Can Good Money　Produce a Good Book？.docVIP

Ｃａｎ　Ｇｏｏｄ　Ｍｏｎｅｙ　Ｐｒｏｄｕｃｅ　ａ　Ｇｏｏｄ　Ｂｏｏｋ？ 　　 　　FOR over 1,000 years the Chinese have extolled the virtues of reading with the saying: “There are houses of gold and girls of jade in books.” That is literally true today, but more so for the writers than the readers. 　　 　　Post-’80s Bestsellers 　　 　　At the end of 2007, Beijing reporter Wu Huaiyao posted a self-calculated ranking of Chinese writers according to the authors’ estimated incomes. A previous list had been published in 2006, but it was the 2007 rankings that immediately stirred up a hornet’s nest in the nation’s literary circles. This was due to the massive earnings attributed to certain youthful “post-’80s” writers. The rock star-like Guo Jingming, 25, was perched at first place with estimated accumulated earnings of RMB 11 million. In contrast, many of his more established older peers didn’t make the list at all. 　　Guo only published one book in 2007, River of Grief, about intricate love affairs among four young Chinese urbanites. Sales exceeded 1 million copies within a week of its release, surpassing everyone’s expectations, including those of the author. “It’s a record for me. Previously it took a year or so to reach the 1 million mark,” Guo said at the time. He had little idea, however, that a bigger record was afoot; sales exceeded 2 million copies in less than a month. 　　In fact, 2007 was a good year all around for Guo financially. He made more money than the previous five years combined. So far, Guo has published over a dozen novels, including the 2003 bestseller City of Fantasy. He has also launched the magazine Zui Xiaoshuo (Top Stories), with himself as editor-in-chief. 　　Guo is not the only 20-something on the rich writer roll. The other contender is 27-year-old Han Han, who raked in RMB 2.8 million just from his latest work, Day of Honor. The book is Han’s sixth. The writer made rivals’ mouths water when he managed to extract a royalty rate of 20 percent from his publisher (an average rate is