Chapter 85

Time passed quickly, and two weeks passed in a flash. Akiwara Yuto stood up, put the manuscript of "The Devotion of Suspect X" that had been written on the desk into the manuscript bag completely. The whole content was about 150,000 words, with a total of 375 pages.

During this time, in addition to writing manuscripts, Mantanshe's "New Novel" also sent a new male editor to ask when he could serialize new works.

For this request, Akiwara Yuto fobbed it off with the reason that he lacked inspiration.

The male editor didn't say anything either. After all, it is common for writers to lack inspiration, just asking Master Akiwara to contact him early if he has new works.

Akiwara Yuto nodded and agreed, and through side-tapping, he also learned some of the latest news about Mantanshe from the other party.

Because Kikuchi Tai was transferred, the new editor-in-chief of "New Novel" became Matsushima Kazuhiro, who was originally the deputy editor-in-chief.

Apart from this, the sales of the recent issues of "New Novel" have had a significant downward trend.

And at "Tokyo Literature," the rumors that made Takei Kohei troubled were still circulating between the editorial department and the distribution bureau, but it seemed that Kihara Daigo had spoken privately, requiring various departments not to discuss relevant content.

But the more this was the case, the more people believed in the authenticity of the rumors.

Akiwara Yuto sorted out his thoughts, changed into clothes for going out, and walked out with a file bag.

For himself, the most important thing at present is to execute his plan. As for Mantanshe, as long as he learns the latest information, he doesn't need to care too much.

After walking out the door, Akiwara Yuto first went to a law firm, spent some money to file his work, and then took the train to the publisher recommended by Imamura Yuto before, called "Anjiu Bookstore."

This publisher is located in JD Ward, Tokyo, and the location is relatively remote, which took him a lot of effort to find.

But after seeing the storefront of this publisher, Akiwara Yuto doubted himself. Is it really appropriate to find such a broken publisher to publish books?

This publisher called "Anjiu Bookstore" is located in a 2-story old building, which can be seen as a traditional single-family house renovation: the first floor is a bookstore open to the outside, where 3 children aged 8 or 9 are reading comics, and the second floor is a sealed house with a sign that says "Anjiu Bookstore" hanging on it.

Akiwara Yuto hesitated for a while, but still walked in. After all, he was already here, and leaving rashly would be a sunk cost.

And his budget was also limited, maybe such a publisher is more suitable for him.

He walked into the door of the bookstore, bypassed the children who were reading comic books, walked toward the inside, and soon saw a female clerk who was yawning, and asked: "Excuse me, I want to consult about publishing business, who is the relevant person in charge?"

The female clerk was still a little sleepy, but when she heard this, she cheered up and stood up to ask: "What business is it?"

Akiwara Yuto answered: "It's self-publishing."

Hearing his answer, the female clerk suddenly became excited, said "Please wait a moment," left her seat, ran up the stairs along the stairs "thump, thump, thump," and then the sound of knocking on the door came.

After a long while, following the footsteps, the female clerk and another middle-aged man wearing a loose suit appeared in front of Akiwara Yuto.

Seeing the visitor, Akiwara Yuto couldn't help but look at the other party. The visitor looked a bit "rich," the whole person looked a bit fat, and he was not tall, less than 1.7 meters.

Akiwara Yuto looked twice, then stepped forward and asked politely: "I want to consult about self-publishing, is this handled by you?"

Hearing this, the middle-aged man immediately bowed and responded with a smile: "I am Anjiu Jin Gangyi, the president of Anjiu Bookstore. This guest, if you want to understand the self-publishing business, why not go inside and sit down."

After saying this, he reached out and gestured, signaling Akiwara Yuto to go upstairs with him. Akiwara Yuto nodded, followed the other party, stepped on the "creaking" stairs, and walked to the office on the second floor.

After the two sat down, the female clerk also walked in, poured a cup of tea for each of them, and walked out.

Akiwara Yuto picked up the teacup, took a light sip, and continued the topic just now: "President Anjiu, my name is Akiwara Yuto. The purpose of coming today is to self-publish a book. Can you simply tell me about the relevant business of your publisher."

Although he was very polite, Akiwara Yuto was still a little suspicious of the ability of this publisher in his heart.

After all, he didn't expect that the unremarkable man in front of him was the president of the publisher, and looking all the way, there were basically no employees.

So he asked the other party to repeat the relevant business of the publisher, which was also a disguised test. If the other party spoke unclearly about this aspect, even if it was recommended by Imamura Yuto, he would turn around and leave directly.

Anjiu Jin Gangyi heard the name Akiwara Yuto and felt a bit familiar for a while, but he didn't care. After all, the most important thing now is to do the business well. With the current operating situation of the publisher, earning one more sum of money is one sum.

He took a sip of tea and began to talk one by one.

After 20 minutes, Akiwara Yuto had almost finished listening to everything the other party said and found that it was not much different from what he learned from Imamura Yuto.

However, he still didn't fully believe it, but asked politely: "President Anjiu, have others published books at your publisher at their own expense before? Can you show me a sample?"

Anjiu Jin Gangyi heard this request, and his expression became strange for a while. When Akiwara Yuto was puzzled about whether he had said the wrong thing, Anjiu Jin Gangyi added: "The books displayed in the bookstore downstairs are basically half of them."

Akiwara Yuto heard this content and couldn't help but complain in his heart. No wonder there were basically no other customers in the bookstore downstairs except children. It turned out to be a problem with the books.

However, he also felt relieved. He had just flipped through a lot of books and found that there was no problem with those books, at least he could guarantee the printing quality and so on.

Anjiu Jin Gangyi took a sip of tea and then asked: "Akiwara-san, how many words are in the work you want to publish, how big is the paper size, how many copies do you want to print, and do you have any requirements for the cover?"

"150,000 words, 32-open size, print 30,000 copies. In addition, for the cover..." Akiwara Yuto pondered and recalled "The Devotion of Suspect X" he had seen in his past life in the country, and said: "Just use the basic gray-black background color tone, and put the book title and author name on it."

Hearing the number "30,000 copies," Anjiu Jin Gangyi became excited. This is a big customer!

He immediately opened the drawer, took out a small calculator and began to press it, estimating while pressing. After a long time, he gave a quote.

"Akiwara-san, do you think the number 7.8 million yen is okay? It includes plate making, printing, and paper costs. If it's okay, I will have someone draft the contract here."

Akiwara Yuto agreed and asked to list the details of the costs. Although this cost was less than what Imamura Yuto told him, he didn't intend to sign the contract immediately.

He planned to wait until he got the other party's contract, then go to more publishers to see and make a comprehensive comparison, and then go to a law firm to see if there were any legal traps.

After all, after experiencing a series of encounters at Mantanshe, he now keeps an eye on everything he does, feeling that he must think twice before doing anything.

People should not be afraid of failure, but what they should be afraid of is not learning lessons from the same failure.

In short, he still has to run to the bank to consult about the copyright loan business—he plans to borrow 6 million yen. This money is not much, it shouldn't be difficult to borrow, right?