Chapter 97: Ready to Go

Time passed quickly, and two weeks went by in a flash. With the preparations of everyone at Anjiu Bookstore, all tasks for *The Devotion of Suspect X* were proceeding in an orderly manner.

The initial proofreading was completed by Anjiu Tsuyoshi, and then handed over to Satake Maki and others for the second and third rounds of proofreading. Aside from direct corrections to textual errors, Akiwara Yuto handled the revisions for other unsuitable parts.

After coordinating with Miyagi Fumie regarding the cover proposal, a black-based design was selected. The designs for the front cover, back cover, spine, inserts, and obi strip were finalized to ensure the overall color scheme of the book remained consistent.

Printing was handled by Nishijima Sota, who coordinated with the plate-making factory, the printing plant, and the logistics warehouse to ensure that the 30,000 copies could circulate smoothly in the publishing market.

As for the sales and promotional plan, only a draft had been made so far, but the preliminary plan was to offer slightly better margins to bookstores on the book's list price, in addition to dealing with distributors and bookmarks, to increase the average profit for bookstores selling the books.

Besides this, there were plans to send personnel to lobby, ensuring that bookstores would increase displays on posters and exhibition stands.

However, personnel were scarce after all; even if special staff were arranged for promotions, the effect on total sales might be limited.

Anjiu Bookstore, second-floor office.

Satake Maki handed a book to Akiwara Yuto. "Akiwara-sensei, this is the sample copy of *The Devotion of Suspect X*. Please take a careful look. If there are no other issues, it will be submitted to the printing plant afterward to begin large-scale printing."

Akiwara Yuto took the book, laid it flat on the table, and began to examine it carefully.

Aside from the reading trial, other work was now mostly complete. The next step was to push this book to the market and obtain a sum of capital to resolve his current predicament of being short on money.

He felt a bit emotional inside; he had experienced many setbacks to get to this point. From failing to win an award to learning the truth, from leaving Mantan Publishing to deciding to self-publish, from financial frustration to convincing Anjiu Tsuyoshi...

While thinking, he carefully checked every design element of this sample copy to ensure there were no errors or omissions.

After all, once large-scale printing began, there would not be much room for changes.

From the cover to the copy, from the inserts to the obi strip, he checked them all carefully and found no problems.

Seeing that Akiwara Yuto still seemed a bit worried, Satake Maki took the initiative to say, "Akiwara-sensei, I have checked all the details several times. As for potential typos in the text, I carefully reviewed it again last night."

Hearing these words, Akiwara Yuto looked up at her.

After all, it hadn't been long since she received the sample copy; reviewing it carefully would take quite a lot of time.

Sure enough, on Satake Maki's face, one could faintly see significant dark circles.

Akiwara Yuto sighed inwardly, but didn't show it on the surface, only saying, "Editor Satake, thank you for your hard work."

"Hehe, it's part of the job, no trouble at all." Satake Maki waved her hand, then, as if thinking of something, said, "Akiwara-sensei, it's lunchtime."

"I'm not hungry yet."

"That won't do. Only with good health can you continue to work well," Satake Maki shook her head and said stubbornly.

Are you a nagging mother? Akiwara Yuto nodded helplessly, then took the bento box handed over by the other party.

Seeing Akiwara Yuto take it, Satake Maki revealed a happy smile, said "I'll come to get the bento box later," and left while stepping on the "creaking" stairs.

Akiwara Yuto put the sample copy on the side and opened the bento box.

In this bento, half was rice, and the other half consisted of chicken wings, cherry tomatoes, octopus sausages, shrimp, and greens. These ingredients were even used to deliberately form a cat pattern.

Akiwara Yuto felt like complaining; he wasn't a child, was it necessary to arrange such a cute shape like a children's bento?

However, he still started eating. To be honest, although the dishes looked simple, the taste was quite good...

While eating, he began to think.

During this time, in addition to completing the signing work arranged for him by Anjiu Bookstore, he had also made several trips to internet cafes and libraries in Chiyoda Ward, collecting public data and contact information for many media outlets on the market, including newspapers, television, and radio.

There was naturally a reason for him to obtain this information.

After all, judging from the experience of *New Novel* being a bestseller, even if a book is written well, it needs to be known by readers. Otherwise, it often ends up being critically acclaimed but not commercially successful, and it's not even excluded that it might only be noticed by book reviewers long after.

One must know that although *New Novel* had poor sales back then, it still had a mere 30,000 copies. Under the halo of being a member of Mantan Publishing, it would still be noticed by some book reviewers.

But for Anjiu Bookstore, the scale was limited after all, and most of the books published were mainly practical life guides, so it didn't have much influence among literary critics, that is, book reviewers.

But if that were the case, it would very likely be ignored by book reviewers, thereby affecting the sales of the 30,000-copy first edition.

According to the agreement he had previously signed with Anjiu Bookstore, if the sales of the first edition were poor, the copyright of *The Devotion of Suspect X* would be mortgaged.

At that stage, he would only be able to go and ask Seto-sensei for help to redeem this copyright.

Akiwara Yuto finished his meal quickly, put the bento box away, and took out a piece of paper from the drawer to look at it. On this paper were the price lists corresponding to various media outlets.

In this price list, the most expensive costs were undoubtedly television programs. Even for programs on small local stations, the costs started at several million yen, and big TV stations went without saying; prime time might cost around 20 million yen.

Next were newspapers, where costs varied widely. Depending on the scale of the newspaper and the size of the layout, costs ranged from hundreds of thousands to tens of millions of yen, but the effect of book reviews also varied depending on the target audience.

Ranked last was radio, with costs averaging from one million to several million yen. But then again, besides drivers, how many people listen to this stuff long-term?

Akiwara Yuto pondered for a long time and found that, given the current situation, he could only consider promotion after the first edition of the books were sold.

After all, Anjiu Bookstore's funds were limited, and Anjiu Tsuyoshi's previous plan was mainly based on dealer channels and bookstores.

Money, money, it really is a good thing... Why did I think that having enough money was fine back then...

Forget it, forget it, let's see the effect of the reading trial; maybe it can sell a few more copies.

If he remembered correctly, according to what Satake said, tomorrow is the reading trial hosted by Anjiu Tsuyoshi, right?

Hopefully, those bookstore owners can recognize the charm of the book *The Devotion of Suspect X* and increase their orders!