Chapter 115: The Hen That Lays Golden Eggs

After a 40-minute ride, the motorcycle quickly arrived at Chiyoda Ward, which was Akiwara Yuto's doorstep.

After stopping the car, Akiwara Yuto got off, thanked her, and returned the helmet to Satake Maki.

"Mr. Akiwara, you've worked hard today." Satake Maki said to Akiwara Yuto, who was opening the gate.

"No, you guys worked harder." Akiwara Yuto waved his hand. Although he had been signing for a day, at least he was sitting.

In contrast, Satake Maki and other staff members not only had to stand to maintain order but also had to bow and smile constantly, which made people feel tired just thinking about it.

At this time, Satake Maki suddenly seemed to remember something and said, "Mr. Akiwara, how are you going to solve your dinner?"

Akiwara Yuto was about to walk into the door and didn't expect to hear this question.

He was stunned but immediately replied, "For dinner, just eating instant noodles is fine."

Satake Maki shook her head, "Instant noodles are too unhealthy. President Anjiu asked me to take good care of you." She thought for a while and said, "Mr. Akiwara, why don't I make you dinner before I leave?"

Hearing this suggestion, Akiwara Yuto directly refused, "Editor Satake, go home early, otherwise your family will be worried."

Satake Maki's expression became a bit dissatisfied, but she knew she was wearing a helmet and wasn't afraid of being discovered by Akiwara Yuto.

She thought for a while and said, "Then in the future, can I make you an extra bento in the evening?"

"No need, we'll see." After Akiwara Yuto said this, he turned and walked into the courtyard gate.

Satake Maki was even more unhappy and silently recited "this idiot" twice in her heart.

Just as she was about to drive the motorcycle away, a familiar voice came from afar, "Take care on the road."

Hearing this, Satake Maki's expression became happy.

She started the engine and drove in another direction.

……

Akiwara Yuto knew nothing about the girl's thoughts. He returned home, hung his outdoor clothes on the wall, boiled a pot of hot water, and made a cup of instant noodles.

Looking at the rising water vapor in front of him, Akiwara Yuto fell into thought.

According to the current data, after adding the data from this signing event, 10,000 copies of the first printing of 30,000 have been sold, and the remaining 20,000 copies should be sold out within these two months if there are no accidents.

Perhaps, even faster.

According to what Satake Maki said, there are still several touring signing events to be held. If each event can play a certain promotional and driving role, it will undoubtedly increase the exposure of the books.

Besides that, the forum's traffic is still slowly fermenting. It has only been serialized for three issues, and there are still three issues of serialization not released.

Akiwara Yuto raised his head, looked at the clock on the wall, and seeing that the soaking time was about right, he opened the cup lid and started eating the instant noodles.

While eating, he continued to think.

After the first printing of 30,000 copies is sold out, he can recoup a portion of the funds.

After deducting the dividends, expenses, and other costs for Anjiu Bookstore, he conservatively estimates that he will receive over 50 million yen.

If he has that much money, should he invest it himself to run newspaper advertisements?

As long as the new income from sales brought by the newspaper is greater than the advertising expenditure, then he will not lose money no matter what.

After all, according to the experience of his past life, "Suspect X" can at least sell over a million copies!

Akiwara Yuto finished the instant noodles, sorted the trash, walked to the mailbox at the door, and took the magazine he had recently subscribed to.

In order to better understand the trends of the four major publishing houses and magazine sales, he specifically subscribed to a "Publishing Statistics Weekly" that implements the ABC system, which counts all books and magazine periodicals with a circulation of over 10,000 copies.

Akiwara Yuto opened the book and further checked the top five literary magazines currently.

The one with the highest sales is still "Tokyo Youth" of Toei Publishing, with a circulation of 250,000 copies per week, firmly occupying the NO. 1 position in the literary world. The second in sales are "Spring of Literature" of Jingfan Publishing and "Tokyo Literature and Art" of Mantanshe, both with a circulation of 180,000 copies per week.

Ranked behind them is "April Youth" of Kejiaoguan, whose sales actually fell to 110,000 copies, a drop of about 10,000 copies per week compared to last month. And "New Novel" only has 100,000 copies, and it is almost declining at a visible speed every week.

Akiwara Yuto fell into silence. This data is a bit wrong.

The sales of "Tokyo Youth" and "Spring of Literature" haven't changed much, and the decline in sales of "New Novel" is not unexpected, but why did the sales of "Tokyo Literature and Art" rise so much? And why did "April Youth" actually decline?

