Chapter 310: The Dublin Literary Award

Akiwara Yuto was not aware of the misgivings held by the Jingfan Press.

And even if he had known, he would not have cared much.

After all, everything he was doing now was a calculated strategy based on successful business cases from his past life, so he did not believe anyone else could discern anything.

Moreover, most importantly, the funds had all arrived one after another.

By the beginning of December, "Memories of Murder" had officially finished its theatrical run, and the film's final box office reached approximately 5.2 billion yen, quite a bit more than the expected 4.5 billion yen.

As an investor, Akiwara Yuto successfully obtained one-third of the box office revenue, which amounted to 1.7 billion yen.

However, before this money had even warmed up, it was transferred along with the third-quarter sales revenue into the account of Tsutaya Bookstore to support the development of the chain of second-hand bookstores.

Because of the massive success at the box office, Utsumi Takuto and many of the actors also gained quite a few benefits.

There is naturally no need to mention Utsumi Takuto, the director; the films he had directed previously were low-budget R-rated violent genre films, and because of poor box office performance, he had implicated investors in heavy losses.

But because of the skyrocketing box office of "Memories of Murder," many film companies took a liking to him and sent him invitations, hoping he would direct their films.

Hiraoka Kotaro, as the lead actor, also reaped many benefits.

Previously, due to his appearance and age, the best roles he could get were second or third male leads in television dramas, and these dramas were generally not popular ones either.

But because of his "excellent performance" in the movie, some large-scale production crews soon extended an olive branch, inviting him to audition for male lead roles.

As for the many other actors who participated, although the benefits were not as great, after gaining exposure, they all shed their status as third-rate actors and moved up a step in the entertainment industry.

……

Tokyo, Minato Ward, Akiwara Yuto's home.

He sat on the sofa, looking at the latest financial statements, and subconsciously furrowed his brows.

Because of the "actions" of distributors, starting from the fourth quarter, the publishing house's sales outside of Tokyo began to decline further.

At the same time, the Jingfan Press, relying on a series of promotions and a "price-cutting offensive," further occupied a significant market share.

"Akiwara, there is still a large surplus of funds in the account," Asano Aiko said, looking at Akiwara Yuto's furrowed brows, taking the initiative to comfort him.

In her view, for Tsutaya Bookstore to reach this point under the suppression of the Jingfan Press, one of the four major publishing houses, was already very difficult.

If it were any other publishing house, it would likely have conceded and gone bankrupt long ago.

Akiwara Yuto glanced at her and, seeing the worried expression on her face, knew she wanted to comfort him, so he smiled and said.

"Asano, I am not worried about the publishing house's problems; I am just thinking about how to completely defeat the Jingfan Press."

Asano Aiko was stunned for a moment, then immediately reacted, feeling that Akiwara Yuto was joking.

After all, although the Jingfan Press ranked at the bottom of the four major publishing houses, it was still a behemoth.

Although their sales in the mystery publishing field had been poor over the past two years, they still held a significant market share in other publishing fields, such as girls' magazines, romance books, manga magazines, and so on.

And for Tsutaya Bookstore to maintain its market share in mystery publishing in the future would already be a great success.

She thought for a moment, then also smiled and teased, "Then what do you want to do?"

Akiwara Yuto also saw her dismissiveness, so he did not intend to explain, just responding casually with a few words.

In his view, the Jingfan Press was currently following the path of Kadokawa Shoten from his past life.

And as long as he occupied its path before it did, that would undoubtedly count as success.

Once it reached that point, with the decline of the traditional publishing industry, the Jingfan Press might have to abandon many non-performing assets itself.

However, the explosive development of light novels would have to wait; he still had to focus on the mystery field for now, achieve the No. 1 spot in this field, and then consider other matters.

Just as the two were talking, the doorbell rang.

Akiwara Yuto opened the door and found that the person standing outside was Satake Maki.

However, upon seeing Akiwara Yuto and Asano Aiko alone together, an unhappy expression appeared on her face.

But this expression flashed by, so Akiwara Yuto did not notice it, only asking, "Satake, is something the matter?"

Satake came back to her senses, smiled, and looked up, saying, "Akiwara, your work has been nominated!"

"Nominated? The Uemura Prize?" Akiwara Yuto looked at her in confusion.

A week had already passed since that event; Satake Maki should have known about it long ago.

"No," Satake Maki took out a fax and handed it to Akiwara Yuto, "It's a document sent from the Dublin municipal government; 'Snow Country' has been nominated for the Dublin Literary Award."

Hearing this, Akiwara Yuto was somewhat pleasantly surprised.

The Dublin Literary Award, hosted by the Dublin municipal government, is the world's most lucrative literary award, with the winner receiving 100,000 euros.

Although this money was not much to Akiwara Yuto, the significance behind it could not be underestimated.

This meant that the effort he had put into traditional literature had finally paid off, and he was beginning to move from within Japan toward the international stage.

"However, I remember that the overseas sales of 'Snow Country' don't seem to be very good; why would it be shortlisted?" Akiwara Yuto raised this question.

Generally speaking, due to the different nature of the literature, traditional Japanese literature is difficult to succeed in the European and American markets.

After all, the "sorrow" and "beauty" within it can only be understood by the East Asian cultural sphere.

Therefore, whether it was "Snow Country" or "A Personal Matter," the current sales in the European and American markets were less than 10,000 copies.

But if sales were not good, how did the jury of the Dublin Literary Award discover this work?

Could it be that some judge discovered it by chance and nominated this work?

Satake Maki shook her head; she did not know about this, as she had only just received the fax herself. And although Akiwara Yuto was puzzled, he did not know who to ask for the moment.

Just as he was thinking, the telephone rang.

Akiwara Yuto picked up the phone and found that the caller was Akutsu Goichi.

Akutsu Goichi smiled and said, "Akiwara, congratulations on being shortlisted for the Dublin Literary Award."

Akiwara Yuto was somewhat puzzled as to how the other party knew so quickly, but he still replied, "Thank you, but the final result is not yet known."

He paused and tentatively asked the question in his heart, wanting to find out if Akutsu Goichi had any connection with the jury.

Akutsu Goichi laughed heartily and then said, "Akiwara, you have a shortcoming, which is that you overthink everything. As a writer, you only need to focus on your own creation!"

Akiwara Yuto laughed in spite of himself and could only agree.

Regardless of whether he won in the end, this matter was a pleasant surprise for him, so there was no need for him to understand it so clearly.

It seemed he should just finish the work currently at hand first.

But what he did not know was that after "Snow Country" was shortlisted for the Dublin Literary Award, he would receive even greater attention from the outside world...