I became famous for writing ridiculous stories in ancient times

Shopkeeper Zhang picked up Fu Wenyu's storybook and put it down. After a while, he picked it up again and looked through it.

Finally, he made a decision.

"Let me print more."

After saying this, he seemed to have solved a problem, and his expression suddenly became relaxed. He flicked the stack of papers with his hand and smiled at Fu Wenyu sitting opposite.

"Your storybook is quite novel, and I still have confidence."

"So I plan to print a thousand copies. After printing, in addition to leaving a few hundred copies in this city, I will also send some to several nearby counties. Our boss is the famous Tang Yuanwai. He is one of the biggest businessmen in Liuzhou. He has a big business and has shops in other places."

Now, in Kaiyuan Bookstore, in addition to some of the storybooks written by people in this city, some are sent from other places, so Shopkeeper Zhang thinks this method can be tried.

Having been immersed in the circle of storybooks for many years, he believed that he had some vision and sincerely thought that Fu Wenyu's "The Dove Occupies the Magpie's Nest: It's Hard to Distinguish the Real and Fake Young Master" was a good storybook, not inferior to Mr. Sanliu's "The Woodcutter".

But this time it was Fu Wenyu's turn to frown.

Because he was not satisfied with the solution that Zhang the Shopkeeper came up with.

One thousand sets are too few!

So next, Fu Wenyu asked some knowledge about printing books, and then he learned that the current papermaking and movable type printing technology are very advanced, but in terms of price, they are still not as good as manual copying. In other words, copying is dominant when the quantity is small, and only one or two hundred copies can the printing price be reduced.

The one thousand sets that Zhang the Shopkeeper planned to print were considered good in the storybook business. The best-selling book in the bookstore now, "The Woodcutter" that Fu Wenyu had just read, was only printed in two thousand copies for the first time.

If one thousand sets were printed, Fu Wenyu, as the author, could get twenty taels. Among them, this city will keep 500 sets because it is the capital city and there are many readers, and the rest will be sent to other places.

If the bookstore prints more later, it will give him some more.

But Fu Wenyu felt that the price was still too low.

Although the family of four at that time could eat well with two taels of silver a month, and twenty taels were enough for their family to live happily for more than half a year, he still felt it was not enough.

Moreover, the storybook is not the Four Books and Five Classics that everyone needs. After printing for a period of time, people who want to read it will naturally find a way, and the market for subsequent printing will not be big. Maybe his 1,000 sets will take a whole year to sell out. In that case, wouldn’t his royalties be only twenty taels?

So he still has to expand the market.

From the end to serialization!

So Fu Wenyu organized his words and said, "Uncle Zhang, do you know serialization?"

Shopkeeper Zhang responded with a suspicious look.

Since the other party didn't know, Fu Wenyu explained in detail, "What I mean by 'serial' is to separate the storybooks and print them in Liuzhou tabloids one by one."

"As far as I know, Uncle Zhang, you can collect some poems and articles to print in Liuzhou tabloids. Since articles can be printed, why can't storybooks be printed? If you print a few of the storybooks that sell well in the bookstore, and print three to five thousand words at a time, wouldn't it allow more people to see it?"

"Some people are reluctant to buy a storybook that costs dozens of coins, but they are reluctant to buy a tabloid that costs a few coins? As long as After reading today's story, won't he want to read tomorrow's? "

Fu Wenyu has been writing for many years and has seen many people who want to hack into the author's computer to read the sequel, so he smiled confidently, "After reading tomorrow's story, he will naturally want to know the day after tomorrow's story."

"If after one or two months of serialization, we tell those who have read it that you have a complete set of stories and can see the finale immediately, can those people resist buying it?"

Zhang's eyes lit up, "Good idea!"

He knew very well that for those who love to read stories, they really can't wait for a moment. If he spread the word today that Mr. Sanliu has written a new story, someone will be waiting at the door tomorrow morning.

Seeing Zhang's intention, Fu Wenyu continued to give advice.

"Uncle Zhang, you can also print advertisements in Liuzhou tabloids!"

Then he explained in detail what "advertisement" is. Advertisement is actually equivalent to notice. For example, if Liuzhou tabloids say that Zhang's noodles are delicious, then after seeing it, some readers will definitely want to try it, right? In this case, can we ask Zhang's noodle shop for money?

In addition, there are Wang's family who lost something and want to offer a reward to find it back, and a certain embroidery shop and a certain antique shop have a batch of new goods and want to tell more customers, etc.

As long as the price is low enough and there are enough people buying newspapers, there will always be people attracted by the advertisements inside. And adding advertisements itself also increases the profit of the tabloid, lowering its single price so that more people can afford it. In this way, it can form a win-win situation for customers and merchants.

Shopkeeper Zhang obviously realized this.

Surprised, he even stood up, walked back and forth for a while, and then said to Fu Wenyu: "My dear nephew, you really gave me a good idea!"

"Well, this matter is of great importance, I have to discuss it with the boss." He showed an excited smile on his face, "How about this, we will accept your storybook at Kaiyuan Bookstore."

"Twenty, no, thirty taels of silver!"

"As for the 'serial' you mentioned, and what 'advertisement', after I report it to the boss, he will definitely reward you. Haha, Wenyu, you don't know, our boss has a stake in the Liuzhou tabloid in this city."

Fu Wenyu didn't care much about the reward. He came up with this idea mainly to sell more books and get more royalties. So after discussing the follow-up with Zhang, he took thirty taels of royalties and left.

