Chapter 261: Flat National Explosion!
Chapter 261: Flat National Explosion!
"Thank you, uncles and aunts."
“Thanks for the hard work.”
"You are tired too."
The book signing event at the Xinhua Bookstore in Sha District ended, and Gu Lu thanked the staff as usual.
Compared to the first time, Gu Lu still needed to use the title of the Leaf Cup and the national essay contest to attract passers-by. This time, the identity of "writer" is powerful enough.
During the two or three hour event, about 500 readers signed up, no more than before.
Firstly, the duration is limited, and secondly, readers have more demands in this event.
"I sold more than 500 copies on the first day. I don't know what the first-day sales performance of Flatland will be." Gu Lu thought to himself.
Current domestic sales from low to high:
The Little Prince: 5462 copies (Yu Xinyao’s comments in the People’s Literature Daily column were the first to take off)
Yesterday's Park 37183 copies
71464 copies of "Hyouka" (with the fame bonus of Gu Lu and "The Little Prince")
Mr. Holmes 89236 copies (increased by the popularity of the magazine series)
Gu Lu's requirements were not high, just breaking his own record would be enough. As for breaking 100,000... In his opinion, the subject of popular science novels was still a bit difficult.
"It doesn't matter. Even if this book isn't solved, the suspect can be solved." Regardless of whether you like the book or not, the fact that it topped the sales charts in four countries is a real achievement.
It seems there is another thing... Gu Lu stood up and said to the marketing editor Zhang Xian who was cleaning up.
He said, "Editor Zhang, please arrange the rest of the matter. I have something else to do here."
"No problem. This is the second time I've worked with Teacher Gu Lu. Don't worry." Zhang Xian also made a gesture of "leave it to me."
"Today's book signing event is one of the best-received events I've ever attended," Zhang Xian said. "The sales of Flatland will definitely be good."
"Borrow auspicious words."
The camp editor sent by the Children's Culture Publishing House last time was also Zhang Xian.
We should show hospitality by inviting the staff who have come from afar and the official propagandists to have a simple meal.
Look at the staff of Fog City Library, their faces are so happy. They just record a few things all day, enjoy the air conditioning and touch the fish, and there will be a dinner party later, which is a good thing.
Going downstairs, the manager of Xinhua Bookstore had been waiting for a long time.
Even though the store manager is already in his forties and his son is probably older than Gu Lu, his attitude is very respectful. In today's society, successful people are not necessarily teachers, but celebrities are definitely "teachers".
What was the specific matter that the store manager requested Gu Lu to delay for a few minutes?
"Today we are holding a children's literature promotion event at the Xinhua Bookstore Xiaoxin Street Branch. Parents are welcome to come."
“Picture books, children’s comic books, children’s novels, all on sale!”
"And we invited the famous children's literature writer Gu Lu."
There is no need for much introduction, as Gu Lu is famous enough in the Fog City.
The small event turned out to be a discount on children’s literature at the bookstore.
The store manager knows how to do business by choosing to hold it on the same day as his autograph session.
There was a burst of applause and the parents' eyes were shining with strange light.
Question: What does the strange light in the text represent?
"There was a book signing going on up there just now. I wanted to go up and take a look, but it was too crowded."
"This student is very fierce. I went to a parent-teacher conference earlier and the child's class teacher mentioned him."
"Is your child also in high school?"
"What high school? I'm in elementary school."
The audience was talking a lot.
I didn't prepare my speech in advance, I just said a few words casually when I got on stage.
"It is a good idea to cultivate the habit of reading from an early age," said Gu Lu. "I personally like reading very much."
"I remember at the last book signing event, an uncle asked his child how to write an essay."
Gu Lu is currently a sophomore in high school. It’s normal for him to call a man in his thirties or even forties “uncle,” right?
"My advice is to let children read more essays and short stories," said Gu Lu. "Whether the composition is good or not must be related to reading habits."
The vast majority of students who read a lot are better at writing essays than students who read less, with few exceptions.
After a few words of encouragement, Gu Lu retreated.
"Thank you, Mr. Gu Lu. What you said makes a lot of sense." The store manager came over to thank him and sent the writer away.
