I am a literary giant in Japan

Chapter 41 I think he is worth 5000 million yen (Please read and collect, please!)
In late May, the May School Festival held by the University of Tokyo is coming to an end. In the final stage of the last week, students from different departments on each campus have tried their best to show their abilities to the guests from all walks of life.

There is no way. In this depressed country where the employment rate of college students is only 50%, even if you graduate from a top university like the University of Tokyo, you will face the possibility of unemployment.

Because of the fame of the Tokyo University May School Festival, many middle and senior management from large companies will come to visit during this period.

Therefore, the school festival, which was originally used to relax and relieve stress for students, has also become a stage for various clubs and top students to showcase their abilities. They hope to be selected in advance by large companies through such a display of their abilities.

However, the traffic that should have belonged to the Tokyo University Campus Festival in late May was completely absorbed by a recent serial war in the literary world.

Since Kodansha released the supplement to "Gunzo" and the hardcover paperback edition of "Hear the Wind Sing" on May 5, the silent war between last year's best-selling author Hikaru Oshima and this year's Gunzo Newcomer Award winner Kitagawa Hide has officially begun.

According to Oricon statistics, the May 1995 issue of "Gunzo" which serialized Oshima Hikaru's new work has sold about 5 copies.

After experiencing sales fluctuations in the early stage of its release, its recent momentum seems to be very good, with sales starting to pick up and average daily sales climbing steadily.

The May supplement of "Gunzo" serializing Kitagawa Hide's new work sold a staggering 5 copies!

You should know that this supplement was sold 5 days later than the main issue!
Even if the sales levels of the two are similar, based on an average daily sales of 1 copies, the main issue should sell 5 more copies than the supplement.

But the actual situation is that the supplement sold 16.1 more copies than the main issue!

Moreover, the supplement only contains new works by Hide Kitagawa, while the main issue also includes serialized works by other powerful writers of Kodansha who have a certain market appeal.

In other words, Kitagawa Hide, a new writer, is challenging a group of Kodansha's pillar writers led by Oshima Hikaru on his own!
"The winner has been decided? Is the newcomer Kitagawa Hide's path to victory unstoppable?"

"The bestseller of the year or the worst book of the year? Why has Oshima Koshin's work completely lost its appeal?"

"The Kitagawa School of Hideki may have become a foregone conclusion: On the great influence of the Youth Trilogy on contemporary society and young people!"

The editorial office area of ​​"Qun Xiang", the office of the deputy editor-in-chief.

Looking at the piles of newspapers in his hands that were all promoting Kitagawa Hide, the veins on An Yuanxian's forehead became more and more prominent.

Starting from May 5, he visited several close friends in the literary world, including Shintaro Ishihara, but these people closed the door and refused to see him.

After he realized that he and Oshima Hikaru might become stepping stones for Kitagawa Hide to ascend to the throne of best new writer, all the literary circles and incredible connections that he had carefully cultivated in the past were gone in an instant.

The only people who were willing to interact with him at this time were the literary critics who were willing to say anything for money.

And small and medium-sized newspapers that will help you publish all kinds of false news for money.

There were also several first-tier newspapers such as the Eastern United Economic News on Akira Yasuhara's desk, which used large sections to help promote Oshima Hikaru's new work.

At a casual glance, you will see exaggerated headlines everywhere, such as "New work by the annual best-selling author Hikaru Oshima", "A classic worth reading", "The latest masterpiece by a leading writer of pure literature", etc. The news writers are mostly well-known journalists in the news industry.

Thanks to these people, no, it should be said that thanks to the 500 million yen he spent, the main issue of "Gunzo" was able to miraculously go against the trend and boost sales significantly when its daily sales had fallen to only 8700 copies.

But these sales are all achieved by spending money!

An Yuanxian knew very well that as long as he stopped these intensive publicity, the sales of the original publication would quickly show its true colors.

In fact, if the sales of the main issue are not as good as those of the supplement, even if the loss is ugly, he will have an excuse.

Oshima Hikaru had already thought of the reasons: the other novels also serialized in the main publication were not eye-catching enough, and even had a counterproductive effect, resulting in the sales of the main publication failing to meet expectations.

