Rebirth of the courtyard, the start is 80s

Chapter 586 "Norwegian Forest" quietly opened low

If the results of "Tsunami" were somewhat unexpected, then the results of "Norwegian Forest" were completely within Cao Zhiqiang's expectations.

Just when the record-level videotape of the song "Tsunami" was sieging the city and selling wildly, "Norwegian Forest" published by Kodansha was quietly released without any publicity. up.

Due to the previous agreement, the pen name of the book "Norwegian Forest" is a new vest "Yusaku Kudo", which has nothing to do with "Aizumi Morinaka", and the editor-in-charge of publishing this book Yuno Watanabe The secrecy was also guaranteed, so when "Norwegian Forest" was released, no one connected the author of the book "Yusaku Kudo" with the singer "Aoizumi Morinaka".

Because the pseudonym "Yusaku Kudo" is a relatively newcomer in the industry, and there is no publicity and hype, the book "Norwegian Woods" was not very good when it first went on sale.

Two weeks have passed since the first edition of 3000 copies was printed, and a total of more than [-] copies have been sold, which is barely more than one-tenth of the printed volume.

This result looks shabby, but in fact, it is already a very good result among newcomers, and it cannot be regarded as a low score.

Because "Norwegian Wood" is a pure literary novel, not a manga, and in this era, manga has become popular in Japan, and fewer and fewer people really read pure literature.

Therefore, more than 3000 copies were sold in just two weeks, and he is still a pure newcomer. From the perspective of Kodansha, this achievement is already very good.

Of course, compared with the history, that is, Cao Zhiqiang's previous life, this achievement is still far inferior.

However, in Cao Zhiqiang's previous life, before this book was published, Haruki Murakami was already a well-known novelist in the industry, so he had the popularity bonus of his pen name.

But Cao Zhiqiang's "Yusaku Kudo" is different, this is a pure newcomer writer.

According to Yuno Watanabe, at least half of those pure new writers can’t sell [-] books in a year, and can sell one-third of them in a year, that is, [-] books. If there is a book, it is already relatively good, and belongs to the novelist with relatively potential.

And like Cao Zhiqiang, using a pure new pen name, without any popularity bonus, sold more than 3000 copies in two weeks, which is already an achievement that only a very few veteran writers can achieve.

Moreover, Yuno Watanabe also said that he conducted a special investigation, and the more than 3000 copies were basically sold in the second week.

In other words, in the first week, perhaps because of the pseudonym, the book was not very eye-catching, and few people bought it.

But in the second week, suddenly more people bought the book.

Basically, the sales of more than 3000 copies, at least 500 copies, all appeared in the second week.

There is only one explanation for this, that is, old readers are spontaneously promoting this book, so it aroused the curiosity of many people, so they bought it to read.

In addition, Watanabe Yuno also said that according to his survey, [-]% of the people who currently buy this book are students, mainly college students, and some high school students.

And now it is October. In Japan, October is not a school holiday time, but also a time when studies are intense.

At this time when learning is relatively tense, so many students can still buy this book, which fully shows that this book has great potential.

All in all, Yuno Watanabe reassured Cao Zhiqiang, saying that even if you don’t say that "Kudo Yusaku" is "Mori Naka Seizumi", the future sales of this book will still not be bad, at least [-] this year. Ben, it is estimated that there is a high possibility.

It's October now, and it is said that [-] copies will be sold this year, which means that [-] copies will be sold in just two months. This kind of achievement can already be regarded as the level of a well-known novelist.

Of course, if Cao Zhiqiang is willing to disclose the true identity of "Kudo Yusaku" and say that "Kudo Yusaku" is "Morinaka Seizumi", then needless to say, with the current traffic of "Morinaka Seizumi", I am afraid it will not take a week. Out of stock.

It's just that since Cao Zhiqiang didn't authorize and agree, this kind of thing can't be made public, otherwise he will be held accountable.

In fact, at least in Kodansha, the only person who now knows that "Kudo Yusaku" is "Mori Naka Aoizumi" is Yuno Watanabe, and he didn't even tell the rest of Kodansha.

It can be seen from this that Yuno Watanabe is very principled, has a high level of personal accomplishment, and will not do anything for money.

