Chapter 174: Akiwara's

"Regarding the reader feedback for the fourth issue, it currently seems somewhat unsatisfactory. Although this week's sales are still estimated to be around 140,000 copies, many readers have indicated that they might not purchase the next issue."

Chiyoda Ward, Kejiaoguan Headquarters, "April Youth" Editorial Department.

Shuangzhu Kenichi held a document and made a report to everyone in the conference room.

"... And according to our survey, the reason for the decline in the repurchase rate is that readers have expressed that they are gradually losing patience with Akiwara-sensei's work. If this continues, the repurchase rate may decline further..."

Hearing this, the crowd below became restless, and many people whispered to each other.

After a while, a middle-aged man wearing glasses raised his hand and continued to ask, "Editor Shuangzhu, since the number of repurchasers is declining, are there any remedial measures currently?"

Shuangzhu Kenichi nodded.

"Deputy Editor-in-Chief Hehe, in terms of channels, we are still strengthening cooperation with bookstores around schools and have captured a portion of the market from 'Spring of Literature'. In addition, I have also communicated with Akiwara-sensei, and he believes that as the plot gradually unfolds, readers' interest will gradually increase."

Hearing this, the middle-aged man laughed, and the laughter made everyone on the scene somewhat surprised for a moment.

After a while, the middle-aged man stopped laughing and continued.

"Stop joking. Will a writer's own work be interesting just because they say so? Maybe Akiwara Yuto doesn't know how to write anymore and is just being stubborn. Besides, even if the final result is very interesting, what of it? Maybe the readers will have already run away in the early stages!"

He patted the table and raised his voice.

"I think, since we have already used Akiwara Yuto's fame to attract a batch of readers, then the focus of subsequent promotion should no longer be on him! Including the cover and book reviews, we should focus more on our own original contracted writers!"

"And then when this serialization ends, we will end our cooperation with Akiwara Yuto and look for truly talented authors!"

The crowd below became restless again. Terminate the agreement with Akiwara Yuto? And then look for new authors?

If that happens, won't it cause a lot of trouble just like with the Mantanshe Society, and possibly even trigger public opinion issues?

The middle-aged man seemed to have heard the thoughts of the crowd, and waved his hand.

"Akiwara Yuto only signed a normal serialization agreement with us, and there is no provision for publishing a single volume or anything, so it's just a normal commercial contract. Even if there is questioning from the outside world at that time, we only need to take out the reader feedback statistics from these few issues to prove that his work is not popular."

He turned around and set his gaze on Dacheng Lixiang, who was sitting in the main seat: "Editor-in-Chief Dacheng, what is your opinion on my suggestion?"

Dacheng Lixiang looked around at the crowd below, hesitated for a few seconds, and then said to the middle-aged man.

"Deputy Editor-in-Chief Hehe, have you read the overall outline of 'The Invisible Guest'?"

The middle-aged man thought for a moment and then replied, "I haven't read it, but I think it's enough to look at the specific finished product and the data from these few issues. As for the outline, it's not something that must be read, right?"

Dacheng Lixiang shook her head, "Since that's the case, then I think you should take a look at the outline before making a corresponding decision. That way, you won't question anything."

She raised her voice.

"I know that everyone may still have doubts now, but I insist that the current focus of promotion should still be on Akiwara-sensei. Before this, I have already understood the entire cause and effect of this story."

"I believe what Akiwara-sensei said, as the story plot unfolds, the readers behind will become more and more interested!"

After finishing these words, the whispering in the crowd below decreased significantly. In the eyes of the editorial department, since the Editor-in-Chief had already said so, it meant that this decision was set in stone.

Even if others had opinions, they could only wait for the sales results of the next few weeks to come out.

The middle-aged man frowned and clenched his fists tightly.

He felt that Dacheng Lixiang was truly crazy to make such an irrational decision!

He thought for a moment and decided that when the meeting ended, he would go and take a good look at Akiwara Yuto's outline to understand what exactly was written!

On the other side, Akiwara Yuto headed to the Mystery Writers Association.

