious of those who were eloquent.

Moreover, being eloquent was also helpful for building a career.

Take Jack Ma, for example. In the early stages of his startup, relying solely on his tongue, he convinced Joe Tsai, who had an annual salary of a million, to return to the country and start a business with him. At that time, he was still penniless, but Jack Ma successfully persuaded Joe Tsai with his words and personal charisma.

Returning to the age of 18, Chen Fan felt he had regained some youthful spirit, so he also wanted to build a career.

Therefore, this item was quite important to Chen Fan.

Thinking of this, he immediately purchased the item.

After the purchase, Chen Fan didn't feel any obvious changes.

There was no feeling of sudden enlightenment, nor the experience of having something suddenly appear in his brain. He tried opening his mouth to say a few words; the voice was the same voice, the tone was the same tone.

"The weather is really nice today."

"Have you eaten yet?"

"Could the system be a scam?"

He muttered a few things to himself, not noticing anything different.

Chen Fan scratched his head and didn't pay much attention to it. Since the wealth points were spent, they were spent; he would naturally know if it had an effect later.

...

The next morning, during class, Chen Fan's phone suddenly vibrated in his pocket.

He looked down—it was his editor, Xinghe.

After Chen Fan bought a phone and got a SIM card, he had sent his phone number to Xinghe and had also saved Xinghe's number.

This was their first phone call.

He hung up the phone calmly. Then he asked for permission.

"Teacher, I need to use the restroom."

The math teacher, who was lecturing on stage, saw it was Chen Fan and waved his hand, signaling he could go.

After leaving the classroom, Chen Fan went downstairs, found a secluded corner, and called Xinghe directly back.

"Hello?"

"Pen name, this is your editor, Xinghe."

Xinghe's voice was quite young, sounding like he was in his late twenties, with a slight northern accent.

"Hello, Xinghe."

"The first volume will be the first 200,000 words, with an initial print run of 40,000 copies, an 8% royalty rate, and a 50,000 advance." Xinghe paused. "See if you would consider that."

Chen Fan was knowledgeable about royalties.

Because he had considered physical publishing, he had looked into royalty matters some time ago.

Currently, the royalty rate for new novelists is between 3% and 6%, famous authors can reach around 8-10%, and top-tier authors can reach 15%.

Even though Chen Fan was a huge hit in the web novel world and belonged to the top-tier authors, he was still a newcomer in physical books, so the publisher offered an 8% royalty rate.

However, Chen Fan was not satisfied with this number.

Although Chen Fan was a newcomer in physical publishing, his novel had already achieved excellent results in the web novel circle.

Generally, after books like this are published physically, sales are very good. For example, "Ghost Blows Out the Light," "Battle Through the Heavens," "Zhu Xian," etc.

"10% is too low. You should know the results of my book better than I do—the first subscription was 18,847, the average subscription is now heading towards 50,000, it has dominated the monthly ticket list for over a month, there are over 400 'Alliance Master' tips, and discussions about my book on the Longkong forum increase every day. I believe you can see that too."

He paused to let these words sink in.

"When 'Zhu Xian' was published back then, how many people were following it online? When 'Ghost Blows Out the Light' became popular, was its comment section as lively as mine now? Both of these books eventually sold millions of copies and are still being reprinted to this day. I'm not saying I will definitely reach that height, but at least my starting point is higher than theirs—the data for my book now is only stronger, not weaker, than theirs at the same period."

"My results can be negotiated with any publisher, and the publishers should be aware of that, otherwise they wouldn't have approached me proactively. Besides, regarding physical publishing, since you at Qidian can take a commission, as long as you can help me negotiate to 12% or more, I will hand it over to you to manage."

Chen Fan did not hesitate to hand over the rights to Qidian. Handing it to Qidian would save him a lot of trouble. Moreover, his own negotiations with publishers would certainly not be as effective as Qidian's.

The other side of the phone was silent for a few seconds.

"Alright, I understand. We will try our best to negotiate for 12% or more."

"Hmm, thank you, Brother Xinghe. When you have a chance to come to Shanghai in the future, I will treat you to a meal."

...

After hanging up, Chen Fan was surprised for a moment. Why was he so articulate today? Could this be the effect of [Eloquence]? It was truly magical.

For two days in a row, Chen Fan did not receive a call from Xinghe.

Chen Fan didn't call to ask either.

He figured they hadn't reached an agreement yet.

When Friday arrived, he finally received the call from Xinghe.

"Pen name, it's settled with the publisher. 13% royalty, 200,000 words for the first volume, an initial print run of 80,000 copies, and a 100,000 advance. Also, our agency fee commission is 10%. This is the final result we could fight for."

Chen Fan held the phone and was stunned for a moment.

"13%? 80,000 copies? 100,000 advance?"

He had originally thought that negotiating for 12% would be good, but he didn't expect it to go straight to 13%, and even the advance could reach 100,000.

"Hmm, this is fine. Thank you."

"It's no trouble; isn't this our job? By the way," Xinghe paused, "by the way, do you want to come to Shanghai to sign the contract, or should I mail it to you?"

"Mail it over. I still have to attend classes."

"That's true, I almost forgot; you're still in high school."