Chapter 42: It Won't Sell Well?!

"Sugihara, the new issue of *New Fiction* has arrived. Could you please organize them?"

"No problem, Manager."

Sugihara Aisa replied with a hint of joy in her tone, proactively taking the bundled stack of books.

The manager glanced at her with a touch of surprise, but left to arrange work for the others regardless.

Sugihara Aisa did not notice the manager's gaze; she lowered her head, gently placed the stack of books in her arms on the floor, took a pair of scissors to cut the binding rope, and then took out about 10 copies to arrange on the top right corner of the display table.

Generally speaking, people consider the middle to be the best position for displaying books on a sales table, as this position ensures customers will notice them immediately no matter what.

But she had a different view; she believed the top right corner was actually the best, because most people are right-handed and therefore tend to look to the right first.

She placed the magazines in position and inserted a small flag between the two stacks of *New Fiction* that read "Staff Recommendation."

After finishing the work on the display table, she placed the remaining *New Fiction* magazines on the middle-to-high shelves—too high and one would have to look up, too low and one would have to squat down; this position was just right.

Finishing all this took about 20 minutes. By then, the manager had finished arranging work for the others and walked over, spotting the small flag that read "Staff Recommendation."

He seemed hesitant to speak, but after a moment of thought, he decided to try and persuade Sugihara Aisa.

"Sugihara, I don't think this issue of *New Fiction* will sell very well. You might want to reconsider."

Sugihara Aisa was a bit confused. She looked at the manager in doubt, and realizing he wasn't joking, she stopped what she was doing.

"Manager, didn't the previous two issues both go into reprints?"

Looking at the data from July, the second issue of *New Fiction* was restocked twice, and the third issue was restocked three times. Following this trend, the performance of the fourth issue should also be quite good.

The manager did not answer directly; instead, he stepped forward, picked up a copy of *New Fiction*, and flipped through a few pages.

"Sugihara, as a bookstore employee, you should know what makes a magazine a bestseller."

Sugihara Aisa replied hesitantly: "It's the content, right?"

"Then let me ask you, besides the series serialized by Akiwara Yuto, do you think there are any other columns in there that can attract readers?"

Sugihara Aisa was momentarily speechless; she admitted that what the manager said had some merit.

After all, even she herself mainly read Akiwara's work each time, only flipping through the other content casually.

But she still felt that as long as Akiwara continued to serialize content in *New Fiction*, it would still attract enough customers.

She was silent for a moment, then raised her head and said with a firm tone: "Manager, I understand what you mean. But I still believe that Akiwara's work is enough to drive *New Fiction* to further success. This is my intuition as both a staff member and a fan."

The manager smiled helplessly; he hadn't expected Sugihara Aisa to be so insistent on her own ideas.

But Sugihara Aisa was, after all, the administrator for literary books, and if he were to rashly interfere with her work, it would inevitably lead other staff to think there was a problem with her performance.

He thought about it and gave up on further persuasion.

However, he did not believe in Sugihara Aisa's intuition; he thought the previous reprints of *New Fiction* were undoubtedly due to a series of coincidences and had a high degree of randomness.

Moreover, he had read the previous content and admitted it was well-written, but from the bottom of his heart, he did not believe the author could produce articles of the same level every week.

Seeing that the manager did not respond directly, Sugihara Aisa felt a bit uneasy, wondering if she had said the wrong thing, but she had no regrets—these words were her heartfelt thoughts.

She pondered for a moment, then picked up a copy of *New Fiction* and flipped to the column serialized by Akiwara Yuto, preparing to persuade the manager further. At this moment, a gentle female voice sounded in her ear.

"Excuse me, is the new issue of *New Fiction* on sale here?"

The manager reacted first, realizing now was not the time for conversation, so he bowed slightly, signaling for Sugihara Aisa to assist the customer. Sugihara Aisa also turned around immediately, preparing to put on a professional smile.

But when she saw the person who had arrived, she couldn't help but be stunned.

The person was about 20 years old, tall, with delicate features and standard long, straight black hair, looking exactly like a heroine from a shojo manga, possessing an air like a flower on a high peak.

But for some reason, before seeing the person's face, when she heard the voice, she had subconsciously thought this customer was a bit ditsy.

She was a bit confused, but knowing this wasn't the time to think about it, she immediately smiled, bowed, and greeted the customer in one fluid motion, then presented the magazine in her hand: "Hello, customer. This is the latest issue of *New Fiction*."

Seeing that Sugihara Aisa had found the book she wanted so quickly, the beautiful customer immediately expressed her thanks, then took the magazine and glanced at it.

This customer was none other than Ikawa Akemi. Her purpose for coming today was to purchase *New Fiction* and bring it for the members of the drama club to read.

During this time, all the members of the drama club had been constantly rehearsing the stage play *Seven Rooms*, but the instructor believed that besides the script, the actors should try to understand the creator's inner intentions from other aspects.

Under these circumstances, Akiwara Yuto's other works became the best choice.

She looked down at the magazine and discovered that the cover this time had changed significantly from before—a black-styled page with the three letters ZOO written in red, looking somewhat creepy.

Next to this title was the name "Akiwara Yuto," but in a much lighter color.

In the bottom left corner of the cover were several much smaller book titles and authors, one of which read: "*The Searching Footsteps* — Kadowaki Yuma."

She was just an ordinary reader and didn't know about the series of events that had occurred in the editorial department, so she just marveled at it; after all, the previous two times she bought the book, the cover had still been marked with *The Searching Footsteps*.

Thinking that Akiwara Yuto's work would be performed by their drama club, she felt a momentary sense of shared joy.

Sugihara Aisa saw Ikawa Akemi's expression changing back and forth and felt a bit puzzled, but felt it was rude to interrupt. The manager, standing to the side, took the initiative to speak: "Customer, is there anything else we can help you with?"

He suspected this customer was a fan of Akiwara Yuto; in fact, he had encountered some before.

However, he believed that the enthusiasm of fans was limited, and their purchasing power could not compare to those readers who truly loved books, so he did not place much importance on it.

Hearing the manager's words, Ikawa Akemi realized she had been dazed, so she snapped back to reality and said in an embarrassed tone: "Hello, I would also like to order 50 copies of *New Fiction*. Also, can your store take long-term orders? I would like to..."

She was preparing to follow the instructor's requirements and order *New Fiction* long-term. Because of the upcoming school festival, the school authorities placed great importance on the drama club and had provided a significant amount of funding.

Hearing this request, Sugihara Aisa excitedly clenched her small fists. The manager was stunned, finding it hard to believe.

He had just claimed that this book wouldn't sell well, and yet someone immediately wanted to buy a large quantity and place a long-term order, taking away half of his stock in one go...

He glanced out of the corner of his eye at the "Staff Recommendation" flag still stuck in the *New Fiction* display, and for a moment, he didn't know what to say.