This morning, Chairman Hehe called him to inform him that the association had handled the corresponding follow-up and asked him to come over to collect the corresponding membership certificate.

After receiving the call, Akiwara Yuto put on the expensive suit he had bought earlier and then hailed a taxi directly.

After a car ride of about 30 minutes, he arrived at his destination.

Because of the continuous royalty income, he was no longer the unemployed youth who worried about not being able to pay the rent.

So even if the taxi fare was expensive, he didn't take it to heart.

"Chairman Hehe, sorry to keep you waiting."

After Akiwara Yuto got out of the car, he found Chairman Hehe's office based on the words of the "Mediterranean" uncle at the front desk.

When entering the door, he took the opportunity to present a box of souvenirs, "This is the egg rice cake I bought at the Tushan shopping street."

"Akiwara-sensei, there's no need to be so polite." Hehe Xintai smiled and took the gift, then placed it to the side.

Then he opened the drawer, took out a brown paper that looked like a certificate, and handed it to Akiwara Yuto.

"This is the membership certificate of the Mystery Writers Association, please keep it well."

"Yes, thank you very much." Akiwara Yuto smiled and took it, while carefully examining this proof.

On this brown paper, there were some very simple patterns, similar to cherry blossoms, and surrounded by these cherry blossoms were two lines of Japanese written vertically—"Mystery Writers Association Member Akiwara Yuto."

Akiwara Yuto nodded with satisfaction.

With this proof, he saved a lot of effort compared to ordinary writers who debuted at the same time.

And with the help of the Mystery Writers Association platform, he could also get to know a lot of connections.

In the future, these connections would be his reliance for climbing further on this path in the literary world.

"Then I'll be going."

Akiwara Yuto bowed again and intended to take his leave first, after all, his purpose for today had already been achieved.

But to his surprise, Hehe Xintai waved his hand, "Akiwara-sensei, if there are no urgent matters, why don't we chat for a bit."

"Chat?" Akiwara Yuto was a bit puzzled, but still agreed and sat on the sofa used for reception in the office.

Hehe Xintai took the initiative to pour him a cup of tea.

"Regarding your latest work, I have received some opinions from members here."

He paused and then asked, "Akiwara-sensei, are you doing some kind of new attempt?"

Because of some news that came, he specifically went to look at Akiwara Yuto's "The Invisible Guest", but what surprised him was that the logic and structure of this work were very different.

Or rather, it didn't even look like a work that a Japanese person could write.

That's why he specifically kept Akiwara Yuto behind, trying to ask clearly about this matter.

Akiwara Yuto took the tea, politely expressed his thanks, and then replied, "Yes, this work is just an experiment of mine."

"Experimental product?" Hehe Xintai was a bit puzzled.

Akiwara Yuto nodded.

"Currently, whether it's Honkaku school or Social school works, the main writing method is to provide clues and then let the reader follow the detective to solve the case. So I want to write something different, which is to restore the true and false events through constant dialogue, and finally let the reader discover the real truth from it."

He decided to do this, it was still his own plan.

After all, he already had several successful works now, and with the support of royalties, failing once or twice wouldn't have any particularly big impact.

Besides that, if this adaptation was still successful, it would prove that he could continue to walk the path of work adaptation.

Hehe Xintai didn't expect to hear this, but he immediately became respectful.

Generally speaking, after an author becomes famous, they often have a fixed writing pattern. And they will rely on this pattern to constantly replicate their own success.

But what surprised him was that Akiwara Yuto, a writer who had only debuted for half a year, actually had this idea of wanting to break through himself.

No wonder his previous series of works had styles that were far apart, it simply didn't look like it was written by one person.

"Akiwara-sensei, I understand, stick to your own ideas!"

Hehe Xintai smiled and nodded with satisfaction.

He prepared to let his assistant subscribe to the "April Youth" journal after getting off work today, so as to see the content serialized by Akiwara Yuto in time.

He wanted to see what kind of work this Akiwara-sensei could write!