Chapter 667: A bit irrational
Cheng Zaochun was shocked by his words. What a joke, two-pronged approach? How much would that cost?
"Is our Chinese Literature Society short of money now?" Lin Weimin asked a soul-searching question.
Cheng Zaochun was silent for a moment, then said stubbornly, "We have just had a few good years, so we can't spend money lavishly."
"It's easy to change the country, but difficult to change one's nature. I'm talking about you," Lin Weimin accused.
When I attended the signing ceremony for the first batch of writers of the Ragdoll Series yesterday, my mouth was grinning so wide, but when it came to paying the money, I immediately retracted my mouth.
Cheng Zaochun was not angry either, "Just think of a solution from one aspect."
"Old Cheng, you have to look at things from a development perspective. The Ragdoll series is going to be launched this year. There will be at least six or seven books this year. We have made such a big splash, so we must have sales of two to three million copies.
It has been two months since the publication of Spirited Away, and it is almost going to sell three million copies. This is not my own book and I am just bragging, but it will surely sell eight million copies in a year, right?
Tongwen Publishing House is also developing at a good pace, and they are going to establish another "Red Bean".
The printing capacity we lack is not just a little bit. Simply expanding the capacity in Huangcun or acquiring a small printing factory is a drop in the bucket. "
It is wrong to fool people, but it is wrong to scare people. Well, when it comes to advising leaders, Teacher Lin is very professional.
Cheng Zaochun really hesitated, "Is it really as serious as you say?"
"If you don't believe me, ask Lao Mou. The situation is not optimistic!"
Mou Chunzhi was watching the show on the sidelines, and he didn't expect that he would have a part to play. He saw Cheng Zaochun looking at him.
"Ah... well... I think... it is true... it should... possibly..."
He hesitated for a long time and couldn't explain it clearly, but Lin Weimin said, "Look, Lao Mou also agrees with my point of view."
Mou Chunzhi: Do you really think the president is deaf?
The way he looked at Lin Weimin was as if he was looking at a treacherous villain next to the emperor.
Cheng Zaochun knew very well that Lin Weimin was cunning, but he did not dare to gamble. The Guowen Publishing House's current upward momentum was too alarming. If it could maintain this momentum for another two years, it might become the publishing house with the largest book circulation in the country.
If this upward momentum is interrupted because printing capacity cannot keep up, then he, as the president, will be the sinner of Guowen Publishing House.
"Well, let's discuss it later in the meeting. Expanding production capacity and acquiring a printing plant will cost a lot of money."
Lin Weimin said nonchalantly: "It's just two or three months of profit, it's not a big problem."
"You're not the head of the family, so you don't know..." Cheng Zaochun muttered instinctively.
Lin Weimin instinctively listened with his left ear and ignored with his right.
Plans are plans, and future production capacity does not represent current production capacity. The current difficulties still need to be overcome by Mou Chunzhi.
After coming out of Cheng Zaochun's office, Lin Weimin grabbed Mou Chunzhi and said solemnly: "Old Mou, within half a month, you must find me a printing factory that can provide us with a production capacity of 100 million sheets within half a year."
Mou Chunzhi was shocked when he heard this, and there was only one sentence in his eyes: Do you know what you are talking about?
If 100 million printed sheets are converted into books, it would basically be 10 million copies. Ordinary printing houses simply cannot take on such work.
Even if someone has the resources, they don’t necessarily have to reserve them specifically for the Chinese Literature Society!
Mou Chunzhi opened his mouth to explain to Lin Weimin, but Lin Weimin continued, "I'm not kidding you. This year, the printing capacity gap in the company may be very large. Whether it is to expand the capacity of our own printing plant or acquire a printing plant, we will not be able to meet such a huge demand in a short period of time."
Why didn’t you tell the president this just now?
Mou Chunzhi secretly complained.
He also understood that the leaders had already agreed to expand production capacity and acquire a printing plant, and that the leaders should no longer be left to worry about the remaining emergency matters.
Otherwise, what is the purpose of having him as the vice president?
Although I think Lin Weimin's words are a bit exaggerated, it is also true that there is a gap in the printing capacity of the company, and it seems to be quite large.
Never mind, just consider it as a rainy day preparation.
"Prepare a few more sets of printing plates for "Wasted City" and "Spirited Away." Lin Weimin reminded again.
Mou Chunzhi thought that since "Spirited Away" sold 2 million copies in a month and a half, it was reasonable to prepare a few more sets of printing plates. In the future, if the production capacity could not keep up, several printing factories would definitely have to print together.
But Wasted City...
Mou Chunzhi was a little uncertain. Now that pure literature was on the decline, it seemed to me that Lin Weimin was optimistic about the big sales of Jia Pingwa's book.
He hasn't read the novel "Wasted City", but it is a pure literary work after all, and Jia Pingwa has no precedent of his works selling well, so it shouldn't be... that bad, right?
In the outside world, news about the signing ceremony of the first batch of writers of the Ragdoll Series is still spreading in full swing. The first batch of media reports have been reprinted, and many media have followed up with reports and commented on the matter, which has further fueled the popularity of the news and made the names of the Ragdoll Series and several signed writers spread throughout the country.
