This storybook was written by Shen Cui, and no one wanted it to be liked by others more than she did.
Having received so much rejection before, Shen Cui was naturally a little discouraged.
While feeling somewhat discouraged, Shen Cui also analyzed the situation herself.
When she was in modern times, novels were divided into male and female versions, and the female market had already been developed.
She reads novels oriented towards women, and also writes with this as her starting point.
In this era, although storybooks are common, most of the people who can read and write, who have control over the family's finances and who buy storybooks to read are still men.
As for women writing storybooks, it was almost unheard of - women in this era generally had a low level of education. Even girls like Sun Ruowei, who came from a wealthy family and were well-educated and had read a lot of books since childhood, were locked up at home all day long and had limited knowledge. If they were asked to write storybooks, they would probably be influenced by the male-oriented storybooks on the market and write similar stories. Not to mention that the rules in this family are much stricter than those of ordinary people, and they will not allow their daughters to do such rebellious things.
The overall market for female-oriented storybooks has not yet been developed.
Bookstores nowadays have no worries about business and can make a lot of money by sticking to the old ways. Who is willing to take the risk?
As for the direction of revision they suggested, Shen Cui could also make changes, but she was not very happy about it - after all, the finances of the academy were not as tight as before, and she was not so short of money. If it is changed to conform to the rules and regulations set by men, the book will be meaningless.
She had been struggling with this matter for the past two days, and it just so happened that Cui Wuniang brought Sun Ruowei to visit her today.
"Is it really that good? Isn't it just out of consideration for our relationship?" Shen Cui asked seriously.
Cui Wuniang and Sun Ruowei nodded at the same time, and Cui Wuniang said seriously: "Our friendship is our friendship. Although what you thought before is indeed correct, if you said that the book is not well written, I will also close my eyes and say it is good and willing to help you publish it. But this time it is really not the case. I really think it is good and it is not available elsewhere. Don't care what the people in other bookstores say. Who says that the book must be written according to the rules and regulations set by their men? Anyway, as the head of Cui's Bookstore, I agree with it."
Sun Ruowei also said, "If it is really published, I will call on all the sisters I know to buy it. Our families are very strict and usually don't allow us to read love-related things, but this book is refreshing and clean, without so many erotic things, I think the elders at home won't say anything."
With their approval, Shen Cui also swept away the previous discouragement and nodded, "Okay, then let's release it."
Later, Cui Wuniang took Chen Cui to familiarize herself with the publishing process. Currently, there are generally two types of publishing. One is movable type stereotype printing, which is more expensive and sells for a higher price.
Another way is to hire someone to copy it by hand. The cost of copying a book is low, and the price is also low.
Generally speaking, if it is to be distributed on a large scale, the bookstore will choose the former, which can spread the cost of movable type engraving. If they are not confident that it can sell well, they will choose the latter.
After the introduction, Cui Wuniang continued, "I'm just telling you this, you don't have to worry about it. Now let's talk about how to divide the money."
There are two ways of splitting the profits. One is that the author sells the storybook directly to the bookstore and gets a sum of money. Another is the split model. You won’t be able to collect any money for now, but if the products sell well, the profits can easily be multiplied several times.
"I suggest you choose the latter." Cui Wuniang is really confident in this script.
Shen Cui accepted her suggestion and agreed to use the profit-sharing model, splitting the profits 50-50.
Cui Wu Niang was not vague and asked A Yao to bring writing materials, and the two signed the contract on the spot.
When things got to this point, Sun Ruowei mentioned, "There is one more thing. The headmaster needs a pen name when writing his storybooks."
Chen Cui said, "I thought of a name called 'Fragrant Grass Guest', I don't know if it will work for you, if not, I'll just listen to Lady Wu."
Cui Wuniang said, "That's good. Fangcao corresponds to your family's name 'Cuiwei', which is very suitable! In fact, I think the most suitable name is 'Cuiwei Shanzhang', but it seems a bit unprofessional for a Shanzhang of a college to write a storybook. When you write a book about teaching and educating people, it won't be too late to use that one."
Then they discussed the rest of the details, and Cui Wuniang asked Chen Cui for her opinion very seriously.
Shen Cui didn't know much about current publications, so she made some other suggestions.
For example, when she was in modern times, she sometimes bought books simply because the cover was nice and to her liking. There are many girls who share the same ideas as her.
So beautiful binding is definitely a plus.
"Also, we can ask someone to draw some illustrations and make them into flower notes, bookmarks, etc...." She wanted to say "peripheral products", but changed her words to "such matching products."
"That's easy. If our bookstore publishes the book, we have someone to help draw the pictures. We also sell flower-paper bookmarks in the bookstore." Cui Wu Niang said, "And the ending. I want you to change it. Don't change any of the plot. Just change the story."
Chen Cui immediately understood, "You mean to change it to an open ending, and if it sells well, we will make a sequel?"
Talking to smart people makes you less troublesome, Cui Wuniang nodded to indicate that this was what she meant.
The three of them gathered together to discuss something, and when it was lunchtime, they ate and chatted.
In addition, Cui Wuniang also wanted to help Sun Ruowei familiarize herself with her own business, so she broke down many processes and explained them to her. Sun Ruowei did not show any impatience and helped her with many things - after all, she was the target customer of this script, so her opinions were also very valuable.