Although the writer refused to take a photo just now, it was nice of him to say a few words.
As a result, many parents have started buying books, some buying as many as possible.
"Why is The Little Prince by the writer Gu Lu not available?" a parent asked.
The store manager replied: "The publisher of The Little Prince is quite special, so it is one of the few fairy tale books that is not discounted. But it is not expensive."
The Little Prince sells so well, why is it participating in the discount?
"The smart kid just now said that he wanted to read more short stories and essays. Has he published any essays?" asked the tall parent.
The store manager replied, "Of course, it's called Yesterday's Park, and it can be seen in the bestseller section on the second floor."
In the bestseller section on the second floor, several books have sales of over 500,000, but Yesterday Park and Hyouka didn’t reach that mark.
However, since the author was here for a book signing today, all of Gu Lu's works were moved to a prominent place two days in advance.
Some parents bought The Little Prince, and some bought Yesterday's Park. Their thoughts at this moment were similar to those of urban men and women who buy gym memberships, as if buying a book and not caring whether their children read it or not would improve their writing grades.
……
On Monday, when Gu Lu got up, he turned on his computer and checked his email.
The report has not come yet.
He actually knew that publishing houses don't start work so early.
But what if?
Well, the first-day sales of Flatland will probably have to wait until noon.
Gu Lu was very happy today, humming a little tune as he walked to school.
The sales revenue after launch is very considerable, at least from Gu Jiayu's perspective.
She will definitely be the first to support her brother's new book.
At the Xinhua Bookstore in Bishan, Gu Jiayu met many acquaintances who bought this book.
Inside the classroom.
Gu Lu laid his face on the table, waiting for noon to arrive.
"CC, it's your turn to get up first tomorrow." Wei Jiao reminded.
The smile on Qi Caiwei's face froze immediately.
This is an old problem in the girls’ dormitory. The hot water has to be turned on more than ten minutes in advance in the morning.
So they took turns to get up fifteen minutes earlier in their dormitory.
"Actually, I think it's also good to take a cold shower in this weather." Qi Caiwei whispered.
"Okay then, we won't take turns after this time." Wei Jiao said, "After all, to be fair, we have to go in order."
It makes sense, otherwise anyone would definitely feel uncomfortable if it happened more than once.
But that was a real fifteen minutes of staying up late! Qi Caiwei sighed and put her face directly on the table.
"The happiest thing in life is to get more food than others in the cafeteria and to sleep longer than your roommates." Wei Jiao sighed.
"So my meal card is comfortable to use, right?" Gu Lu said.
"Yeah!" Wei Jiao nodded.
Soon Wei Jiao was not so happy anymore, because she had to start taking notes. Wei Jiao was easily distracted in class, so she had to borrow her classmates' notes to compare.
This kind of distraction is unconscious. For example, you may say to yourself, “I don’t want to be distracted. I need to listen carefully.” But when you come to your senses, you realize that you have been distracted for a while.
Qi Caiwei felt that her little sister was very amazing, because she was able to get into No. 8 Middle School despite this little problem, so she always helped her with note-taking.
Lu Yi has the best grades in the class, but Qi Caiwei takes the best notes.
"Gulu, why didn't you come to school for a week? Don't you need to take notes?" Wei Jiao said.
At such a pretentious moment, King Gollum said nothing and seemed to be in low spirits.
After feeling listless for the whole morning, he went to the club office at noon and turned on his computer. The first-day sales in the email gave Gu Lu a boost!
100038 copies on the first day.
Over 100,000!
A milestone in my writing career!
Wait, this data is a bit... Soon, Gu Lu's brows relaxed and he figured it out.
Even if there is some water, it must be close to 100,000 before it can be diluted. The resources of the three publishing houses, joint promotion, and the reputation of "Years and Reasoning" during its serialization pushed Mr. Holmes to 80,000.
It also directly proves that Gu Lu’s work last year was not in vain, and his fame and status have made real progress.
"Flatland" is the only popular science novel in China with sales exceeding 10 copies.
exploded!
