Chapter 42: Not Selling Well?!

"Sugihara, the new issue of *New Novel* has arrived, please organize it here."

"No problem, store manager."

Sugihara Aisa answered in a happy tone and took the stack of books tied together very actively.

The store manager looked at her a bit surprised, but left to arrange other people's work.

Sugihara Aisa didn't notice the store manager's eyes. She lowered her head, gently placed the stack of books in her arms on the ground, took a pair of scissors to cut the binding rope, and then took out about 10 copies and arranged them in the upper right corner of the sales display table.

Generally speaking, people think that the best position to display books on the sales display table is in the middle, because this position can make customers notice it at the first time no matter what.

But she has a different view. She thinks that the upper right corner is actually the best position, because most people are right-handed, so they often look to the right first.

She put the magazine in a good position, and at the same time inserted a small flag between the two stacks of *New Novel*, on which "Store Clerk Recommendation" was written.

After finishing the work of the sales display table, she placed other *New Novel* in the middle and high position of the bookshelf—if it is too high, you need to look up, and if it is too low, you need to squat down to see, this position is just right.

After finishing all this, it took about 20 minutes. At this time, the store manager arranged other people's work and walked over, seeing the small flag written with "Store Clerk Recommendation."

He was a bit hesitant to speak, but after thinking about it, he decided to persuade Sugihara Aisa.

"Sugihara, I think this issue of *New Novel* might not sell very well, you should consider it again."

Sugihara Aisa was a bit confused. She looked at the store manager suspiciously and found that he didn't seem to be joking, so she stopped the work in her hand.

"Store manager, didn't the first two issues reprint?"

From the data in July, the second issue of *New Novel* entered goods 2 times, and the third issue entered goods 3 times. According to this trend, the results of the fourth issue should also be good.

The store manager didn't answer directly, but walked up, picked up a copy of *New Novel*, and flipped through a few pages casually.

"Sugihara, as a bookstore staff member, you should know what can make a magazine sell well."

Sugihara Aisa answered hesitantly: "It's the content."

"Then I ask you, besides the series of articles serialized by Akiwara Yuto-sensei, do you think there are any other column articles that can attract readers?"

Sugihara Aisa was speechless for a while. She admitted that what the store manager said made some sense.

After all, even she herself mainly reads Akiwara-sensei's works every time, and just flips through other content.

But she still felt that as long as Akiwara-sensei is still serializing content in *New Novel*, it will still attract enough customers.

She was silent for a while, then raised her head and said with a firm tone: "Store manager, I understand what you mean. But I still believe that Akiwara-sensei's work is enough to drive *New Novel* to be further popular. This is my intuition as a clerk and also as a book fan."

The store manager smiled helplessly. He didn't expect Sugihara Aisa to be so persistent in her thoughts.

But Sugihara Aisa is the manager of literary books after all. If he rashly interferes with her work, it will inevitably make other clerks think that Sugihara Aisa's work has problems.

He thought about it and gave up further persuasion.

However, he didn't believe Sugihara Aisa's intuition. He believed that the multiple reprints of *New Novel* before were undoubtedly just because of a series of coincidences, with great randomness.

And he had also read the previous content. He admitted that although it was written well, he didn't believe from the bottom of his heart that the other party could create articles of the same level every week.

Seeing that the store manager didn't respond directly, Sugihara Aisa felt a bit uneasy, guessing whether she had said the wrong thing, but she didn't regret it. These words were her heartfelt thoughts.

She pondered for a while and picked up a copy of *New Novel*, turned to the column serialized by Akiwara Yuto, and prepared to further persuade the store manager. At this time, a gentle female voice sounded in her ear.

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

The store manager reacted first and found that it was not the time to talk, so he bowed slightly, signaling Sugihara Aisa to receive the guest. Sugihara Aisa also immediately turned around, preparing to put on a business-style smile.

But when she saw the visitor, she couldn't help but be amazed.

The other party was about 20 years old, with a tall figure, exquisite facial features, and a standard long black straight hairstyle, looking very much like the heroine in that kind of girl manga, with a high-cold flower-like temperament.

But I don't know why, before seeing the other party's face, when she heard the other party's voice, she subconsciously thought that this customer was a bit dull.

She was a bit confused, but knew that it was not the time to think about this, so she immediately smiled, bowed, and greeted in one go, and presented the magazine, "Hello, guest, this is the latest issue of *New Novel*."

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

This female customer was Ikawa Akemi. Her purpose today was to buy *New Novel* and bring it to the drama club for everyone to read.

During this period, all the club members of the drama club were constantly rehearsing around the stage play *Seven Rooms*, but the instructor believed that besides the script, the actors should experience the creator's inner intentions from other aspects.

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

She lowered her head and looked at the magazine, and found that the cover this time had become very different from before—a black-style page, with the three letters ZOO written in red on it, looking like it had a chilling feeling.

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

In the lower left corner of the cover were a few much smaller book titles and authors, one of which was written "*The Footsteps of Searching*—Kadowaki Yuzhen."

She was just an ordinary reader and didn't know about the series of things that happened in the editorial department, but she was a bit amazed. After all, when she bought the book for the first two times, this cover was still marked with *The Footsteps of Searching*.

Thinking that Akiwara Yuto's work would be performed by their drama club, for a moment, she had a bit of joy of sharing the same fate.

Sugihara Aisa saw Ikawa Akemi's expression changing back and forth, and felt a bit confused in her heart, but it was not easy to disturb. The store manager standing on the side took the initiative to speak: "This guest, is there anything else we can help you with?"

He suspected that this guest 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 was not as good as those readers who truly loved reading, so he didn't pay much attention to it.

Ikawa Akemi heard the store manager's words, and then realized that she was stunned, so she woke up and said with an embarrassed tone: "Hello, I also want to order 50 copies of *New Novel*. Also, can your store order books for a long time? I want to..."

She prepared to order *New Novel* for a long time according to the instructor's requirements. Because of this school festival, the school attached great importance to the drama club and provided a lot of funding.

Hearing this request, Sugihara Aisa excitedly clenched her small fist. The store manager was stunned and couldn't believe it.

He just claimed that this book would not sell well later, and as a result, someone immediately wanted to buy a large quantity and order it for a long time, and even bought half of the stock at once...

He looked at the "Store Clerk Recommendation" still inserted on *New Novel* with his peripheral vision, and didn't know what to say for a while. ===== CHAPTER 43 =====