By the time Shen Cui came to her senses, it was already evening outside.
Ah Yao came in from outside to change their tea. When he saw her looking outside, he said, "The Master and the other gentlemen are back. They heard from me that the headmaster was discussing something, so they didn't come here on purpose."
At this time in the classroom, everyone was concentrating on doing their homework, only Cui Fei kept looking outside.
Yesterday, Shen Cui told everyone that Cui Wuniang and Sun Ruowei would be visiting today. He had thought that he would not be able to see them since he would only be back from school in the evening.
When he came back and heard that they had not left yet, he subconsciously thought that they stayed until now to see him.
However, it had been quite some time since he came back, and Cui Wuniang and Sun Ruowei had not come yet. Cui Fei couldn't help but worry about them.
Fortunately, although Cui Wuniang and Sun Ruowei were excited about publishing the storybook together at the time, they did not completely forget about him.
Soon they discussed the entire process, and Shen Cui asked A Yao to come over and call Cui Fei over.
The last time Cui Fei met Sun Ruowei was when they were visiting the garden during the Chinese New Year.
Now that they met again after several months, Cui Fei didn't know how to talk to her.
Fortunately, Sun Ruowei mentioned: "Why does Brother Afei look like he has lost some weight? Is it because he is studying too hard?"
Cui Fei nodded upon hearing this and said, "I was too fat before, but I will lose some weight every month under the care of the headmaster. I shouldn't lose weight anymore in the future."
Sun Ruowei was relieved and said, "Being too fat is not good for your health, but being too thin is also not good for your health. I just wanted to give you some advice, but if Shanzhang can help you with the treatment, then I don't need to say anything more."
From her few words, Cui Fei could hear her admiration for Shen Cui.
But there is nothing strange about this. Among the few people in the academy, there is no one who does not regard Chen Cui as their own elder.
"Yesterday, I heard from the headmaster that my sister would bring you here as a guest today. I thought you would stay for half a morning at most and then go back, so I didn't expect to see you. Otherwise, I should have brought you something from outside."
Sun Ruowei covered her mouth and laughed, "Hasn't it been delivered many times before?"
After the wedding date was set, the Cui family had already sent the betrothal gifts to the Sun family. Later, if Cui Wu Niang saw anything good, she would send it over too.
Cui Fei felt happy when he saw her smile, and he smiled and said, "That was sent by my sister. I have never sent you anything before, but I was afraid that I didn't know your preferences and sent you the wrong thing."
Sun Ruowei said no, "I'm not that picky, and it's a gift from you, so I'm sure I'll like it."
Cui Fei's face started to turn red again, and Sun Ruowei couldn't help but giggle when she saw him like this.
The two of them talked for less than half a quarter of an hour, and it was really late. Cui Wu Niang had to send Sun Ruowei back to the Sun family before dark.
Cui Fei followed them closely and accompanied Shen Cui out of the academy.
Cui Wuniang let Sun Ruowei get on the carriage first, then looked at Cui Fei's dazed look and couldn't help but pat him and reminded him, "You will get married in half a year!"
So there is no need to stand here as a 'wife-watching stone'.
Cui Fei felt embarrassed again, "What are you talking about, sister? I just wanted to see you off."
In other families, the older sister might be a little unhappy when she sees that her younger brother, whom she has raised with great difficulty, has not yet married and his mind and eyes are filled with only his future wife.
Cui Wuniang didn’t. On the contrary, she was even happier seeing this, knowing that their life after marriage would be happy!
So she stopped saying anything to Cui Fei, looked at Shen Cui and said, "I'll leave my silly brother to you, help me keep an eye on him."
Shen Cui also laughed and said, "I can vouch for Ah Fei that he is still as focused on his studies as before. Today is just an exception."
This is absolutely true. Since Cui Fei got engaged, he has become even more hardworking than before.
So it's no wonder that when Mr. Cui saw that Cui Fei had lost a lot of weight, he immediately arranged a marriage for him. In fact, he also saw that Cui Fei was not very concerned about gains and losses. I want to give him some motivation.
Cui Wuniang smiled and nodded, waved goodbye to them, and got on the carriage.
After this separation, Chen Cui and Cui Wuniang resumed their relationship as pen pals.
It was not until early summer that Cui Wuniang came again in person.
This time she came to deliver sample books.
The book was beautifully bound with movable type and hard-brush, and was packed in a pomegranate red cardboard box. There was also an illustrated waistband outside the cover, which read "After three years of hard work, Fangcaoke's latest masterpiece: a story for all women."
There was also a set of flowery paper and a set of bookmarks inside the shell. Not to mention the book itself, both the paper and the layout exude a sense of exquisiteness.
The price of a set was two taels of silver, so Cui Wuniang first had one hundred copies printed for trial sale.
"How is it, are you satisfied?"
Chen Cui naturally expressed her satisfaction, but she felt a little embarrassed when she saw the words on the waistband - she did tell Cui Wuniang before that it took her three years to write this storybook, but at least the first two and a half years were spent on making up for cultural studies, and this storybook actually took her less than three months in total.
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