"Before reading it, I wanted to know what kind of popular science novel deserves such praise. After reading it... Wow! Such an imaginative book, it made me dream back to the fantasy of reading the Little Prince's magical planets. Highly recommended!"
"The poorest and humblest is the isosceles triangle, the noblest is the circle, and the most frightening is the straight line. What a flat country! The content is just as its name suggests, especially the ending. When people from the flat country meet people from the three-dimensional world, they will never understand each other's words."
"This book is not that simple. It is not just a popular science about space. There is a plot in it that the sharper the angle, the more dangerous it is, and it can even pierce other people. But to use the sharp angle reasonably, you need to have enough IQ. But when you have enough IQ, the angle will become obtuse, and the piercing power will be reduced. Does it sound like you? You are full of passion when you first enter society. To use this passion reasonably, you need to understand work and society well enough. But when you understand enough... I'm sorry, you no longer have passion."
"It's a bit forced to understand. I think the most interesting thing is that the king of Flatland meets the King of One Dimension."
"The color GM has a strong sense of irony. I don't know if I read it wrong. But considering the other science fiction short stories serialized by Gu Lu, I think what I thought is correct."
Wait, the internet is full of positive reviews.
Many of them bought books because of Gu Lu, some bought books because of science fiction works such as "Supporting Humanity" and "Rural Teachers", and many readers bought books because of President Jian's promotion.
No matter which group of people you buy from, you won’t be disappointed.
Just like Yu Xinyao, China's number one literary critic.
Everyone knows that Yu Xinyao is particularly optimistic about Gu Lu, even though he had criticized him before.
President Jian said it was "an unprecedented popular science novel", but Yu Xinyao disagreed with such high-profile publicity.
But what if?
"The Little Prince" can be regarded as an unprecedented fairy tale novel, at least in Yu Xinyao's opinion.
Before The Little Prince, fairy tales for adults referred to "martial arts novels."
Yu Xinyao also expected Gu Lu to create a miracle. He bought the book and watched it as soon as possible.
"Flatland actually directly tells the story of how houses are built in this two-dimensional world, how people in this two-dimensional world walk, and how to distinguish between men and women."
Then look down.
"Great, great!" Unexpectedly, the dream came true and Gu Luzhen wrote a very unique popular science work.
As long as the work is good, there is no need to give Yu Xinyao any money, he will take the initiative to help promote it.
If the work is not good, Yu Xinyao will not say good things against his conscience even if he is paid.
For example, now, Yu Xinyao is about to post comments on his column again.
Because Yu Xinyao read a lot of reviews on the Internet, and none of them hit the point.
A great success in both reputation and sales!
President Jian has published many best-selling books, so what he needs to do now is to maintain stability and gradually expand his influence!
Gu Lu Bar is just like a holiday.
Why? Because President Jian started switching accounts. He had a row of accounts like "Tong Lu, do you understand?", "Ke Lu No. 1", "Ling Lu Arrives", etc., and he was currently switching to the second one.
Kelu No.1: [Look, look, I'll tell you. Gulu was originally established because of "Rural Teacher". All others are heretics, get out of here. "Flatland" is enough to prove that science fiction is the field that Gulu is most comfortable in!]
Look at this mockery. Many fans of Gu Lu’s science fiction works expressed their support below.
But other fan groups were not happy.
The reason why the Gu Lu Forum is as popular as the online novel forum is because of the endless debates.
You have to know that in 2013, there were people who typed out pirated copies of online novels! And no one in Gu Lu Bar would type out the contents of the magazines, this is the scary part!
A war broke out instantly.
I said I could say it: [What the hell? Is popular science considered science fiction? What the hell is "Flatland"?]
Kelu's first reply: [Haha, if you haven't read it, you have no right to speak.]
Little Godzilla: [I am really dying of laughter. Here is a little-known fact: The Little Prince is Gu Lu’s best-selling novel. Here is another little-known fact: The Little Prince also established Gu Lu’s fame in Japan. Flatland is not worthy of copying The Little Prince. Please don’t get criticized.]
Ke Lu's first reply: [Oh? Don't you know that Gu Lu's science fiction novel "Supporting God" has sparked a phenomenal discussion in Japan? As for "Flatland", you have no right to comment if you haven't read it.]
