Lao Miao probably didn't expect Chu Li to agree so quickly. Not only did he agree to print 350,000 copies of Chu Chuan's works, he also agreed to the Suo Heng deal. After a moment of hesitation, he started to laugh and sent Suo Heng's contact information to Chu Li on QQ: "Here, here, here, here, why are you shouting so loudly? Are you afraid that I'll regret it? If you want this author, just take him. What's so rare about him? He can't be sold. He's getting worse and worse in recent years."
"...Lao Miao, it would be a bad idea to hand Suo Heng over to Chu Li as well. Since Jiang Yucheng came and added a serial, Hippo's short stories have been frequently rejected, and then not published for two or three issues. Now, apart from Suo Heng and Niannian, you don't have many other authors who can submit manuscripts--" Xiaoniao interjected at the right time, but before he could finish, Lao Miao glared back at him.
Lao Miao turned his chair and returned to his cubicle: "I have long wanted to stop carrying these things that cannot be sold. I have been discussing other projects with the company recently... People, you can't be stubborn and stick to one thing. What era is this? Who still buys magazines one issue after another just to read novels?"
As he spoke, he glanced at Chu Li.
Chu Li muttered expressionlessly, "I don't want to listen, you are just a turtle chanting sutras."
While mumbling to herself, she greeted Suo Heng on QQ - she was unexpectedly a gentle girl. After being notified of the replacement of her supervisor, she didn't say anything. She just sent a meaningful "ah" and then shut up... When the supervisor was suddenly replaced when things were going downhill, it was natural for her to feel like she was being abandoned, right?
Chu Li could only try her best to help Suo Heng reduce this discomfort, and the only way she could think of was to start discussing her new article with Suo Heng as soon as possible, so that she could forget about being abandoned from time to time and get into the rhythm of adaptation... However, what Chu Li didn't expect was that as soon as she mentioned the new series, Suo Heng reacted quickly -
[Suo Heng: Ah, last time Lao Miao asked me to write a cute little story about gods descending to earth, and I wrote the beginning.]
As she spoke, she sent the manuscript over. It only had the beginning. Chu Li took a look at it. It was obvious that she was trying hard to be cute, but... Suo Heng was a famous author for writing ancient romance novels. Readers praised her for her delicate style of writing, and liked the stories of heroes and heroines in her works...
Why would an author like this write cute stories?
Chu Li put the manuscript aside and tactfully expressed his thoughts to Suo Heng. Who knew that as soon as he finished speaking, Suo Heng quickly responded by asking -
[Suo Heng: So what are the popular themes now? What do readers like to read? Interstellar mechas? Ancient style? Time travel from ancient times to the present? Ah, or cute stories where one of the protagonists is a small animal. I can try all of them...]
[The Monkey’s hired trolls: ………Don’t worry about what’s popular now, do you have a topic you want to write about? ]
[Suo Heng: There are some, 23333, but Lao Miao said that the subject I want to write will definitely not be popular, so he won’t let me write... because few people read ancient romance novels now.]
【Suo Heng: Lao Miao said that for an author like me who has been dormant for a long time and can’t make a comeback, it’s best for me to write about guaranteed topics with explosive points—topics that can be popular even by newcomers. Plus, I’m an old author, so maybe that can help me get back into everyone’s attention… I think it makes sense.】
[The navy hired by the monkey: …]
[The Monkey's hired navy: He is no longer your editor-in-chief. If you don't want to accept this approach, you don't have to force yourself.]
[The water army hired by Monkey: Think about why Yuanyue Society invited you in the first place - we invited you because we want to see something that only you have, not to ask you to write something that "it doesn't matter if it's not Suo Heng"...]
[The Monkey's hired navy: I wonder if you can understand what I'm saying? ]
Suo Heng was silent for a while.
——Perhaps he was too shocked by the completely different submission requirements from Chu Li and Lao Miao.
After a long silence, she told Chu Li that she would write about a few topics, sort them out and send them to Chu Li for selection. Chu Li readily agreed and agreed with her on an exact time to hand in the topics...
This agreement led to the last few words that Suo Heng said to Chu Li on that day:
【Suo Heng: Ah, when all the editors told me the outline or topic selection, they always said: It’s okay, there’s no rush, take your time, and you can submit it anytime.】
[Suo Heng: You are the only one who agreed with me on the deadline for submission in a tone that said "no delays allowed".]
