Chapter 245: Changing the Future of Mystery Novels

Regarding the refusal of Gao Tianzhijiu's proposal, Akiwara Yuto had his own considerations.

Unlike his relationship with Asano Aiko at the beginning, his relationship with Hehe and others was more of a "transaction."

But this transaction was far from over, and there were still many places where he could use the other party.

Besides that, he didn't think there was any benefit to joining the New Honkaku school.

After all, the works in his mind only had a very small proportion of New Honkaku; most of the others were instead works of the social school or other schools, such as the mysteries of Higashino Keigo, Miyabe Miyuki, Agatha, etc.

So, to focus only on writing Honkaku and New Honkaku for the sake of a New Honkaku "leader" status that had no actual benefits was undoubtedly the most stupid decision.

Gao Tianzhijiu stared at Akiwara Yuto for a while and found that there was no wavering expression on his face, so he could only sigh deeply.

He had heard before about Akiwara Yuto falling out with the Mantan Agency just because of the kindness of a female editor.

So in his view, Akiwara Yuto not agreeing to him this time might also be because he wanted to repay Hehe's kindness in promoting him.

Regarding this kind of behavior, although he felt it was "stupid," he didn't dislike it in his heart.

"Teacher Akiwara, although you didn't win the Zhi Cun Award this time. But I guarantee that next time, as long as what you are shortlisted for is the Honkaku school, then you will absolutely not encounter any unfair things in the selection."

This sentence of Gao Tianzhijiu also had his own thoughts.

The first point is to continue to befriend Akiwara Yuto, hoping that he can create more works similar to *The Tokyo Zodiac Murders*.

In fact, for the current New Honkaku, this work is very important.

So he prepared to nominate this work for the Zhi Cun Award in the second half of the year and achieve a promotional effect.

The second point, as Akiwara Yuto's fame grows larger and larger, setting thresholds for him in award selections is also becoming an increasingly difficult thing.

After all, in the eyes of many readers, the fact that the work they like didn't win an award will undoubtedly arouse their anger and even affect the credibility of the award.

Since that's the case, it's better to loosen up early to avoid ending up with this outcome.

Akiwara Yuto didn't expect this unexpected joy, but he quickly understood the other party's intention to befriend him, so he politely expressed his thanks.

The two didn't chat about this aspect of the topic afterward, just chatted a few words about life, and ended the conversation.

……

After saying goodbye to Gao Tianzhijiu, a joyful expression appeared on Akiwara Yuto's face.

Although his original intention to persuade some radical Honkaku writers failed, the book *The Tokyo Zodiac Murders* had indeed brought him other benefits.

Gao Tianzhijiu was the leader of the New Honkaku after all, so his words were still quite convincing.

So he didn't need to worry about being made difficult for winning awards anymore!

Relying on those works in his mind, winning a grand slam of famous Japanese literary awards was just a matter of time.

His footsteps suddenly became light, and he walked to Hehe's office with a smile.

But before entering the office, he restrained his smile.

No matter what, regarding the moderate school's advocacy for promotion, he indeed didn't provide much "substantial" help this time.

"Akiwara, you're here; let's have lunch together."

After seeing Akiwara Yuto arrive, Hehe smiled and greeted him to sit down, then called his secretary to send over two bento meals.

Akiwara Yuto didn't stand on ceremony, picked up sushi to eat, and found the taste was very ordinary, even a bit hard to eat.

"The association's funds are limited, please forgive me." Hehe smiled and said: "How was the chat with Teacher Gao Tian?"

Akiwara Yuto thought for a moment and told everything he chatted about with Gao Tianzhijiu, including the fact that he would be given a break in award selections.

This kind of thing couldn't be hidden, so it was better to be honest.

Hehe nodded after hearing everything; he didn't seem very disappointed and just skipped this topic.

"Then when do you intend to release this book?"

Akiwara Yuto didn't hesitate much and replied: "As soon as possible."

After both buying a house and fighting a lawsuit, his savings could be said to have shrunk quite a bit, and the royalty income from the works released previously was also constantly decreasing every month.

Besides that, he had also gained quite a lot of public attention because of the "Jin Shang" assassination case.

Since he still had a certain social heat now, the faster he pushed this book to the market, the better!

Hehe smiled and said: "Then have you thought about the copy for the obi?"

Akiwara Yuto was a bit puzzled; after all, wasn't this kind of copy thought of by the editor?

Could it be that Hehe wanted to provide him with a recommendation?

He replied: "Not yet."

Hehe stood up, tore a piece of paper from his notebook, took out a pen, wrote a sentence on the paper, and handed it to Akiwara Yuto.

Akiwara Yuto was a bit puzzled at first, but when he saw this sentence, he was surprised.

On this piece of paper, it was written: "Recommended by the Mystery Writers Association: This is a great work that can change the future of mystery!"

He hesitated and asked hesitantly: "Would this be inappropriate?"

Although Hehe is the Vice Chairman of the Mystery Writers Association, the association is composed of all writers after all, and it has strict factional divisions.

And the four words "great work" seemed a bit too exaggerated.

But what surprised him was that Hehe laughed out loud instead, "Who would object?"

The Honkaku school and others who were most likely to object had already been persuaded, and the social school and others were on good terms with him.

As the Vice Chairman, he still had the authority to write a recommendation or something.

Looking at Hehe's smile, Akiwara Yuto also knew he had taken things for granted, so he smiled and accepted this kindness.

With the "endorsement" of the Mystery Writers Association, it would be hard for this work of his not to sell well!

……

After leaving the Mystery Writers Association, Akiwara Yuto immediately took the manuscript to President Anjiu Bookstore and met with Asano Aiko, Sato Maki, and others, starting to arrange the distribution work for this book.

After meeting discussions, corresponding work was also arranged, including proofreading, cover design, and distribution through other channels.

Not only that, Akiwara Yuto also spent an extra amount of money as promotion channel fees and kickbacks for cooperative bookstores.

During the time he cooperated with *April Youth*, he didn't just write; he also learned a lot of knowledge about marketing.

So this time, he used it directly!

Facing the importance Akiwara Yuto, this "big client," placed on it, President Anjiu Jin Gangyi naturally didn't dare to ignore it; the other party's business volume now accounted for about 70% of all President Anjiu Bookstore's revenue.

If he offended them even slightly, he might be kicked out directly.

However, Akiwara Yuto actually didn't have this thought, because the cooperation with President Anjiu Bookstore was very smooth—he controlled the other party's profit at around 5-7% through the contract.

Even if he dumped the other party and went solo, he might not have much profit, and he would still have to labor and worry about coordinating people's work problems.

In short, under a series of intensive arrangements, the work for the book *The Tokyo Zodiac Murders* proceeded smoothly.

On the book, the bookstore invited a specialized big-name designer to design a suitable book cover and placed the sentence Hehe gifted on the position of the "obi."

On the channel, with the help of the name "Akiwara Yuto," further cooperation was successfully reached with major bookstores, including the posting of posters and the lottery of gifts.

*April Youth* of the Ke Jiao Guan learned of the relevant situation, and through matchmaking, arranged five major bookstores that were interested to set up specialized signing events.

Fuji TV had requests for Akiwara Yuto, so naturally, it went without saying.

The members of the *Furuhata Ninzaburo* crew also expressed one after another that after the book was publicly released, they would express their love and praise for the work on TV and other media.

Under such a series of arrangements, the book *The Tokyo Zodiac Murders* finally reached the day of public release... ===== CHAPTER 246 =====