Chapter 311: A Proper Go at It

In the Japan of '93, the national mood was one of profound sorrow.

Due to the bursting of the economic bubble, unemployment was severe nationwide, with a massive number of companies laying off staff or going bankrupt, resulting in a huge population of unemployed people.

After becoming unemployed, these people were unable to find work for a long time due to the economic downturn.

Those who were lucky could, like the predecessor of Akiwara Yuto, find odd jobs on the street to sustain their lives.

Those who were unlucky could only sleep in parks or under bridges, unable to find even odd jobs.

It is easy to imagine that in such an economic environment, the entire society was filled with an atmosphere of sorrow, and the suicide rate remained high.

During this process, the Japanese government kept trying to boost the morale of the citizens, for example by once again promoting the spirit of "a bowl of clear noodle soup," suggesting they should grit their teeth and persevere.

But as for these calls from the government, the public basically treated them like passing gas.

With the economy in such a mess, isn't it the Cabinet's fault!

We can't even afford to eat now, and you still want to feed us chicken soup for the soul?!

Helpless, government departments like the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology could only use other methods to boost civilian morale.

So, whenever someone received any international honor, they were immediately paraded out to be praised.

And don't underestimate it; because of Japan's worship of Europe and America, quite a few citizens actually bought into this.

As for the news that Akiwara Yuto's work "Snow Country" was shortlisted for the Dublin Literary Award, after being reported by some media, it was also targeted by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, which believed it could be well-utilized to boost national morale.

Thus, driven by the state apparatus, this news—which was merely a nomination and not a win—made it onto NHK's prime-time news and the front pages of the five major newspapers.

In terms of exposure, it was even significantly higher than the Uemura Prize.

So, in less than two days, basically the majority of the Japanese public knew the news of Akiwara Yuto being shortlisted for the Dublin Literary Award.

Under the massive exposure, various television stations and related newspapers also launched targeted follow-up reports, inviting a group of experts and scholars from the traditional literary circle.

But regarding this matter, these experts and scholars were actually quite annoyed.

Although the Dublin Literary Award ranks among international literary awards, the one in Sweden is supposed to be the most influential.

Moreover, it was only a nomination, yet it was being hyped so high; what if the nomination failed?! Wouldn't that be a huge joke?

However, despite their inner grumbling, few of these invited traditional literary experts and scholars dared to speak against it.

After all, the vast majority of them, besides being writers or book critics, were also teachers at some university or other academic institution, and these institutions all received funding from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.

What if they spoke against it and offended the Ministry, and were given a hard time when it came to allocating funds?

After all, a current official is better than a future one; one could curse the Prime Minister and the Cabinet politicians without any consequences, but it was better not to offend the civil servants who managed specific affairs.

With such motives, the public opinion was full of praise, and many experts even "hyped" it as if Akiwara Yuto had already secured the award.

With everyone speaking in unison, the public was also fooled into a daze, seemingly feeling that this was truly some incredible award.

Even Akiwara Yuto himself was confused.

He did not know that behind this, the Ministry of Education was doing it to divert public attention; he was just wondering if this world was really so different from his previous life? Was this award really that awesome?

However, because of the massive publicity, many citizens who originally did not like reading traditional literary works also became interested in "Snow Country" and prepared to go to a bookstore to buy a copy.

In less than a week, the 100,000 copies of the sixth edition of "Snow Country" were sold out.

But this was not a good thing, and it brought new troubles to Akiwara Yuto.

Setagaya Ward, Tsutaya Bookstore.

As the three giants of the publishing house, Nishijima Sota, Asano Aiko, and Akiwara Yuto sat in the conference room and held a meeting to discuss the subsequent impact of this matter.

Nishijima Sota frowned and said: "Regarding "Snow Country," the 123 partner bookstores within Tokyo have all sent in orders, requesting a total of 30,000 copies, but Tokyo Publishing Sales and Japan Publishing Sales have increased their orders, each requesting 60,000 copies."

Normally, if the distributors were willing to increase orders, he as the president would naturally be overjoyed.

But now that there was another goal, if he sold the books to the distributors again, he would feel like he was shooting himself in the foot.

Akiwara Yuto scratched his head; he also felt that this matter was a bit beyond his expectations.

In his plan, as long as the work won the Uemura Prize and received massive exposure, he could directly bypass the distributors and connect with bookstores nationwide.

However, to achieve this goal, he had to first establish a nationwide storage and logistics network in Japan through second-hand bookstore chains. After all, Japan is not like the domestic express logistics of his previous life; costs are still relatively expensive.

For bookstores in other prefectures, if they only ordered 30 or 40 copies in bulk, the logistics cost of shipping from Tokyo would not be cost-effective at all.

"How many bookstores have been established now?" Akiwara Yuto thought for a moment and asked.

"As of now, there are 5 direct-operated stores and 10 franchise stores, and each store has a warehouse capable of storing about 5,000 books," Asano Aiko took over the conversation, "but because they are newly opened, they are currently only breaking even."

Akiwara Yuto nodded silently.

Newly opened second-hand bookstores generally need word-of-mouth to attract customers; being able to break even at this stage is already quite good.

However, with only 15 stores, it seems to be only one-third of the original plan; it feels a bit like the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.

Akiwara Yuto thought for a while, gritted his teeth and said: "For this batch, reduce the quantity given to Tokyo Sales and Japan Sales, let them order at most 10,000 copies each; as for the rest, we will do direct sales."

He had made up his mind; if logistics costs are expensive, so be it. Even if there is no profit or even a loss, he must establish the channels first.

Like the internet companies of his previous life, which one didn't rely on burning money to gain market share? Compared to them, the money he was spending now was just a drop in the bucket.

If he missed this opportunity and waited for the Uemura Prize results to be released, the effect would undoubtedly be much worse.

By then, if he wanted to use this to break the market monopoly of the two distributors, Tokyo Sales and Japan Sales, it would undoubtedly take much more effort.

Nishijima Sota and Asano Aiko looked at each other and nodded.

The consequence of doing this would undoubtedly be a complete falling out with the two distributors, and it is estimated that they might be threatened and boycotted by the distributors later, which might even have a significant impact in the short term.

But if things continued like this, even if Akiwara Yuto remained highly productive every year, the market share of Tsutaya Bookstore would sooner or later be further squeezed by Jingfan Publishing.

Things have reached this point, and they can no longer retreat.

Then, let's take this opportunity of being shortlisted for the Dublin Literary Award and have a real go at it!