116: Wenxing Cup Awards

At the same time, in a conference room at the Wenyuan Bookstore headquarters.

The Chief Editor sat in his office, flipping through the documents in his hand.

Later, at 3 PM, they would hold a discussion to finalize the Wenxing Cup's ultimate list of winners.

Wenyuan Bookstore has a history of over fifty years, and the Wenxing Cup it hosts has selected hundreds of well-known literary works.

However, in recent years, people have more and more entertainment options, such as short videos and online novels, which have significantly squeezed the market share of the publishing industry. Therefore, Wenyuan Bookstore's current reputation far exceeds the company's actual size.

Furthermore, with high societal pressure nowadays, the market trend is for works to serve emotions, the more direct the better. For example, short dramas often create unrealistic character settings to satisfy the audience's fantasies and pursue traffic monetization. There's nothing to criticize about this; with high societal pressure, producers earn money, and the audience gains happiness, so no one is ashamed.

The same is true in the novel field, where hot topics and emotions are highly valued. Whatever social topic is popular recently, writing about it to help the public vent their emotions makes the book more likely to become popular.

But as an old-brand publisher, they must stick to their original intention and not overly compromise for short-term market trends. They need to find a balance between literature, quality, and entertainment. They must choose works that can withstand at least ten years of scrutiny.

However, this leads to sales issues. In recent years, the sales of award-winning works from the two major literary submission competitions have become increasingly unsatisfactory. The authority of the Wenxing Cup and Wensu Cup in the public's mind has also declined somewhat.

To survive, perhaps more market considerations are needed, but they also need to uphold the original intention of an old-brand publisher, which is a dilemma.

Last year's Wenxing Cup produced “thirty years,” which improved the situation somewhat. This year…

Just as he thought of this, there was a knock at the door.

“Chief Editor, two authors, Professor Liu, and Marketing Director Zhao are here.”

“Okay, I’ll be right there.”

The Chief Editor picked up his materials and went to the conference room.

A few minutes later, all the members of the judging panel arrived.

Everyone began to express their opinions.

The Wenxing Cup has a total of six winning slots: one first prize, two second prizes, and three third prizes.

For an almost household-name award like the Wenxing Cup, the initial promotional effects of different prizes do not vary much.

The biggest differences are reputation and prize money. The first prize is 200,000, the second prize is 100,000, and the third prize is 50,000.

After a while, promotional resources will be reallocated based on each book's market performance.

Since several online meetings had already been held, half an hour later, everyone basically reached a consensus on five of the winning slots. Only the last third-prize slot remained.

The Chief Editor smiled and said, “The most controversial issue we have now is the last third-prize slot: whether to give it to “ghost blows out the light 1: the ancient city of精绝” or “café.” Please share your thoughts again, and let's discuss it one more time. Voting will start at 3:50.”

They adopted a discussion-plus-voting model, so they would discuss first.

Professor Li, the head of the Chinese Department at Normal University, began, “For the last work, I recommend choosing “ghost blows out the light 1: the ancient city of精绝.” Firstly, its worldview is rigorous, constructing a completely new worldview through elements like geomancy secrets and historical legends, making it a rare masterpiece. Secondly, it explores human nature, history, and social issues. Thirdly, the tomb raiding theme is currently relatively blank, showing high innovation.”

The Marketing Director said with a wry smile, “Professor Li, you are right. But “café” is a healing theme, which better meets the current emotional needs of readers.”

The story of “café” takes place in a mysterious café where customers can enter their dreams through a special cup of coffee, re-experience important moments in their lives, and make up for regrets in their fantasies. The protagonist is a barista who, while brewing coffee for customers, gradually learns about the stories behind each person, such as unfulfilled dreams, lost love, and unspoken apologies. These unit stories eventually connect to form the protagonist's reflection on and growth in his own life.

The Marketing Director continued, “In terms of attracting readers, “café” is definitely better than the niche tomb raiding theme. We also have to consider the company's survival, right?”

Professor Li took out the list of five already-decided books and frowned at the associate editor, “Everyone might have overlooked a problem: the first-prize winner “time messenger” and “café” are too similar in theme.”

“time messenger” tells the story of an ordinary postman who one day discovers he can communicate with his past or future self through letters. Using this ability, he gradually helps the town residents solve life's dilemmas, such as marriage crises, parent-child conflicts, and life choices, while also confronting his own inner traumas.

Professor Li looked at everyone, “They are both fantasy healing works, and both are unit stories. We have a total of six slots; do we want to choose two of the same type?”

The Chief Editor nodded slightly. Undeniably, “café” is well-written, but what can be done when there's a dark horse of the same type?

If “ghost blows out the light 1: the ancient city of精绝” wins the third prize, even if it doesn't do well, it won't cause major problems. Moreover, risk also represents opportunity.

His vote would go to “ghost blows out the light.”

He looked at everyone, “Does anyone else have a different opinion?”

The Marketing Director continued, “Among our submissions, healing-themed works account for about 20%, which also indicates market demand, so it's understandable to release two similar works. From my personal experience, I still lean more towards “café.””

The Chief Editor nodded, “Hmm, does anyone else have any other opinions?”

Seeing that no one else spoke or had any opinions, he initiated the final anonymous voting session.

Soon, the results were in.

“ghost blows out the light 1: the ancient city of精绝” narrowly won by two votes.

Professor Li breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, there was some fresh blood; otherwise, his colleagues studying modern literature this year would probably be pulling their hair out until they were bald again.

...

At 4 PM, Chen Fang walked into his study.

Sunlight streamed in, bathing the room in a warm orange-yellow glow. In this romantic atmosphere, Little White leaped onto the windowsill, raised his left paw to the sky, and lowered his head to groom the fur on his hind legs.

“…”

Chen Fang averted his gaze. Sigh, this cat's appearance and behavior don't match.

He picked up his phone and opened his calendar app.

Today is the 15th.

There's a meteor shower tomorrow night; he'll think about his wish list later. He wouldn't give up any opportunity to lie flat and rely on external forces, even if it was metaphysics.

In three days, on the 18th, the Wenxing Cup organizers would notify authors of the selection results via email and begin preparing for printing.

After that came what Tang Chen mentioned: endorsements, costume photos, and charity events.