Chapter 99: How many were sold?

Fujilong Zhi closed his eyes and began to think. According to his original plan, he only intended to order 50 copies, just as a gesture for the long-standing cooperation with Anjiu Bookstore.

He didn't have much confidence in the books from Anjiu Bookstore, especially since the other party had been doing self-publishing business for the past year, publishing a large number of low-quality books.

But after finishing this book called *The Devotion of Suspect X*, he found that the book published by Anjiu Bookstore this time was completely different from what he had imagined.

From the perspective of storytelling, the whole story gradually changed from the flatness at the beginning to ups and downs, making people feel thrilling while reading.

From the perspective of the subject matter, besides detective elements, this book also had love elements, which could attract some female readers while attracting detective readers.

Looking at it this way, just 50 copies might not be appropriate...

Then again, where did Anjiu Bookstore find this author?

Fujilong Zhi picked up the book, flipped to the cover again, saw the four characters "Akiwara Yuto" written under the title, and pondered carefully in his mind.

How strange, it seems I haven't seen books published by this author before? But looking at the writing style of this story, it doesn't seem like a newcomer.

Forget it, let's think about how many copies to order.

Fujilong Zhi opened his eyes, picked up the order form, and prepared to fill in 150 copies. In his view, this number was almost 3 times the original, and it would be enough to sell for a while.

Just as he was about to write, he subconsciously glanced at the man in casual clothes next to him with his peripheral vision and found that the other party had already filled out the order form and was preparing to raise his hand to call the staff to collect it.

Fujilong Zhi moved his eyes downward and saw the number "500" clearly written on the order form!

This made him subconsciously widen his eyes.

What the hell, does Yamazaki want to stock up on a batch of goods to sell for a whole year?!

Buying so many, not to mention capital turnover, even the warehouse inventory is a bit too much.

Fujilong Zhi decided to ask clearly. He turned his head, lowered his voice, and said to the man in casual clothes: "Yamazaki, are you planning to open a branch or expand your scale recently?"

The man in casual clothes was a bit confused by Fujilong Zhi's question, but still stopped his movements and replied: "No, why would you think that?"

"Then why do you want to order 500 copies? As far as I know, your bookshelf plus the exhibition stand can only hold 20 of the same book at the same time, right?"

The man in casual clothes shrugged and said with an indifferent expression: "I am optimistic about this book, that's all."

Fujilong Zhi didn't believe it and continued: "Don't fool me. To be honest, if you are really optimistic, you can just increase the order later."

"Alright, alright, I admit it. I am purely because of the author of this work, Akiwara Yuto."

"Who is he? Why haven't I heard of him?" Fujilong Zhi showed a suspicious expression.

The man in casual clothes replied: "The other party is a contracted writer for *New Novel* and has serialized a series of works on it before."

Hearing this explanation, Fujilong Zhi's doubts grew even larger.

Isn't *New Novel* under Mantanshe? It seems that its sales exploded for a period of time before, attracting the attention of many people in the industry.

Since that's the case, why didn't this writer named Akiwara Yuto publish the standalone volume directly through Mantanshe, but instead chose to cooperate with Anjiu Bookstore? Isn't this losing more than gaining, and not worth the loss!?

Fujilong Zhi thought for a while and decided to persuade his friend.

"Yamazaki, even if this teacher Akiwara is a writer who has already debuted and has serialized in *New Novel*, it's not worth..."

"No, it's very worth it." The man in casual clothes shook his head. Seeing Fujilong Zhi still in doubt, he explained it carefully.

After hearing this, Fujilong Zhi found that the experience of this writer named Akiwara Yuto was even more exaggerated than he had thought.

After debuting in *New Novel*, the other party successfully released a series of works, helping *New Novel*'s sales go from 30,000 copies to 200,000 copies; the works under his name were announced to be adapted into movies by relevant film and television companies, and were even reported by television stations.

Because of his works, he even had a certain degree of fame in the literary world and was even evaluated by some book reviewers as a "thriller-type genius."

Fujilong Zhi was even more confused?

How much did Anjiu Bookstore pay to find such a writer, or was there some conflict between Mantanshe and Akiwara Yuto?

While he was confused, the man in casual clothes raised his hand to signal the staff to come and take the order form. Fujilong Zhi could only put aside his thinking, picked up his pen, struggled for a while, and then wrote a number on the order form—500 copies.

Forget it, let's buy more first. In case this work becomes a bestseller, it might be too late to restock...

After Fujilong Zhi submitted the order form, other bookstore operators also submitted their order forms, and this trial reading session was officially declared over.

Anjiu Jin Gangyi took Satake Maki and others, bowing and thanking and saying goodbye to everyone at the scene. All attendees also left the venue one after another.

When only the employees of Anjiu Bookstore were left at the scene, Satake Maki took a stack of documents and said: "President, should we count the specific number of books sold now?"

She was a bit happy in her heart. When she was collecting the order forms, she found that the specific numbers on many order forms were higher than she had imagined, which meant the effect of this trial reading session might be very good.

Anjiu Jin Gangyi didn't know her thoughts. He was still a bit worried, but after thinking about it, he decided to count all the order forms on the spot first.

He subconsciously swallowed his saliva, then nodded, and signaled Satake Maki to start counting.

Satake Maki received the instruction, walked to the hall, sat down, took out a piece of paper, and copied the data from the order forms onto the paper one by one, then started counting.

"Fujiben Bookstore, 500 copies."

"Jixia Bookstore, 450 copies."

"Nanqiu Bookstore, 200 copies..."

After about 10 minutes, she copied all the order quantities and added them up.

"President, I have finished counting." Satake Maki said.

"How many?" Anjiu Jin Gangyi was still a bit nervous. After all, the quantity of orders was related to the future business direction of Anjiu Bookstore, and it was hard for him to set his mind at ease.

"Only..." Satake Maki slowed down her speaking speed.

Hearing this word, Anjiu Jin Gangyi had a bad feeling in his heart. Just as he was preparing to receive the bad news, he heard Satake Maki say: "6,700 copies."

Anjiu Jin Gangyi was worried, but didn't expect to hear this number. He looked at Satake Maki and found that the latter laughed out loud, and immediately understood that he had been teased.

However, he didn't have much thought of criticizing her. After all, Anjiu Bookstore only had 5 employees, and everyone's relationship was quite harmonious, so it was normal to joke around occasionally.

Moreover, his mind wasn't on this right now.

To be honest, his mood was even a bit excited right now!

6,700 copies, this number was even higher than the best data he had guessed, meaning that one-fifth of the first edition of 30,000 copies could be sold through this trial reading session.

It was simply incredible! Or rather, too amazing!

Thinking of this, Anjiu Jin Gangyi made a decision in his heart.

Teacher Akiwara, let's work hard together and make this work a bestseller! ===== CHAPTER 100 =====