Chapter 38 Are you sure there is no mistake in the sales statistics?

Chapter 38 Are you sure there is no mistake in the sales statistics?

Chapter 38 Are you sure there is no mistake in the sales statistics?
A mansion in Azabu-juban, Minato-ku, Tokyo.

Shintaro Ishihara sat on the sofa and flipped through the supplement of "Gunzo" that he had just finished reading. Next to the steaming coffee cup was an open copy of "Hear the Wind Sing".

He rubbed his forehead. He hadn't smiled for three days.

On May 5th, the supplement of "Gunzo" and the hardcover paperback edition of "Hear the Wind Sing" were released at the same time. Naturally, these "literary masters" who were ready to watch the show also bought a copy, wanting to see how big a shit Kodansha and Kitagawa Hide would poop out.

Then, before 4 p.m. that day, Shintaro Ishihara received a shocking inside information from the Japan Literature Society.

The first print run of 1000 copies of "Hear the Wind Sing" was sold out before 3 p.m.!

And the ones that were reprinted later seem to be sold out!
This is a hardcover paperback edition that costs 5500 yen!

The novel is only 4 words long, and the rest is stuff like writer interviews and episodic essays.

Moreover, the author Kitagawa Hide is a "low-class" writer who is writing a book for the first time, publishing it for the first time, and having no fame at all.

He couldn't understand who those readers who rushed to buy "Hear the Wind Sing" were?

In this day and age when even a 100 yen copy of the Yomiuri Shimbun is considered expensive, and sales of magazines and physical books are declining month by month, how could someone actually rush to buy a novel that costs 5500 yen, has already been serialized in a magazine, and has only collectible value?
Shintaro Ishihara is a bad person, but not stupid. After receiving the news, he immediately began to read the two novels by Kitagawa Hide carefully.

In fact, including him, most of the "middle-class" and "upper-class" writers in the literary world have hardly read Kitagawa Hide's books.

The group portrait newcomer award is indeed famous, but with one newcomer every year, there are countless newcomer kings accumulated over the past few decades. Who would pay attention to them one by one?

Unless he wins this year's Akutagawa Prize, he may be noticed by the top circles in the literary world.

But things have come to this point, and the series of abnormal situations have forced them to calm down and take a look at Kitagawa Hide's masterpiece.

Seeing this, Shintaro Ishihara actually felt a trace of regret in his heart.

Yes, he regretted it.

That day, he was invited to the "Primrose Room" izakaya to speak for Yasuhara Akira. He never thought that there would really be a vulgar writer who could write a novel that could break the rules of the game!
Although the consensus among this group of upper-class writers is to educate newcomers who attempt to "overthrow the superiors" and break the rules, no matter how outstanding they are.

But when the other party is really excellent to a certain extent, some things can be negotiated.

Even if you want to suppress him, you don't necessarily have to do it yourself.

With so many people in the circle, there is always someone willing to be the first to take the lead.

Shintaro Ishihara was the first to express his opinion that day. On the one hand, it was to establish an image of "big brother of the literary world" among all the people that day. The literary world is also divided into various schools. The big brother with more subordinates will have a greater advantage when attacking other schools.

For example, the "Kikuchi School" of the late great writer Kan Kikuchi. Anyone who messes with them now basically has no chance of staying in the Japanese literary world.

On the other hand, the one who really wanted to suppress Kitagawa Hide was the Agency for Cultural Affairs, and Ishihara Shintaro wanted to take the opportunity to have a better relationship with the top officials.

"I didn't expect that I would shoot myself in the foot. This Kitagawa is really capable." Shintaro Ishihara recalled the contents of the two novels with a frown, and thought about "Tokyo Memories in 1973" published by Oshima Hikaru not long ago.

After a while, he took a sip of coffee, his face gradually turned cold: "I can't win. Oshima Hikaru's novels are definitely not as good as his!"

At this moment, a plump and attractive young maid came slowly towards him, swaying her hips, bowed to him and said, "Master, Deputy Editor-in-Chief An Yuan is here to see you again."

This is the fourth time.

Ever since the supplement of "Gunzo" became a best-seller, An Yuanxian has been coming to see him every few days like an abandoned little woman.

But Shintaro Ishihara never met him once.

Originally, he wanted to meet her because of the money she gave him and her status as a high-ranking official at Kodansha, but after reading Kitagawa Hide's novel, Ishihara Shintaro has made up his mind.

"Tell him I'm away on a long trip, don't come again." Ishihara Shintaro waved his hand impatiently, "Aiko, bring me my phone book and help me find the personal number of Kodansha President Noma."

At the same time, in a conference room at the Kodansha headquarters and the editorial department of "Gunzo".

Muramatsu Tomoshi, who had just finished an emergency meeting, pushed the door open and walked in. He looked very happy, and the dark circles under his eyes that had been getting thicker in the past few days had also faded a lot.

As soon as he walked in, Kitagawa Hide and Saito Rena, who were still discussing the follow-up serialization of "1973 Pinball", immediately stopped and looked at him.

Muramatsu Tomoshi felt that he had been an editor for more than ten years, but had never been so nervous and excited.

He took several deep breaths to calm down his excitement, then bowed 1000 degrees to the two of them, "The sales statistics are out! The 5 copies of "Hear the Wind Sing" printed on the first day and the 8 copies printed later were sold out before o'clock last night!

Thank you for your hard work, Mr. Kitagawa, Mr. Saito!"