Naturally, this sounds like an excuse, but Oshima Hikaru has made an unknown amount of money for Kodansha in the six years since her debut. Three of her works are currently being adapted into TV series, and her representative work "Thirty Years in the Human World" is being reprinted. All of her works have been translated and sold overseas.

No one dares to deny this cash cow because of a failure.

What gives An Yuanxian a headache is the sales of the physical book of "Hear the Wind Sing".

As of today, major publishing houses have published a total of about 95 physical books in the past 5000 years, of which only 6 are hardcover paperback editions, and except for "Hear the Wind Sing", all of them are new works by famous writers.

The Japanese physical book sales ranking compiled by Oricon shows that "Hear the Wind Sing" has now sold a total of about 11.2 copies, ranking twelfth overall.

It may seem unremarkable, but this book has already ranked first in sales of hardcover paperbacks this year, and the gap with the second place is nearly 3 copies!
You can't even argue against it with the low price and long sales time.

Because the price of "Hear the Wind Sing" is unusually high, 5500 yen per copy is far higher than the price of other hardcover paperbacks. Secondly, it has only been on sale for less than ten days!

Other books took longer to sell, taking nearly five months. There is no comparison.

An Yuanxian didn't even need to do the math to know that by the end of June, "Hear the Wind Sing" would top the sales charts and remain at the top of the sales charts until the end of the year, unless another great book came out in the second half of the year to break its record.

Now he only hopes that "Hear the Wind Sing" will not be sold so wildly, or at least the gap with the second place will not be too big.

Because the physical book that ranks first in sales right now is the signed limited edition of Hikaru Oshima's "Thirty Years in the Human World", with a total sales of 35.9 copies.

Although it is called a limited edition, Kodansha actually printed a total of 80 copies. If they are not sold out in the end, they will be discounted or given away through various channels, or flow into the black market for speculation.

Overall, the sales of this reprinted book are in line with expectations, if there is no "Hear the Wind Sing" for comparison.

The physical book sales market is a bloody battlefield. If you lose, you lose, and you can't use any reason to refute it!

"No, we need to get people to criticize Kitagawa Hide in top newspapers like the Yomiuri Shimbun. We can't let him continue selling like this!"

The more An Yuanxian thought about it, the more he felt something was wrong. He quickly picked up the landline phone next to him and dialed several numbers in succession. Finally, after a beep, one of the numbers was connected.

"Moximoxi, who is this?" There was a deep baritone voice on the other side.

"It's me, An Yuanxian."

“.I think I have made it very clear before, Deputy Editor-in-Chief An Yuan.

Kitagawa Hide's novels have indeed become popular, and have reached a point where they cannot be shaken by simply pulling down and criticizing them. Continuing to write literary reviews criticizing him, even under the pen name "Ichiro," would be very risky. "

"Even you can't do it?" Holding the newspaper, An Yuanxian felt that the last hope was moving away from him.

".If you are willing to pay more, I can try again."

"How much?" An Yuanxian asked happily.

"1000 million yen"

"What? Are you crazy? Just one review."

"Don't interrupt me, just listen to me. 1000 million yen for a sheet of manuscript paper, not a penny less."

"Do you know what you are talking about? A piece of manuscript paper only has 400 words including punctuation marks. Do you think it is worth 5000 million yen?!"

An Yuanxian's hands were shaking.

He works as deputy editor-in-chief at Gunzo, with an annual salary of about 980 million yen. Taking into account year-end bonuses, benefits, and stock dividends, his pre-tax income is only around 1600 million yen a year.

Of course, the bulk of his income actually comes from the writers under him. All in all, his total income is about 5000 million yen a year.

Now the guy opposite him actually wanted him to spend a year's income, or even more, to customize a literary review criticizing Kitagawa Hide.

Is this world crazy?

"Do you think he's not worth it?" The other party just said lightly, "I think he's worth it."

"Call me back when you've thought it through."

The call was hung up.

An Yuanxian also slumped in his chair.

5000 million yen. This is 5000 million yen after the bubble burst!

(End of this chapter)