[Suo Heng: 233333333333 It seems like it has been many years since an editor has urged me to submit my manuscripts. I have reached the point where sometimes I even think that others are showing off when they complain about being urged to submit their manuscripts.]
【Suo Heng: How amazing.】
【Suo Heng: I feel needed.】
【Suo Heng: Thank you! 】
Chu Li: "..."
This girl.
I am really being bullied into the dust by those who only know how to judge "whether this author's work can be sold".
After seeing off Suo Heng, Chu Li looked up at Yu Yao, and realized that the elder Yu Yao was no longer focused as he usually did when sitting in his seat, concentrating on his own work and rarely looking up. Today, he was actually a little distracted - and awkwardly, his eyes collided with Chu Li's in the air.
Yu Yao smiled at Chu Li, and it was as if he was entrusting his child to you, as if to say: I'm leaving my child in your care.
…
After Suo Heng was sent away, there was chaos again in the afternoon.
The marketing department sent a message saying that the Jiuhua Bookstore, which we had contacted, had given us a message that a new work by the international director and writer Hermann, The Strange Magpie on a Different Branch, was scheduled to be released at the same time as The Divine Book of Luo River in late December. The best stacking position in the bookstore was given to this big name. If the book was released at the same time, The Divine Book of Luo River would definitely not get the best stacking position in the bookstore...
When Chu Li saw the news, he felt his stomach churn—something that had been agreed upon was changed without warning, and Hermann’s “The Magpie on a Branch” showed up halfway through…
It was as if the whole world knew that she and Lao Miao were making a bet, and then they all came out to mess with her! ! ! !
Not to mention that Zhuchuan's own status is definitely not as high as that of this international director Jian writer. Jiuhua Bookstore is a large national bookstore and Yuanyue Publishing House's largest partner. Not to mention the marketing department, even Teacher Xia cannot be offended. At this point, it seems that the only way to go is to postpone the release of "The Divine Book of Luo River" and release it earlier!
Let alone the first print run of 350,000, today is only the first day that distributors have responded to the order form, so we have to rush to prepare for the printing. We can’t delay it for a few days, and with the huge demand from the Old Chinese Bookstore, we can only order 200,000 copies for the first print run at most…
The contact boy in the marketing department, like Chu Li, had just been hired as a full-time employee after an interview at the beginning of the year. He also asked pitifully on Q:
[Marketing department boy: Sister, what should we do T_T It seems that we either give up the best stacking position, or print a batch in advance to catch up with the best stacking position at the beginning of next month? If we print a batch in advance, we can print a maximum of 45,000 from the current order quantity, plus the stacking number required by the old Chinese community, a total of more than 100,000! The cost is estimated to be quite high...]
[Young man from the marketing department: Our boss told us to handle this big thing, and the tone of his voice was that if we mess up, we can get out.]
[The navy hired by the monkey: …]
The stacking position usually requires about 200 books.
Although the old Chinese bookstores are big businesses, with more than 10,000 old Chinese bookstores nationwide, they are generally stacked only in the vicinity of schools and super-large city center bookstores, so the so-called stacking positions, in the end, there are probably only a few hundred in the country——
Even if we calculate based on the 400 largest ones, they would require 80,000 books just for stacking.
But it is only 80,000 copies, plus the 100,000 or so copies purchased by distributors in the past few days. This number will be strictly controlled by Yuanyue Publishing House - the main problem is still the 80,000 copies of Jiuhua Bookstore, because the unsold parts after the stacking have the right to be returned.
Bookstores can't give away such a good thing as a stacking position for free. It has to be exchanged for points and return rights... That is to say, for example, normally books are sold to Jiuhua Bookstore at 55% off the original price, but if they are placed in a stacking position at Jiuhua Bookstore, they can only sell them at 45% off the original price; plus the return rate for ordinary dealers is only 30%, but if Jiuhua Bookstore gives stacking positions, the return rate may rise to 70%. In other words, in order to get such an advertising position, they have to bear the risk of a large number of returns!
In summary, the society was very strict about printing these 80,000 copies, which led to other distributors who bought 50,000 copies and might have directly printed 70,000 or 20,000 copies. However, after what happened to Jiuhua Bookstore, they would only print 5,000 more copies, and the rest would be kept after Jiuhua Bookstore sold out a wave of returned books...
Chu Li: "..."
Chu Li spent a long while counting numbers on his fingers, and then he pulled out the list of suppliers he usually cooperated with and looked through it again. He counted every detail and sent his marketing boy to contact them to see if he could write some orders in advance and take over some of them first.