After leaving, he went straight to the tea stand opposite.

Zhou and Fu Rong were waiting quietly here, with half a bowl of clear tea in front of them.

Seeing Fu Wenyu coming over, Zhou didn't ask him how the books were selling, but stood up and said gently: "Wenyu, come and have some tea."

Fu Wenyu had already had a round of tea in the bookstore, so he naturally refused when he heard it.

"Mom, I've already had it."

"You can drink this tea."

In the spirit of 'not showing off wealth', he did not take out the twenty taels of silver notes and two small ingots in his arms, but told them the good news.

"Mom, Manager Zhang said that the book I wrote is very good. He plans to print a thousand copies. Except for 500 copies that will be placed in this city, the rest will be sent to the nearby county."

"Really? That's great!"

Fu Rong jumped up happily, "Brother, I knew you could do it. The Zhang Gousheng you wrote is very good!"

Fu Wenyu was also very happy. He watched Zhou finish the rest of the tea, and then followed the two of them to the nearby embroidery shop. Along the way, Fu Rong was still chattering about the plot in "The True and False Young Master". Sometimes she denounced Wang Fugui for his evil deeds and would definitely get retribution in the future, and sometimes she was angry that the Zhang family bullied Zhang Gousheng. She was very busy.

And Fu Wenyu was also happy that his sister showed her cheerful side, and she would join in a few words from time to time.

Not long after, the embroidery shop arrived.

This is a shop called "Li's Embroidery Shop", which is not very large. Because both the owner and the customers are women, it was Fu Wenyu's turn to stand outside the door.

But this time, in addition to him, there was also Fu Rong.

Fu Rong was asked by Zhou to wait outside the door with Fu Wenyu, but she did not show her unhappiness. Instead, she actively answered Fu Wenyu's questions.

"Brother, what do you sell in this shop?"

"There are a lot of things."

"There are clothes, materials, purses, handkerchiefs, cosmetics," Fu Rong, who was only as tall as Fu Wenyu's waist, stretched out her fingers and counted them one by one, "Oh, there are also velvet flowers."

"Mrs. Li, the owner of the embroidery shop, came from the capital, and her daughter Sister Xin is also clever and skillful. Both mother and daughter can make very beautiful velvet flowers. I heard that people from the next state come to buy them."

At this point, Fu Rong subconsciously looked up at Fu Wenyu.

But Fu Wenyu didn't notice it. When he heard the word "velvet flower", he suddenly remembered that when he was still in modern times, because of the popularity of a TV series, the intangible cultural heritage of "velvet flower" also aroused people's curiosity. For this reason, many bloggers also posted videos of making velvet flowers by themselves, and TV stations also interviewed the intangible cultural heritage inheritors who possessed this technology. Regardless of the former or the latter, the velvet flowers made are lifelike and very beautiful.

I didn't expect that the people in Li's embroidery shop would also do it.

He recalled that the people in the video used thin iron wire to tie the silk thread, then divided it into strips, and then trimmed, wound, fixed the shape and other steps, and suddenly got inspiration.

Can I teach Zhou and Fu Rong?

This idea spread uncontrollably. He was worried that Zhou and Fu Rong's personalities were too weak before, and he wanted them to be independent.

And work is a good way!

Money is confidence!

And making velvet flowers is definitely better than staring at the embroidery cloth all day long. Doing too much delicate embroidery will hurt your eyes, even more than reading. When Fu Wenyu was at home, she would occasionally see Zhou rubbing her eyes, and she also found that her vision had been damaged. When she looked at things in the distance, she would unconsciously squint her eyes, which was a typical manifestation of myopia.

In the past, there was no way. People with Zhou's personality would not agree to stop doing embroidery from now on, and the family was not rich. But now with the money from his storybooks, the two of them can relax a little.

Do it as soon as you think of it, Fu Wenyu took out a small ingot, and then said to Fu Rong.

"Sister, I know a way to make velvet flowers. Go buy me a velvet flower, and then buy some silk thread and thin iron wire. When I try it out, I will teach you how to make it."

Fu Rong hesitated for a moment, but still stretched out her hand.

Not long after, Zhou and Fu Rong came out together, both of them with smiles on their faces.

Zhou first returned the ingot to Fu Wenyu, then looked at him and said helplessly: "You just bought some silk threads, why do you need so much silver."

"Put it away quickly."

"I have the velvet flowers you want, I will find them for you later. As for the silk threads, I also bought them, but I didn't find the thin iron wire, but Madam Li said that there were copper wires in the shop, and they used copper wires to make velvet flowers, so she gave us some. But Wenyu, how come I didn't know that you can also make velvet flowers?"

"I saw it in the bookstore before." Fu Wenyu answered casually.

Fortunately, Zhou was just asking casually. After the three of them left the embroidery shop, they went to the market and bought some things that were missing at home, such as oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, and a large basket of eggs.

It was also at this time that Fu Wenyu learned that the dynasty stipulated that ordinary people should observe mourning for 100 days, which was called "hot mourning". After 100 days, they could do whatever they wanted. Only for scholars, and scholars who were ambitious to pass the imperial examinations, would they be strictly counted as "three years". Otherwise, if they were reported, they might be deprived of their official titles in the name of "unfilial piety".

This is also "rituals are not given to common people". For the common people, the court is more tolerant.

Therefore, if Zhou Shi had not still wanted Fu Wenyu to study for the imperial examinations, no one would have cared about their family drinking and eating meat.

By the way, eggs are not considered meat.

This is really great!