Chapter 161: Akiwara Yuto: This is an Arms Race

Hideki Awazu gave a bitter smile as he explained the cause and effect of everything.

After hearing the whole story, Yuto Akiwara was surprised to find that this matter actually had something to do with him.

During this period, due to the fallout from the burakumin incident he had triggered, Mantan Publishing's *Tokyo Literature* and *New* were affected, with sales dropping by forty percent compared to before.

However, thanks to timely public relations and a good attitude, Mantan Publishing quickly resolved the crisis. They also increased management and investment in their relevant literary journals.

In addition to personnel changes, they invested huge sums of money to increase promotion through print advertisements.

They even poached a group of contracted writers from other publishers by offering higher manuscript fees.

This allowed the sales of *Tokyo Literature* to begin recovering to their previous levels, with even a faint possibility of going further.

Facing the challenge from Mantan Publishing, the literary journals of the other three major publishers naturally began an "arms race," each increasing their promotion and raising their respective manuscript fees.

But the magazine platform is more suitable for new writers and young to middle-aged writers; some veteran writers still prefer to publish standalone books directly.

This meant that the "poaching campaigns" of the four publishers were mostly limited to the four major publishers themselves.

In this "red ocean," if the manuscript fees are not significantly different, magazines with higher sales and greater fame tend to be more favored by writers.

Conversely, if a magazine's sales are already poor and the manuscript fees have not been increased, then the contracted writers of that magazine are likely to leave.

After hearing all this, Yuto Akiwara understood a little, and then he spoke to Hideki Awazu.

"So, *April Youth* has had many writers poached by the other three major publishers? Come to think of it, you are also one of the four major publishers, right? It's impossible that you don't have much money, is it?"

Hideki Awazu sighed.

"Akiwara-sensei, in terms of manuscript fees, we are confident that we are not lower than the others, but it is mainly because the previous sales were so poor that many writers already had plans to leave."

He paused, then added.

"Have you forgotten? I already told you before that because we wanted to challenge you, our signature writer, Nakata-sensei, jumped ship to *Tokyo Literature* and took a group of readers with him, causing sales to drop to 110, 00 copies at one point."

Upon hearing this explanation, Yuto Akiwara raised his eyebrows.

Oh, that disciple of Yosuke Miyagawa-sensei!?

The other party seemed to be a radical in the orthodox school.

Looking at Hideki Awazu's resentful eyes, Yuto Akiwara scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.

He had truly forgotten about this; after all, he had been busy winning awards, publishing books, and engaging in a "war of words" with Mantan Publishing, so he had no interest in dealing with these "trivial matters" between publishers.

He thought for a moment and asked again: "If the circulation of *April Youth* is only 70, 00 copies now, then what are the approximate sales of the literary journals of the three major publishers?"

Hideki Awazu put down his teacup and began to describe the situation, letting Yuto Akiwara understand the latest market conditions.

Mantan Publishing's *Tokyo Literature*, because it launched its offensive earliest, poached a group of popular writers, and increased newspaper promotion, saw its weekly circulation exceed 240, 00 copies, which is quite a bit more than its previous peak.

Toei Publishing's *Tokyo Youth*, having always been the leader in literary journals, rarely saw writers choose to jump ship. Instead, due to increased promotion, its circulation is only one step away from 300, 00 copies.

Keihan Publishing's *Literature Spring* further tied down its writers by offering increased royalty shares. By strengthening cooperation with major Japanese universities, it opened up new markets, increasing its sales to over 200, 00 copies.

As for *April Youth* from Kakyoukan, where Hideki Awazu works, although they learned the relevant information early on, because the management was slow to react and sales were already at the bottom, many writers chose to leave.

The departure of writers caused serialized works to be interrupted, which in turn caused a group of readers to leave rapidly. Under these circumstances, the effect of advertising became increasingly poor, forming a vicious cycle between poor sales and the departure of writers.

Yuto Akiwara nodded; this reminded him of many business cases from his past life: the first and second place fight, and the third place gets killed off.

Come to think of it, he really didn't know that such interesting things had happened in the literary world in the two or three weeks since he reconciled with Mantan Publishing.

"Editor Awazu, what about Mantan Publishing's *New*?" Yuto Akiwara asked again.

Hideki Awazu shook his head. "The sales of *New* are now less than 50, 00 copies, and many people in the industry no longer recognize it as one of the five major literary journals."

"What happened?" Yuto Akiwara asked in surprise, frowning.

Hideki Awazu nodded and began to explain.

"Before this, the sales of *New* were already declining quite rapidly, and after Kikuchi Futoshi was transferred, the newly appointed editor-in-chief, Kazuhiro Matsushima, also chose to transfer to *Tokyo Literature*, causing instability within *New*. Moreover, it was also significantly affected by this burakumin incident."

Yuto Akiwara was still a bit puzzled.

"Didn't Mantan Publishing provide support to *Tokyo Literature*? Did they not provide support to *New*?"

Hideki Awazu shook his head.

"Akiwara-sensei, although Mantan Publishing is one of the four major publishers, their funds and energy are limited after all. If they focus their strategic efforts on two different magazines, they will instead be at a disadvantage in the competition."

He took a sip of tea and added.

"According to the information we obtained, Mantan Publishing not only did not support *New*, but even reduced the budget for layout and manuscript fees to further strengthen the influence and promotional power of *Tokyo Literature*."

Hearing this news, Yuto Akiwara began to think.

It seems Mantan Publishing's determination to reform its literary journals this time is not small; they are going to tilt all resources toward *Tokyo Literature* to maximize its market share!

Although this approach is a bit of a gamble, after thinking about it, Yuto Akiwara felt that this was actually the correct decision.

After all, what supports a magazine's sales is the quality of the works within it.

But after he left *New*, the only one left who could be considered decent was Yuma Kadowaki.

But even Yuma Kadowaki is only in the middle tier of second-rate writers, right?

With the quality of his work, it is difficult for the sales of *New* to have any rapid development.

Rather than that, it is better to rely on *Tokyo Literature*.

Currently serializing in *Tokyo Literature*, besides Tamae Seto-sensei, there is also Keito Nakata, the former signature writer of *April Youth*.

Coupled with the resources drawn from *New*, he wouldn't find it strange if *Tokyo Literature* could surpass Toei Publishing's *Tokyo Youth* in a while.

However, thinking that *New* would fall back to its original level, Yuto Akiwara couldn't help but sigh.

On the other side, Hideki Awazu turned around and took a document folder out of his briefcase.

Then he stood up, bowed deeply, and handed over the document folder.

"Akiwara-sensei, *April Youth* is in great need of your help right now. This is the highest condition we can offer at the moment; if you are not satisfied, we can continue to modify it."

Yuto Akiwara was not surprised. After thinking briefly, he reached out to take the legal document and began to read it.

According to the terms of this contract, his manuscript fee is 50, 00 yen per page, and the royalty is set at 30% of the retail price, while there are no specific restrictions on primary and secondary usage fees for film and television.

Yuto Akiwara was a bit surprised, recalling the contract he signed with Mantan Publishing when he first debuted—at that time, his manuscript fee was 7, 00 yen per page, and the royalty was only 10%.

Compared to the conditions *April Youth* is offering him now, it is not even close.

Yuto Akiwara put down the document and began to think.

The other party has stated the reasons and offered the conditions; should he agree?