Chapter 123: Long Time No See, Book Review

Anjiu Bookstore, second-floor office.

Akiwara Yuto sat on the sofa, listening to Anjiu Jin Gangyi report the latest sales figures for "The Devotion of Suspect X."

"Akiwara-sensei, excluding the 2, 00 copies sold additionally at the signing event, the average bookstore sales for 'The Devotion of Suspect X' in the fourth and fifth weeks were 5, 00 and 5, 00 copies respectively. Compared to the data from the previous few weeks, there has been a slight increase."

Anjiu Jin Gangyi hesitated before asking another question, "Akiwara-sensei, have you sought any channels to help promote the work?"

Logically speaking, after a new book is released, if there is no other special promotion (book reviews), sales are generally highest in the first week and then slowly decline over the following weeks.

But this book, "The Devotion of Suspect X," has risen slowly from the initial 4, 00 copies to 5, 00 copies. There is not the slightest sign of a downward trend.

Could the effect of the signing event be that good? Based on past experience, that seems unlikely, right?

Anjiu Jin Gangyi was truly quite puzzled.

Akiwara Yuto did not answer this question, but instead asked, "President Anjiu, how much inventory is left now?"

"There are only about 5, 00 copies left," Anjiu Jin Gangyi replied with a hint of excitement.

Judging by this trend, it would likely take only another week for the 30, 00 copies of the first edition to be sold out, allowing for a second printing!

Akiwara Yuto nodded with satisfaction and asked again, "Has there been any reply from the book reviewer you entrusted previously?"

Anjiu Jin Gangyi did not answer, but instead asked Satake Maki, who was processing manuscripts nearby.

"Satake, have there been any relevant book reviews in the 'Chiba Daily News' column recently?"

Upon hearing this, Satake Maki looked up and then turned her chair around.

Whether it was his imagination or not, Akiwara Yuto always felt her gaze was shifty and not quite right.

After turning around, Satake Maki said to Anjiu Jin Gangyi, "President Anjiu, I have been tracking the newspaper content for the past few days, but I have never seen any relevant book review reports."

"I see," Anjiu Jin Gangyi sighed, then waved his hand, "You go back to your work."

"Yes," Satake Maki turned back and continued to work with her head down.

Anjiu Jin Gangyi lowered his head to think for a while, then looked up and said, "Akiwara-sensei, let's see how things stand by this Friday. If there are still no relevant book reviews, I will go visit that teacher again."

Akiwara Yuto nodded, "I'll leave it to you."

He actually didn't know what to say; after all, it was he who took the initiative to ask President Anjiu to find someone for help, so it was better not to say too much about this matter.

Besides that, Akiwara Yuto also had some doubts in his heart.

Up to now, "The Devotion of Suspect X" has already sold 25, 00 copies more or less; could it be that no book reviewer has paid attention to it? That would be too strange, right?

Just as he was puzzled, a burst of hurried footsteps came, and then the main door opened with a "bang."

Akiwara Yuto looked up and found it was Nishijima Sota, who was in charge of sales and promotion. The other party was holding a magazine, panting, and said to everyone in the office: "President, Akiwara-sensei, there is a book review for 'The Devotion of Suspect X'!"

There is a book review?

Akiwara Yuto was a bit confused for a moment, while Anjiu Jin Gangyi immediately stepped forward, took the magazine from Nishijima Sota's hand, and placed it on the coffee table in front of the sofa.

Everyone gathered around upon seeing this, and Anjiu Jin Gangyi, following Nishijima Sota's prompt, turned the page to page 25, letting everyone see this book review—"A Perfect Deception?, by author Kawada Keiji."

Akiwara Yuto perked up immediately and then read it carefully, finding that although the writing style of this book review was not particularly good, it was decent.

It hasn't been easy; after being published for more than two months, there is finally the first book review.

But then again, why is it a magazine?

"Eh?" Anjiu Jin Gangyi showed a puzzled expression.

"Is there a problem?" Akiwara Yuto asked.

Anjiu Jin Gangyi hesitated for a moment and replied, "This Kawada-sensei is the book reviewer I visited, but the platform he contributes to should be the 'Chiba Daily News,' right?"

After finishing this sentence, Anjiu Jin Gangyi flipped the magazine over, letting Akiwara Yuto see the name of this magazine: "Mystery Literature."

This name sounds somewhat familiar?

Akiwara Yuto couldn't help but recall. After a while, he suddenly remembered that the piece "ZOO" he wrote earlier had been highly praised by a book reviewer named Takamura Katsumi in this magazine.

At that time, the other party even linked that work to the Avici Hell of Buddhism.

Although Akiwara Yuto was also puzzled about how the publication of the book review changed from the "Chiba Daily News" newspaper to the "Mystery Literature" magazine, he was more concerned about the effect of this book review's publication.

He turned his head and said to Anjiu Jin Gangyi, "President Anjiu, do you have the 'Publishing Statistics Weekly'? I want to check the sales of this magazine."

Upon hearing this, Anjiu Jin Gangyi replied "Yes," and let Satake Maki run downstairs to get the book.

Five minutes later, Satake Maki ran back, panting, while holding the thick "Publishing Statistics Weekly."

Akiwara Yuto took the book from her hand, said "Thank you," and opened the weekly to find the sales data statistics for "Mystery Literature": "'Mystery Literature,' academic category, semi-monthly, sales 50, 00 copies."

Seeing this data, Akiwara Yuto frowned.

Compared to the circulation of at least 200, 00 copies of the "Chiba Daily News," the 50, 00 copies of "Mystery Literature" were a bit too small, so the exposure was not large enough.

But it was not without benefits; the target audience of the latter might prefer mystery works, and their willingness to purchase might be stronger.

In short, there are pros and cons.

However, since the first book review has been published, and it is of this academic nature, then after a period of time, other book reviewers should also notice this work one after another.

By that time, with more publicity, it should only be a matter of time before "The Devotion of Suspect X" becomes a big hit!

Thinking of this, Akiwara Yuto couldn't help but feel encouraged.

He didn't notice that when he couldn't help but show an excited expression, Satake Maki, who had been shifty-eyed all along, secretly glanced at him.

Anjiu Jin Gangyi was also very excited; after all, as long as there was book review promotion, "The Devotion of Suspect X," which was originally planned to take a week to sell out, might be sold out in these few days.

After all, according to statistics, this book "Mystery Literature" can be seen by 50, 00 mystery enthusiasts; even if only one-tenth of the readers buy it, it can easily sell out the remaining books in stock.

However, while feeling encouraged, Anjiu Jin Gangyi still had a trace of confusion in his heart.

Why did the book review that was supposed to be published in a newspaper turn into an academic magazine?