After hearing this, Saito Reina smiled as if relieved. Then she came to her senses and asked in surprise, "You just said that all of them are sold out? Are you sure there is nothing wrong with the sales statistics?"

"I'm sure! Due to confidentiality issues, I can't get a copy of the sales data report from the Statistics Department. But the data is definitely correct. I have verified it many times with the head of the Statistics Department's Finance Department." Muramatsu Tomoshi also breathed a sigh of relief, sat down and started to drink tea. When his eyes swept over Kitagawa Hide who was still frowning, he couldn't help but ask,

"Mr. Kitagawa?"

Kitagawa Hide came out of his thinking mode and looked up at him: "What's wrong, Editor Muramatsu? Is there anything you want to tell me?"

"You don't seem very excited." Muramatsu Tomoji felt that the young man was a little too calm and composed. "This is actually a very good result."

"Well, it's really good. At least it's much better than the worst result I expected. May I ask how the sales of the supplement of "Gunzo" are?"

Kitagawa Hide felt a little relaxed. On May 5, he couldn't help but take the subway and wander around many bookstores in Tokyo to see the sales of supplements and hardcover paperback editions.

Although it was a plagiarism of the famous work of the great Murakami, he was also worried that some inexplicable situation would cause sales to plummet.

After finally traveling through time and getting a trump card, he didn't want to die before accomplishing his mission.

After hearing the data, he was almost relieved, but also a little disappointed.

There is no need to say much about the 1000 copies on the first day. If these copies cannot be sold out on the same day, it would be no different from a sudden drop in sales.

The key is the next three days. With the increase in word-of-mouth and the spread of publicity, sales will definitely increase significantly. Its potential can basically be seen from the sales situation in these three days.

It was officially sold out at 5 o'clock last night, which means that about 15 copies were sold in three days. According to this momentum, the monthly sales volume is estimated to be about 20 to 100 copies. Don't even think about selling million copies within a year.

It was 1995, when physical books were more popular. There were no large quantities of light novels and e-books that would later invade the market, and mystery novels were just beginning to emerge.

Even though the physical book market is still not as good as the comic book market next door, the gap is not that big. If the quality of a work is good enough and it is well-known enough, there is still a chance to sell a million copies a year.

It seems that Kitagawa Hideichi's hope of becoming a god will be dashed.

"For the supplement, the first-day sales were 2.5 copies, and the highest daily sales were 4.6 copies! The total sales in four days were about 14.5 copies!" Speaking of this, Muramatsu Tomoshi was even happier.

"I even specifically inquired about the sales of the May issue of Gunxiang, and it was only 5 copies! It was sold for nine days, while we only sold it for four days, but our sales were not as good as ours."

"This is good news, but it's a pity that we can't see the specific sales statistics." Kitagawa Hide was very satisfied with the data.

About 4 copies were sold in 14.5 days, with an average daily sales of about 3.6 copies. Although from this perspective, the monthly sales of the supplement are basically hopeless to exceed one million copies, the gap will not be too big.

What does this mean?
This means that the people who bought "Group Portrait" last month bought it because of Kitagawa Shucai.

After this issue did not include his novel, the sales of "Group Portrait" dropped sharply, but after the supplement was published, they came back.

This also means that Kitagawa Hide's readers have already developed a certain level of fan stickiness and are very willing to pay for his works.

For a newly debuted writer, book sales are actually not very important. The key is whether you can retain the readers' hearts and make them become your loyal fans!
It’s a pity that he can’t see the specific report, otherwise he would be able to analyze which new readers he has captured.

By making this comparison, we can verify whether some of his ideas are correct, and if we want to attract new readers in the future, we can also know which books to copy.

Kitagawa Hide has always set his goal to become a best-selling author who can make a lot of money.

It doesn’t matter whether you win an award or not, or whether you are famous or not, as long as you make money quickly.

On the other side, Saito Rena and Muramatsu Tomoshi slowly calmed down from their joy, and looked at each other in surprise when they saw Kitagawa Hidetoki pondering over the data.

Why does it feel like the person in front of me is not a writer who has written a best-selling book, but a capitalist who is trying every means to make more money?

Mr. Kitagawa is really a very special person.

"In short, thanks to Kitagawa-sensei's work and Saito-san's persistence, we were able to turn defeat into victory! Thank you very much!"

Muramatsu Tomoshi finally no longer had to worry about Yasuhara Akira replacing him.

The invisible battle between Oshima Hikaru and Kitagawa Hide, and the release of the hardcover paperback edition of "Hear the Wind Sing", which is being coveted by the top brass and the Agency for Cultural Affairs, are now far beyond his expectations.

As the editor who tried his best to protect Kitagawa Hide in the eyes of the top management and worked like crazy to get resources for him, he will surely gain both fame and fortune in the future. This incident will also write a strong stroke in his editing career resume!
It was a good bet to follow Rena Saito!

"You've worked hard, too." Saito Reina stood up and bowed in return, then smiled and looked at Kitagawa Hide, "By the way, Mr. Kitagawa, let's have a drink together tonight. Let's go to a nice place this time, it's my treat! And I'll do what you asked me to do before."

"Well, I'll trouble you, Mr. Saito, then." Kitagawa Hide was not interested in the socializing, but when he heard the second half of the sentence, which was obviously quieter, he immediately became interested.

Have you found your new home?

(End of this chapter)