Chapter 212: New Goal?

For the "April Youth" editorial department, obtaining the handle of a competitor is certainly a good thing, but the most important work is still to invite more talented writers to join and write works.

This work is going very smoothly.

Through the serialization of Akiwara Yuto's works, the sales of "April Youth" are growing steadily, and the trend of surpassing "Tokyo Literature" to become the industry's second place is becoming more and more obvious.

For the author himself, opening a serialization on "April Youth" can gain more readers' attention and harvest greater fame.

Therefore, under the repeated visits of Heben Junyou and Awazu Hideki, a female writer named Takeuchi Ari was moved and agreed to open a column serialization on "April Youth."

Takeuchi Ari is a veteran writer who has debuted for about 10 years and has won many literary awards in the industry. Her works are especially good at describing women's psychology and emotional depiction.

And this also made "April Youth" gain a batch of new reader groups.

Chiyoda Ward, Akiwara Yuto's home.

Asano Aiko took out a gift and handed it to Akiwara Yuto, saying.

"This is a gift passed to you by Editor Dacheng Lixiang. She wants to invite you to that Tiger Bank Kaiseki cuisine in Minato Ward the night after tomorrow."

Akiwara Yuto reached out to take it, then put it aside casually.

Asano Aiko continued to ask: "Akiwara, what do you think?"

"Help me agree to it."

Asano Aiko was still a bit strange, after all, the editorial department had invited Akiwara Yuto after the New Year, and it hadn't been long before they invited him again.

Even if it is to build feelings with writers, this is too frequent.

She thought about it and raised this doubt of hers.

Akiwara Yuto smiled and replied: "This is worrying that I have other ideas."

"Other ideas." Asano Aiko pondered the events that happened recently, then tentatively said: "Takeuchi Ari?"

"Exactly," Akiwara Yuto said, "Originally, only my work could support the facade of 'April Youth,' but now the joining of this Teacher Takeuchi has given 'April Youth' one more choice."

He drank a sip of tea, "In order to firmly bind this Teacher Takeuchi, the editorial department will inevitably allocate some promotional resources to the other party, and maybe even arrange a few covers for the other party's works."

"So Editor-in-Chief Dacheng is worried that you will be dissatisfied, so she came to appease you?" Asano Aiko frowned, following Akiwara Yuto's words, "But will this cause losses to your interests?"

Akiwara Yuto nodded, then shook his head.

"Losses or something are not big. Now the promotion of the 'Furuhata' series is already in place. More promotion is just making readers and the public tired of reading. Instead of that, it is better to invest funds to push Teacher Takeuchi's new work. From this point of view, 'April Youth's' move is very wise."

Asano Aiko looked at Akiwara Yuto with worried eyes, then said: "Akiwara, but this is after all allocated from your resources, won't you be dissatisfied?"

Akiwara Yuto held the tea and drank a sip, then said in an indifferent tone: "Asano, don't you think the relationship between me and the 'April Youth' editorial department is very distorted?"

"Distorted?"

"Exactly," Akiwara Yuto continued, "Now the sales of the whole magazine are mostly supported by my works, and all resources are basically handed to me. Not only that, the editorial department's attitude toward me is also respectful to an abnormal degree."

Akiwara Yuto still remembered that when he participated in the meeting at Kexiao Hall last time, an editor who helped him pour tea accidentally poured water on the side.

This was clearly a small matter, but the editor bowed deeply and sincerely asked for his forgiveness, making Akiwara Yuto speechless.

Asano Aiko said: "Isn't this very normal? After all, your works have brought great benefits to 'April Youth'."

"Great benefits?" Akiwara Yuto sighed and asked in a questioning tone:

He looked at Asano Aiko and said: "Do you still remember the agreement signed when I agreed to join 'April Youth'? It's in the drawer of the desk, go get it."

Asano Aiko followed suit and soon took the document. Akiwara Yuto took the document, spread it on the low table, and pointed to a page of the document.

"According to the content of the agreement, the screen adaptation rights, book version rights, and other derivative rights of the work are mine and have nothing to do with Kexiao Hall. To be honest, if I were the upper level of Kexiao Hall, I might not be able to tolerate these."

In his past life, the editorial department and creators were often interest communities. For example, series like "Dragon Ball," "Slam Dunk," etc., publishers often possessed benefits in many aspects such as serialization, book version, animation, peripherals, etc.

But his agreement only retained serialization.

To be honest, he ate most of the meat and only left a mouthful of soup for the other party.

Asano Aiko thought carefully for a while and said: "But the other party agreed at the time."

Akiwara Yuto replied: "At that time, the sales of 'April Youth' were only 70,000 copies, not only despised by Kexiao Hall's upper level but also faced the crisis of becoming a semi-monthly magazine; but the 'April Youth' now, sales have far exceeded that time and received support from above."

He said again: "The other party had no choice at the time, but now it's different. And if I'm not mistaken, that Teacher Takeuchi should have handed over all the copyrights to the editorial department."

Asano Aiko finished listening to Akiwara Yuto's description and found that it was indeed as he said. 【212-4

For "April Youth," while Akiwara Yuto's works can certainly drive sales growth, they contribute little to the editorial department's net profit.

On the contrary, the editorial department can increase its profit margins through various operational channels for the works of that Mr. Wu Neizhenhui.

"Akiwara, what are your thoughts?" Asano Aiko looked at him carefully.

In her view, since Akiwara Yuto had already made sense of all this, he had naturally already made a decision.

Akiwara Yuto held his tea and took a sip, saying indifferently, "Just let things take their course."

He was truly indifferent; when he originally agreed to join "April Youth," his goal was only to complete the creation of the industry's number one literary journal and fulfill the regrets he had during his time at "New."

Therefore, even if the other party invited other veteran writers to join, it would not hinder him from achieving this goal.

To tell the truth, when he originally demanded that the standalone volumes and film/television copyrights not belong to the editorial department, he had already anticipated that this situation would happen today.

Asano Aiko was speechless; she had just been worried and anxious on the sidelines, but it turned out the person involved felt it didn't matter.

Seeing her expression, Akiwara Yuto smiled and said, "Don't worry, I still hold the initiative in the cooperation with 'April Youth.' After all, if it weren't for the fear that I might be dissatisfied, that Chief Dacheng wouldn't have taken the initiative to come find me."

In his view, Wu Neizhenhui had only just joined "April Youth," and the other party's works were too geared toward female readers. Therefore, the possibility of being welcomed by the masses and adapted into film or television like "Furuhata" was not very high.

Taking a step back, even if that possibility existed, it would require a massive amount of time.

Moreover, after he and Wu Neizhenhui had split the vast majority of promotional resources, it was unlikely the editorial department would find other veteran writers to join, as no one would be willing to come over and play second fiddle.

So, for a long period of time, although the "April Youth" editorial department had other ideas, they could only treat him like they were serving a daimyo.

Just then, Satake Maki stepped up the stairs, pushed open the door, and said, "Akiwara-sensei, Asano-senpai, the meal is ready, you can come down to eat."

Akiwara Yuto put aside his thoughts and stood up with Asano Aiko to go downstairs.

As he walked, he thought and pondered a new question.

Once "April Youth" becomes the industry leader, is there still any need for him to cooperate with them?

Perhaps, should he set a new goal for himself?