You must know that although Japan's current laws are relatively sound, in fact, once interests are involved, many people can't bear it.

Let’s just talk about Kodansha’s current editor-in-charge system. Its essence is a contract system, that is, the achievements of the novelists under the responsibility of each editor will be linked to the editor’s income.

To put it simply, in the current Japanese book publishing industry, they print first and then sell, and after the book is printed, the author must be paid first, as much as the printed one. It is related to the publishing house and the responsible editor.

If the editor confirms the acceptance of the manuscript and agrees to print and publish it, the editor will be responsible for your work. Once it is printed, the sales are not good, causing the publishing house to lose money. Although the publishing house will not demand compensation from the editor, the editor’s The bonus is gone.

At the same time, if the works signed by the editor lose money continuously, usually more than ten times a year, then they will have to transfer or leave the job.

In 1983, because Japan’s economy was pretty good, big companies like Kodansha generally wouldn’t fire their employees, especially top students who graduated from Tokyo University. Do lower-paying, more boring jobs, such as proofreading.

Conversely, if the work signed by the editor is very popular, the editor will also give a commission bonus based on the sales volume of the work. The specific commission ratio and the amount of the bonus vary from publisher to publisher.

And if an editor wins the big prize and signs a contract with a famous writer, then luck will come. Maybe the editor only needs to serve this writer well, and he will be able to eat for half his life.

This kind of editorial responsibility system has caused editors to pay special attention to reviewing manuscripts. Compared with reviewing manuscripts, they actually pay more attention to the actual sales of the works they signed.

In this mode, the general responsible editor will definitely try his best to increase the sales of his contracted works in order to earn more commissions. However, if it is an editor with low moral character, he will know that "Kudo Yusaku" is "Mori Nakayo". Izumi", will definitely try to let the public know that "Yusaku Kudo" is Aoizumi Morinaka, so as to enjoy a wave of dividends from "Aoizumi Morinaka".

As for the secret regulations, these things are meant to deceive gentlemen, and if you really want to circumvent them, there are plenty of ways.

For example, anonymously posting news to TV stations and newspapers in private, so that relevant reporters can be moved by the news, and through relevant paparazzi and the like to expose the fact that "Kudo Yusaku" is "Mori Naka Aoizumi".

External reporters are not restricted by private secrecy regulations to expose the truth. In this way, it is easy to make the name "Kudo Yusaku" popular, and "Norwegian Forest" by the way.

In this way, if you go to trouble with the editor Yuno Watanabe, he can push [-], saying that he didn't spread it by himself, and there will be no proof.

At that time, the sales of "Norwegian Forest" will be guaranteed, and Yuno Watanabe's commission bonus will also skyrocket, so this is the most beneficial plan for Yuno Watanabe.

Few people can't be tempted, but Watanabe Yuno really resisted this temptation, really gave up his chance to be famous and get a high bonus, and called "Kudo Yusaku" "Mori Naka Aoizumi" "Things are stuffy in my stomach.

There is no other explanation for this except that his personal morality is better and he is more principled.

Of course, after getting in touch with Bian Xiongye carefully, Cao Zhiqiang probably understood why he was so innocent and kind. In the final analysis, most of the reasons are probably related to his family.

Watanabe Yuno's family is well-off, his father is a businessman engaged in import and export trade, and his mother is a high school teacher. In addition, he lives in Bunkyo District, which has the best security and the most educational atmosphere in Tokyo, so Watanabe Yuno I have had no worries about food and clothing since I was a child, and I have received the best education since I was a child.

As the saying goes, knowing honor and disgrace when you have enough food and clothing, Yuno Watanabe has been pampered since he was a child, and he has always been in contact with good people, and he has always been a top student. Even if he graduated from university now, his workplace is not far from home.

In addition, Watanabe Yuno is the only son of the Watanabe family, and his father has been secretly supporting him financially, so Watanabe Yuno never has to worry about life.

People educated in such an environment naturally don't value money very much, but they value principles other than money and dignity more, and they also respect talented people more.

For example, regarding Cao Zhiqiang, although Yuno Watanabe followed the rules and did not give Cao Zhiqiang anything special, he would visit Cao Zhiqiang's house in the name of reporting work or something.