Yuan: [Speechless, why are you trying to provoke a fight?]
Kelu's first reply to Yuyuan: [Provoking a fight? Isn't it true that Flatland is good?]
and many more.
When President Jian was bored, he would reply quickly.
That's right, he was just trying to provoke a fight.
Gu Lu Bar has tens of thousands of visitors every day, and you have to know that most of these people read physical books. This wave of traffic has basically made everyone in the forum know about Flatland.
As for the harm that provoking a war will cause?
Don't think too much. President Jian knows it very well. It's not Gu Lu's fault anyway.
The first print run of Flatland was 300,000, but it seems that sales are totally unstoppable now!
Gu Lu learned about the first-day sales at noon, and knew that his book had broken the circle in the afternoon.
There is definitely no concept of "breaking the circle" now.
Mainly because Secretary Xiao called him, and Gu Lu had just finished school at that time.
Gu Lu usually brings his cell phone to school, but rarely takes it out in class.
Put it in your schoolbag and go to the club office at noon when you need it.
"Congratulations, Teacher Gu Lu has created another best-selling book. It's a pity that Teacher Gu Lu was unable to come to Wulong for research, otherwise we could also listen to Teacher Gu Lu's creative process."
Secretary Xiao is the secretary of the Fog City Writers Association. He was in charge of all subsequent matters, including issuing bonuses to him and sending certificates.
"Popular science novels are mainly for popular science, and there is nothing special about them." Gu Lu said, "If I didn't go to school, I would also like to come here to collect folk songs, but what a pity."
The main task of students is to study. Even if Secretary Xiao felt from the bottom of his heart that there was nothing wrong with taking two days off, he did not dare to say so.
"If you keep going like this, you will be the winner of our Writers Association's annual book." Secretary Xiao said.
Book of the Year or something, Gu Lu only cares about how much the prize money is.
The two chatted for a while before hanging up the phone.
I sigh heavily. It’s so tiring to socialize with people.
"Going to school is really a universal excuse. As long as I say that, no activity will force me to take leave to participate."
In his previous life, Gu Lu read "Moon in the Mountain" and read the following passage: "I am deeply afraid that I am not a beautiful jade, so I dare not work hard to polish myself. But I also half believe that I am a beautiful jade, so I am unwilling to be mediocre..."
Very touching.
But what he felt was not that he half believed that he was a beautiful jade. In his previous life, Gu Lu believed from beginning to end that he was a stone, without any talent.
His feeling is that he actually likes to participate in various activities, but he is afraid to participate in various activities because utilitarian or enthusiastic interpersonal communication will make him uncomfortable.
But I also have a desire to participate in various activities. It would be best if I could control it myself, go when I want to go and not go when I don’t want to go.
Gu Lu defines himself as "pretentious".
Walking slowly back home, as soon as he got home, Gu Lu received a bunch of good news.
They were all brought by President Jian.
1. You can join the National Writers Association. You will also become the youngest member of the Writers Association.
2. "The Little Prince" was selected into the recommended reading list for junior high school students by the "National Children's Reading Club".
3. The sales of The Little Prince have reached the standard for a collector's edition.
4. The sales of Flatland exceeded expectations and a second print run was confirmed.
"When flowers smell fragrant, butterflies will come." Gu Lu actually figured it out a little.
For example, the Fog City Writers Association gave Gu Lu an award for no reason even though he had not joined.
The Fog City Writers Association is not a waste of money. How many people who can become leaders are simple?
Every year, local writers' associations will write reports and so on, counting their contributions for the year and so on.
If an author's work is included in People's Literature and published abroad, it is a contribution. After all, Gu Lu is from Fog City... But if you write him in without giving him any benefits, isn't that not good?
Yes, that's the truth.
After returning home, Gu Lu also started to get busy.
The storm stirred up by "Flatland" is still continuing.
Zhao Mingming logged into Bilibili. She went from Station A to Station B. She couldn’t elaborate on the specific reason.
Anyway, she carried her laptop with her and would check online every few days.
After logging into the webpage, Zhao Mingming saw something really magical.