Akiwara Yuto thought for a long time but couldn't figure out why, so he stood up, walked to the phone, and made a call to Editor Sujin Xiushu of "April Youth."

After waiting for a while and hearing the sound of the receiver being picked up, Akiwara Yuto said, "Editor Sujin, I am Akiwara Yuto."

A somewhat surprised voice came from the receiver, "Mr. Akiwara, is there anything late at night?"

"I want to ask a question. I don't know if it's appropriate for you to tell me." Akiwara Yuto hesitated for a while but still made this request.

After all, his relationship with Sujin Xiushu is a bit awkward; they can only be considered enemies or competitors of Mantanshe.

Sujin Xiushu was puzzled for a while but replied, "No problem, please go ahead. If it's convenient to disclose, I will naturally tell you."

Hearing the other party agree, Akiwara Yuto asked, "Can you tell me the reason for the sales changes of 'Tokyo Literature and Art' and 'April Youth' in recent weeks?"

Actually, knowing this doesn't have much use for Akiwara Yuto at the moment, but he believes that obtaining intelligence on competitors is very necessary.

Sujin Xiushu didn't expect it to be this question. He thought for a while and felt there was nothing to hide, saying, "You mean the decline in sales of 'April Youth' and the rise in sales of 'Tokyo Literature and Art', right?"

After a pause, he added, "Actually, this is related to you."

"Related to me?" Akiwara Yuto was a bit surprised, even a bit confused for a while.

He had ended his cooperation with Mantanshe for more than two months; how could he be involved again?

Sujin Xiushu continued, "Do you still remember Mr. Gongchuan Yangjie?"

Akiwara Yuto frowned and thought for a while, recalling this name.

Isn't this the mystery writer he met at the stage play before? The other party also wrote a book review for his "Poetry of the Sun," helping "New Novel" increase a lot of sales.

He replied to the receiver, "Is it Professor Gongchuan from Waseda University? I met him once at Tokyo Women's University. But what does this have to do with anything?"

Sujin Xiushu gave a bitter smile and explained to Akiwara Yuto. In his explanation, Akiwara Yuto slowly understood the cause and effect.

This Mr. Gongchuan has a disciple named Zhongtian Qidou, who, because he was dissatisfied that his teacher wrote a book review for Akiwara Yuto but didn't help him write one, decided to jump ship to Mantanshe and use his own articles to defeat Akiwara Yuto.

Because "New Novel" had a circulation of 200,000 copies at the time, Zhongtian Qidou decided to go to "Tokyo Literature and Art," which had worse sales at the time, and set the goal of "Tokyo Literature and Art" surpassing "New Novel."

But what Zhongtian Qidou didn't expect was that after he jumped ship to "Tokyo Literature and Art" and released the serialization, Akiwara Yuto left "New Novel" instead, making his efforts go to waste.

Isn't this funny? Akiwara Yuto couldn't help but laugh and cry for a while.

Akiwara Yuto thought for a while and said, "Editor Sujin, I probably understand the reason for the rise in sales of 'Tokyo Literature and Art'. But what does this have to do with 'April Youth'?"

Sujin Xiushu sighed, "Mr. Akiwara, Mr. Zhongtian is the signature writer of our 'April Youth'. Once he left, the related works stopped serializing, and he also took away a group of readers."

"By the way, come to think of it, have you considered serializing another work in 'April Youth'? In terms of manuscript fees and royalties, we will show the greatest sincerity."

Akiwara Yuto weighed it for a while and refused on the grounds that he was relatively busy. After all, in two months, 50 million yen would be in his hands; he really didn't look down on the manuscript fee of "April Youth."

However, he didn't say it completely dead, just saying that if there is an opportunity, he can consider cooperation.

Ending the call, Akiwara Yuto sat cross-legged and pondered another question: if there is an opportunity, should he start a literary magazine himself?

Like in his past life, some writers started their own publications. Edogawa Ranpo promoted the founding of "Jewel," and Jin Yong founded "Ming Pao."

After all, even if a work sells well, the annual sales are often only a million copies. Instead, if a literary magazine is managed well, even if the weekly sales are only 100,000 copies, it can sell nearly 5 million copies a year.

After deducting distribution costs and other profit-sharing royalties, the income is also extremely objective. In other words, it can be considered a hen that always lays golden eggs.

At that point, even if he used up all the literary works in his past life's memory, he could still accumulate a considerable family fortune by relying on this literary magazine!

Akiwara Yuto thought for a long time and decided to put it aside for now.

Rice must be eaten one mouthful at a time. Currently, it is better to let "Suspect X" sell well first…… ===== CHAPTER 116 =====