段子手们的权利游戏

Duanzi, a term originating from Chinese cross-talk (Xiangsheng) meaning an episode of comedy, is now most often used to refer to short comedic pieces on the Internet.

段子一词源自中国相声,意为喜剧作品中的一段，现在经常用来指互联网上的小段笑话。

As people laugh and click to forward the post in a tea break or after a tiring day of work, the duanzishou, or professional duanzi writers, are busy planning their next step in the fast-developing Internet era, as a GQ report finds.

《智族》杂志的一项报告表明，人们茶余饭后或结束了一天的劳累后被段子逗笑点击转发时，段子手们或专业段子写手们却正忙于规划他们在快速发展的互联网时代的未来。

Game of thrones

权利的游戏

In the early days of Sina Weibo, duanzi emerged as a popular form of posts on the SNS platform. But for the writers like Bai Er, then an advertising executive, producing duanzi was nothing more than a personal hobby.

新浪微博刚兴起的时候段子就是这个社交平台上颇受欢迎的贴子。但当时对于像白洱这样的写手（他现在是一名广告经理）来说，写段子只不过是个人爱好。

As Bai got to know more and more duanzi writers on weibo, he began to take orders from the advertisers and distribute them to his contemporaries. The writers need to produce duanzi based on the clients’ request to help promote their products or achieve other effects.

但随着白洱在微博上结识越来越多的段子手，他开始从广告商那里接单然后再派给朋友们。写手们需根据客户的要求写段子以帮助他们促销产品或达到其他目的。

Thus the early business model for the duanzi industry emerged. Bai quit his job in 2013 and started a full-time duanzi PR business. His company was more like an agency for the writers rather than their employer.

段子手们早期的商业模式就此开启了。白洱在 2013 年辞去了工作,开始了全职的段子公关生涯。与其说段子手们是他公司的员工，倒不如说他是他们的代理人。

The top-level duanzi writers such as @天才小熊猫(a panda genius)，@叫兽易小星(Professor Yi Xiaoxing)，@谷大白话(talkative Gu) and @八卦_我实在是太cj了(gossip_I’m too naive) all have contracts with him. Yuan Zhuo was among the duanzi writers that worked with Bai.

顶级段子手如@天才小熊猫 (熊猫天才），@叫兽易小星、@谷大白话(talkative Gu)和@八卦_我实在是太cj了都与他签订的有合同。袁琢就是其中之一。

In 2013 he quit his salesman job and set up a company doing a similar business to Bai’s. @回忆专用小马甲 (an account exclusively for memory) and @假装在纽约(pretending to be in New York) are among those who have contracts with him.

他在2013年辞去了销售的工作，成立了一间公司做与白洱类似的业务。@回忆专用小马甲和@假装在纽约都是他旗下的写手。

Also in the same year, Lin Rui, a 23-year-old graduate who met Bai during an internship, established the third company in the industry.

此外在同一年，23岁的林瑞刚刚大学毕业就设立了此行业的第三家公司。他在实习时曾与白洱打过交道。

Though Lin seems to have come too late to sign on the most popular writers, he successfully picked some winners such as @小野妹子学吐槽 (sister Xiaoye learns to complain) and @英国报姐(British newspaper sister). The yearly revenue of Lin’s business surpassed Bai’s and Yuan’s put together.

林瑞似乎是行业的迟到者，最受欢迎的作家们都已被签走，但他成功地签到了@小野妹子学吐槽 （小叶学会抱怨的妹妹）和@英国报姐等写手。目前林瑞公司的年收入已超过了白洱和袁琢两家公司的总和。

Now about 90 percent of professional duanzi writers have signed with the three companies and the number of their weibo followers exceeds 300 million.

现在大约 90%的专业段子手已与这三家公司签约，他们的微博粉丝总数超过 3 亿。

The top writers could earn as much as one million yuan a year.

顶级段子手年收入可高达100万人民币。

In March, the three companies held a meeting, the Yalta Conference of the duanzi industry. One of the consensuses is that the business of these talents is no longer limited to writing duanzi on the Internet. Their commercial value and influence are extending to other areas like movies, books, and music.

今年 3 月，这三家公司举行了段子行业的雅尔塔会议。他们达成了很多共识，其中一项就是他们旗下人才的业务将不再局限于在互联网上写段子。他们的商业价值和影响力已经扩展至其他领域，如电影、书籍和音乐。