[Congratulations to our UP host, the new book has successfully entered the "Science Fiction Vision" plan of Sichuan Provincial Publishing House. 】
The title is just like this. We all know that A B’s titles can be very long.
But the cover of the picture is [Gu Lu] [Flat Country] [Genius Writer]
Don’t be anxious, Zhao Mingming rubbed her eyes first, and then she looked at it again.
Still no change.
"I support the UP host? Gu Lu?"
What a niche text! Zhao Mingming picked up the book at hand and read it exactly the same.
"Xiaoxue, Xiaoxue!" Zhao Mingming shouted loudly.
"What's wrong, what's wrong?" As she was about to blow-dry her hair, Mu Xue, all wet, ran over.
"Did you spend money?" Zhao Mingming asked.
"What do you mean by spending money?" Mu Xue was a little confused by her friend's sudden question.
Zhao Mingming held up Flatland and asked, "Did you hire a group of trolls to buy this book?"
"Not yet." Mu Xue said, "Because the money is not much, so we have to spend it wisely."
"Look here." Zhao Mingming pointed at the computer screen, and Mu Xue also widened her eyes.
The next second, Zhao Mingming clicked on it.
This is a special topic created by Bilibili.
[Uploader: King Guru
Original name: Gu Lu
Introduction: One of the earliest up-loaders on Bilibili published a recitation of "If There Was No Li Bai", which made Bilibili the first to be reported by mainstream media.
[…]
What follows is a description of the establishment of Bilibili’s website, which is nothing interesting.
Strictly speaking, it doesn’t count as the first time it was mentioned on the official website, because Xinxiashe only posted a website link and did not mention the name of Bilibili.
But the current Bilibili is not the giant it will be in the future. The up-loaders include celebrities, professors and academicians. Gu Lu's existence has greatly expanded the diversity of up-loaders, so Uncle Chen will definitely take advantage of this popularity!
It can’t be said that “freeloading” is so unpleasant, because Gu Lu is indeed the up-host of Bilibili.
"Just click it." Mu Xue was so anxious that she wanted to grab the mouse herself.
Zhao Mingming clicked on the link about the up master on the webpage and jumped directly to the homepage of King Guru.
[King Gollum
Bilibili personal certification: writer Gu Lu, well-known Bilibili up master
Personal introduction: An ordinary student. ]
"Oh my god, my cousin is also using Bilibili, and there is only one video here," said Mu Xue.
“Isn’t this even more powerful? One video is recommended on the homepage.” Zhao Mingming said, “Wow, there are 11 followers!”
Because this homepage promotion has been on Bilibili for two or three days, but they discovered it late.
"Is this a well-known up-loader?" Mu Xue asked herself and answered, "That's right, 110,000 followers, it's considered well-known."
Click on the only video.
Gu Lu's recitation: "If Li Bai were not there, it would not seem to have much impact, but there would be one less writer a thousand years ago..."
Mu Xue and Zhao Mingming looked at each other and saw the same opinion in each other's eyes.
This article is well written.
Of course, what the two wanted to see more was the video comment section.
The highly-rated answers in the comment section have little to do with the video itself.
"Ah, that's not an accurate introduction. Let me introduce to you who Gu Lu is.
Gu Lu: Also known as the other people's child, he is the eternal role model in the teacher's mouth.
It is the nightmare of liberal arts students. If you think you have written a good composition, don't be happy, because it is too early to be happy.
You will most likely hear something like this: Not bad, don’t be proud. It’s still a lot worse than Gu Lu.”
This comment has over 500 likes.
This is enough to prove that too many parents use Gu Lu as an example in front of their children.
Especially in Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan and Chongqing.
The comments below are just as hilarious.
"Gu Lu, who doesn't know him? Teachers and parents have been talking about him so much that they are almost calloused. But our teacher told us not to learn from him. [We should take the exam seriously. Don't think that everyone can get a recommendation by writing essays in the preliminary exam because of Gu Lu. This path is too difficult.]"
Zhao Mingming looked at the comment section and smiled, "Awesome, this guy has done a lot of good things."
(End of this chapter)