Chapter 320

Akiwara Yuto pondered for half a day, then took out paper and pen and began to write down a few backup options on the paper.

"How about light novels?"

It seems feasible, because it is '94, the light novel market has already begun to germinate and has a group of loyal readers.

In the original history of Nihon, it is generally accepted that light novels originated in 1975, which was the publication of "Space Battleship Yamato".

After this, "Legend of the Galactic Heroes", "Royal Space Force", and "Galaxy Express 999" were also successively released and adapted into forms like manga and anime.

And the development of these science fiction light novels also laid the foundation for the "Gundam" series and "Steins; Gate", which are well-known to people in later generations.

There is even no lack of works where one can see the shadows of these science fiction light novels.

However, after the 90s, because the economy turned from good to bad, the market's preference for light novels also underwent a huge change, which also led to the light novel market beginning a rapid transformation.

During the period from '90 to '94, the light novel market shifted from rigorous settings and heavy historical senses to being primarily focused on relaxation and entertainment.

While inheriting the previous foundation of science fiction, many works added fantasy elements; characteristic works like "Slayers", "Patlabor", "Lost Universe", and "The Twelve Kingdoms" were also successively published.

And the now-famous Dengeki Bunko was also formally established in that era.

Akiwara Yuto recalled the era he was currently in and discovered that Keihan Publisher was indeed the same as the Kadokawa Shoten of his past life, having already begun to establish a library to enter this field.

But they seemed to have little energy invested at the moment, and they were still focusing on science fiction light novels; could he cut in, use his works to crush them, and occupy the market first?

However, a huge problem is that if light novels want to sell well, they often have to rely on the animation of the work to drive them.

And besides that, light novels also don't fit his positioning and differ significantly from the existing business of Tsutaya Bookstore.

Akiwara Yuto weighed it for half a day and finally decided to list light novels as a backup option first.

Then he took a sip of coffee and used his pen to write the two words "popular literature" on the paper.

The so-called popular literature is the category corresponding to the pure literature represented by traditional literature; specific categories include romance, detective, science fiction, suspense, etc.

And sales also decrease from front to back due to the number of people in the audience.

Romance naturally goes without saying; based on a large female foundation, it can easily sell a very high volume. This market even has tens of millions in sales a year, several times larger than the detective market.

And detective fiction, although it has the title of national literature, true detective fans at most number around ten million, and many of them only watch film and television works.

As for science fiction, it overlaps a bit with the light novel market, so the market share is not easy to calculate, but if you only evaluate pure science fiction works, there are still a few million-level phenomenal works that sell well every year.

As for suspense, it overlaps with the detective market. And compared to watching horror, local Nihon people seem to prefer going to the movie theater.

After struggling for a while, he sighed.

There are too many choices; I really don't know which one is better to do next?

He thought for a moment and then made a phone call, "Satake, are you free to come to my house?"

At one o'clock in the afternoon, following the sound of the doorbell, Akiwara Yuto opened the door, and outside the door was Maki Satake, wearing a light blue short skirt and black pantyhose on her lower body.

"Akiwara, you finally called me to your house alone."

Maki Satake stepped forward two steps, getting close to Akiwara Yuto, and as she got closer, Akiwara Yuto even smelled the faint scent of perfume on her.

Maki Satake looked up and asked with a smile: "Is there something you want to discuss with me?"

Akiwara Yuto smiled, then led her to the living room to sit down and poured her a cup of tea.

"I have a few directions for the future business development of the publisher that I want to explore with you."

He paused and then added: "I hope you can use a different perspective to judge what business is more suitable for us to do."

Regarding the ideas of Aiko Asano and Sota Nishijima, Akiwara Yuto already understood a lot, but in his view, many of these two people's lines of thought overlapped too much with his own.

On the contrary, Maki Satake could judge better as an outsider.

After Maki Satake finished listening to Akiwara Yuto's several directions, she hesitated and said: "Akiwara, can you write all these types of works?"

She was a bit skeptical; after all, Akiwara Yuto had always been a detective writer,

And although he later wrote in the traditional field, the span between the two fields was not very large.

But if he were to cross from detective fiction to romance or science fiction or something, she still felt it didn't sound very reliable.

"I'm just trying it out for now," Akiwara Yuto said, "If I write these works, I might use the pen name Akihara, so even if it fails, it won't be a big problem."

Maki Satake was stunned for a moment.

Isn't the English word Akihara just a translation of Akiwara? So isn't this the same as not having a pen name?

However, she thought about it and soon understood Akiwara Yuto's intention.

She was only able to see it at a glance because she was already biased, but if one saw the pen name Akihara on a romance or science fiction book, one probably wouldn't think it was Akiwara himself.

This is the common "dark under the lamp" psychological effect.

"Then how about science fiction?" She offered an opinion.

Akiwara Yuto asked suspiciously: "Why?"

Not to mention the light novels with infinite future prospects, even romance has a market share far larger than pure science fiction; why would Maki Satake suggest he write science fiction?

Maki Satake replied: "After all, you're just trying it out, aren't you? And the science fiction market isn't big, so even if it fails, there won't be too much of a problem."

After finishing this sentence, she stretched, and in front of Akiwara Yuto, she extended her own soft and beautiful figure.

But soon, she felt it was a bit inappropriate, so she immediately sat up straight, lowered her head silently, and said in a resentful voice: "You don't even understand my feelings; can you really write excellent love stories?"

Akiwara Yuto was speechless; from the time Maki Satake confessed to him until now, a whole year had passed, but even now, he hadn't given the other party a response.

But his purpose in calling her over today was just to talk about the publisher's business.

Just at this moment, Maki Satake made up her mind.

At this time, there were no obstructive people like Aiko Asano or Miho Toyama; there were only herself and Akiwara Yuto.

If she missed this opportunity again, there wouldn't be a next time!

She stood up and sat next to Akiwara Yuto, placed her head on his shoulder, and whispered into his ear.

"Akiwara, do you really not like me?"