As for Watanabe Yuno's frequent visits to Cao Zhiqiang's house, it is not clear whether it is to admire Cao Zhiqiang, or to chase the star Akina Nakamori, probably both.

But no matter what, Yuno Watanabe brought gifts every time he came, and he was funny and polite. Whether it was Cao Zhiqiang or Nakamori Akina, they didn't really hate him.

Therefore, it didn't take much time for Watanabe Yuno to become good friends with Cao Zhiqiang.

Since he recognized Watanabe Yuno as a friend, Cao Zhiqiang found that it was also quite interesting, at least chatting with Watanabe Yuno was very pleasant.

This is mainly because Yuno Watanabe has no airs, is very knowledgeable, and is peaceful and friendly, and has a sense of humor, which suits Cao Zhiqiang's appetite.

Speaking of which, since Cao Zhiqiang traveled through time, he hadn't actually met a single friend he could really talk to.

There is no him, because after time travel, most of the people he meets are people from this era, and his style of speaking and doing things is incompatible with his original appearance.

To be more precise, there is a generation gap between everyone.

On the contrary, it is Yuno Watanabe, although there are still some differences with Cao Zhiqiang born in the [-]s, but there is not much difference in the three perspectives, which makes Cao Zhiqiang have a strong sense of sight.

Drinking and chatting with Yuno Watanabe is like going back to 2023. After get off work, I will play politics with a group of friends on the Internet, talk about the international situation, talk about the future, or talk about history, talk about comics, and talk about all kinds of happiness time.

After coming to this time and space, Cao Zhiqiang couldn't talk about these things with other people, but with Watanabe Yuno, it was more or less interesting, so Cao Zhiqiang was very pleased.

Having said that, the current "sluggish" sales performance of "Norwegian Forest" is only due to the explosion of Cao Zhiqiang's other identity.

If you put aside Cao Zhiqiang's other popular singer status, from the perspective of a novelist, Cao Zhiqiang's pen name "Kudo Yusaku" is actually not bad.

According to Yuno Watanabe's analysis, with the current situation of the book "Norwegian Forest", as long as he writes a few more manuscripts touting this article and invests in professional review newspapers and magazines, he should be able to Form a boom.

It's a pity that, before Yuno Watanabe wrote his touted "Review" and submitted it to relevant newspapers and magazines, the book suddenly became popular when "Norwegian Forest" was on the shelves for the third week.

The sudden explosion this time was unexpected.

At the very beginning, I was a local news reporter of TV Tokyo. When I went to the streets of Tokyo with the photographer to search for local current affairs news, I suddenly found that there was a crowd of people in front of a bookstore, and they were all young people. I felt very curious. So I rushed over for an interview.

This interview doesn't matter, I found that these people are college students from some nearby universities, including the University of Tokyo, Meiji University, Tokyo Medical University, and so on.

And these college students from famous universities came here to queue up a long queue, not for anything else, just to come here to buy a new novel called "Norwegian Wood".

It is said that this book was not well-known at the beginning, and it was bought by some literature-loving students in universities to relieve their boredom.

As a result, after the first batch of readers of this book finished reading the book, they immediately fell in love with it, and then began to spontaneously promote it everywhere.

This was passed around, and a second batch of readers was developed in the circle of college students.

Compared with the first batch of readers, the second batch of readers multiplied geometrically, and then these people began to promote everywhere.

By the time the third batch of readers appeared, the book "Norwegian Forest" had already been spread in the circles of literature lovers in various well-known universities in Tokyo, and it even caused more literature lovers to follow suit and read it. A support group for this book appeared and began to spontaneously promote the book on university campuses.

As a result, after two weeks of gestation, this book finally ignited literature lovers in various university circles in Tokyo. College students all decided to come to the bookstore here to line up to buy.

Originally, this was just an accident, because these people who lined up to buy books were all fans of that book, or members of the support group, and they only came to this bookstore to buy, not all bookstores are like this.

But after the TV Tokyo reporter made such an interview, and took this matter as an anecdote on the evening news the next day, something went wrong.

(End of this chapter)