But no matter how she calculated it, the total first print run would be far less than the "350,000" agreed upon with Lao Miao.
Meanwhile, Lao Miao had heard the news from somewhere, and he was as happy as a little yellow dog, browsing Taobao with a doge face: "Oh, I can't believe it, I just made the bet, and the result came out a few hours later... All together, you only have one week to offset the sales, Chu Li, what do you think we should do?"
Chu Li ignored him, stood up and glanced at his computer screen. At this moment, Lao Miao was stuffing things into the shopping cart -
This action reminds me of something.
Chu Li high-fived: "Yes! We haven't even counted the purchase volume from the e-book vendors yet!"
"Let's forget about that," Lao Miao said with a smile. When Kovi's book was released by Xindun Publishing House last month, the total number of copies sold online was less than 10,000 - the first batch of buyers rushed to bookstores to buy it because it was released online and offline simultaneously nationwide. Who would wait for your e-commerce to ship it to you, and the courier to slowly send it to you over the mountains and ridges? By the time you get the book, those who bought it at Jiuhua Bookstore have already read the spoilers!! "
Covey is an author of basically the same level as Chuan Chuan.
In fact, because he had the ace editor of Shindun Publishing House to guide him, his fame and works as an author matured and formed earlier than those of Zhuchuan.
Chu Li: "..."
Chu Li felt a headache——
It is true that in the Internet age, e-commerce shopping is very convenient...but the advantage of being able to touch, see and enjoy the items immediately after paying for them is something that e-commerce businesses that rely on express delivery and manual delivery cannot match, and it is also the only reason why physical stores have been able to survive to this day.
As Lao Miao was enjoying the misfortune, Chu Li felt that he had been silent for a while.
noon.
…
Until I get home in the evening.
I pushed open the door to the yard and saw a guy in pajamas squatting in front of a brazier in the yard, hugging his knees and sticking his butt out, and stuffing some paper products into the brazier - the flames devoured the things in his hands, and he let go of them only after they were burned through, and threw the paper products in...
Chu Li: "..."
Walking over and putting the bag on the man's back, Chu Li asked, "What are you doing? BBQ party?"
The man didn't even raise his head, letting her treat him as a baggage stand or a table or something like that: "Burn the draft paper."
Chu Li was startled, and after a closer look, she found that the man was holding the papers she had seen on his desk before, with his scribbled notes on them. She asked, "Why are you burning the draft papers?"
Isn't it over if you lose it?
"The draft paper is full of fragmentary outlines and plot ideas that I suddenly thought of. Such important things are thrown directly into the trash can. What if some homeless person picks it up and plagiarizes it, and uses his elementary school diploma to write a book with extremely poor writing but excellent plot and becomes a hit?" Zhuo Chuan grabbed another stack of draft paper, "So, burn it.
Chuli: “…………………………”
Chu Li: "You have a very wild imagination."
After taking the bag from the man's back, Chu Li was about to turn around and go back to the house, when she saw the man pick up something from the waste paper pile that was definitely not a piece of draft paper - she paused and turned around: it turned out to be the second half of the collection of paintings by Niangniang that she had seen at the door of Zhuchuan's house a few months ago.
Chu Li rushed back in two or three steps and snatched the album from the man's hand: "Why did you burn this good album——"
"What do you care about me? Didn't you turn from a fan to a hater?"
"Even if I've turned from a fan to a hater, this art book is still a limited edition autographed edition that some people are paying thousands of dollars for online. Back then, my best friend and I stayed up late at night waiting for the pre-sale, and snatched the first fifty autographs of this limited edition from a group of jackals and tigers! Do you know how many thousands of copies of this art book were sold that night—"
The voice of Chu Li suddenly disappeared.
The man squatting in front of the brazier with his knees hugged was stunned for a moment, then turned around and asked, "What's wrong?"
Before Chu Chuan could even comprehend what was happening, the person who was standing in front of him and teaching him a lesson suddenly threw away his painting book, suddenly squatted down and gave him a huge hug.
The man fell into the soft embrace unexpectedly.
The tip of his tall nose slid across the delicate skin of her neck.
Zhuchuan: “…”
He was released the next second.
Chu Li threw down a sentence "If you become deputy editor-in-chief, I'll treat you to dinner, with lobster, abalone and dragon king meat", then turned around, changed his previous lifeless look, and rushed back into the house humming a song and flapping his wings.