Amid this news that has attracted almost universal attention, the first three novels in the Ragdoll Series have officially hit the shelves of major bookstores across the country.
Five days later, Wei Fengjun once again hung up the phone at Xinhua Bookstore Distribution Office, his eyes blank and muttering to himself.
“It’s selling like crazy!”
“It’s selling like crazy!”
The young man in the distribution department was very worried about his leader's mental state, but he didn't dare to ask too much, so he could only ask cautiously: "Leader, what did Xinhua Bookstore say?"
Wei Fengjun looked at the young man, his eyes gradually focused, and then he said word by word: "Another 600,000 copies of Wasted City, 200,000 copies of Bitter Realm, and 300,000 copies of Flower Season and Rainy Season."
The young man nodded and said, "That's not bad, the three books together only sold 1.1 million copies."
1.1 million copies.
Oh, that’s not right. Hasn’t it only been on the market for five days?
The young man looked at Wei Fengjun, recalling what the leader had just said to himself.
Selling like crazy!
"Leader, are you sure that the number of copies of Wasted City is 600,000, The Realm of Suffering is 200,000, and Season of Flowers and Rain is 300,000?"
Wei Fengjun smiled bitterly and said, "I haven't reached the level of Alzheimer's disease yet, right?"
The young man was puzzled: "But aren't these three books just released?"
"Can't it sell well right after it's released? Spirited Away sold 500,000 copies in just one week."
The young people were disdainful and thought, how can these books compare with "Spirited Away"?
"Spirited Away" began serialization in "Children's Times" in June last year. It took eight issues to increase the sales of "Children's Times" from 400,000 copies per issue to nearly 4 million copies in the last issue.
To create a 10-fold sales increase with a novel, the starting point was not 1,000 copies, not 10,000 copies, not 100,000 copies, but a full 400,000 copies. Looking at the 100-year history of Chinese periodicals, this situation is unheard of.
The sales volume of 4 million copies represents at least 4 million readers. Moreover, due to the characteristics of children's literature, behind every young reader there are parents and classmates. It is not an exaggeration to double the number of readers.
After the release of the single volume of "Spirited Away", it has continuously broken the domestic book sales record. Now, it has been published for nearly two and a half months, and the sales volume is approaching 3 million copies.
In this case, compare the novels such as "Wasted City" with "Childhood".
Leader, you are a little irrational.
The sensation caused by "Spirited Away" in the domestic children's literature world is unprecedented. The sales volume approached 3 million in two months, which is the first time in the history of children's literature, not to mention in the children's literature world, even in the history of modern and contemporary Chinese literature.
This is partly due to the novel itself, but also to the fact that the novel was serialized first and then published. Over a period of more than half a year, Spirited Away has developed enough readers and potential readers.
It was the support of this huge readership group and their viral spread that made "Spirited Away" achieve its unprecedented sales miracle.
Now, not only Guowen Publishing House, but many people in the domestic publishing and literary circles are discussing a question: how long will it take for "Spirited Away" to break the sales figure of 10 million copies?
Although the sales of "Spirited Away" have not yet exceeded 3 million copies, everyone understands that the end point of this novel is unlikely to be in the seven digits, and it is only a matter of time before the sales reach eight digits.
You should know that the sales of the January 1993 issue of "Childhood" which serialized the eighth issue of "Spirited Away" exceeded 4 million copies. The sales of these 4 million copies are completely different from the sales of the 4 million copies of "Kyushu Heroes".
The sales volume of "Kyushu Heroes" increased little by little over two years. Readers may like a certain work published in it, but their love for the magazine itself must be higher than the works.
But "Childhood" is different. Its sales have increased from 400,000 copies per issue to the current 4 million copies. The only thing it did was to serialize "Spirited Away".
Readers like "Spirited Away" much more than the magazine. This can be clearly seen from the fact that the sales of "Childhood of the Times" dropped after the serialization of "Spirited Away" ended.
After the February issue of "Childhood" was released last month, more than a month has passed and only 2.2 million copies have been sold, nearly halving.
Half a month after the March issue was on the market, its sales volume has only reached half of that of the February issue, which is a cliff-like drop.
The roller-coaster sales volume naturally made the entire Children's Times Publishing House feel worried, but they also knew that the surge in sales was not their credit, so the plummeting sales volume was naturally not their fault.
All this started simply because Lin Weimin wanted to write a fairy tale for his newborn daughter.
As the editor-in-chief of the magazine, Qiu Shilong was shocked when he saw the sales of the last two issues.
But reason told him not to be greedy, and not to think about unrealistic things. As long as the sales of "Childhood" could be maintained at the level of 500,000 or 600,000 copies per issue after the first half of the year, it would be a huge success for the magazine and an indelible achievement for him as the editor-in-chief.
After all, in recent years, except for the sales of popular literature, the sales of other literary works and publications have been declining. It is already a blessing to have a sales increase of 100,000 or 200,000 points in a year.
What's more, in this year, they have created unprecedented history for "Childhood".
The history created by "Childhood of Time" was brought to them by "Spirited Away", but at the same time, "Spirited Away" is also constantly creating new history of its own.
Until late March, everyone believed this very firmly.
But no one expected that when "Spirited Away" was dominating the domestic book market, another dark horse would suddenly appear out of nowhere.
(End of this chapter)
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