Chapter 99: How Many Were Sold?

Fuji Takashi closed his eyes and began to think. According to his original plan, he only intended to order 50 copies, purely out of consideration for his long-standing cooperation with Anjiu Bookstore.

He did not have much confidence in the books from Anjiu Bookstore, especially since the other party had been focusing on self-publishing services for the past year, releasing a large number of low-quality books.

However, after finishing this book titled *The Devotion of Suspect X*, he discovered that the book released by Anjiu Bookstore this time was completely different from what he had imagined.

In terms of storytelling, the entire narrative evolved from a plain beginning into something increasingly dramatic, making one feel thrilled while reading it.

In terms of subject matter, besides the mystery elements, this book also contained romantic elements, which could attract some female readers while simultaneously appealing to mystery fans.

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

Come to think of it, where did Anjiu Bookstore find this author?

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

How strange, it seems he hasn't seen any 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 just think about how many copies to order.

Fuji Takashi opened his eyes, picked up the order form, and prepared to fill in 150 copies. In his view, this number was nearly three times the original amount and would be enough to sell for a while.

Just as he was about to put pen to paper, he subconsciously glanced at the man in plain clothes next to him out of the corner of his eye and discovered that the other party had already filled out the order form and was preparing to raise his hand to call a staff member to collect it.

Fuji Takashi shifted his gaze 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 enough to sell for a whole year?!

Buying so many, not to mention capital turnover, even the warehouse inventory would be too much.

Fuji Takashi decided to ask for clarification. He turned his head toward the man in plain clothes and said in a lowered voice, "Yamazaki, are you planning to open a branch or expand your scale recently?"

The man in plain clothes was a bit confused by Fuji Takashi's question, but he still stopped what he was doing and replied, "No, why would you think that?"

"Then why are you ordering 500 copies? As far as I know, your bookshelves and display stands can only hold 20 copies of the same book at once, right?"

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

Fuji Takashi looked unconvinced and continued, "Don't fool me. Tell me the truth. If you are really optimistic about it, you can just increase the order later."

"Fine, fine. I admit it, I'm purely doing it because of the author of this work, Akiwara Yuto."

"Who is he? Why haven't I heard of him?" Fuji Takashi revealed a suspicious expression.

The man in plain clothes replied, "He is a contracted writer for *New Fiction* and has previously serialized a series of works there."

Upon hearing this explanation, Fuji Takashi's doubts grew even stronger.

Isn't *New Fiction* under the Mantan Agency? It seems its sales exploded for a period of time before, attracting a lot of attention in the industry.

If that's the case, why didn't this writer named Akiwara Yuto release his standalone book directly through Mantan Agency instead of cooperating with Anjiu Bookstore? Isn't this penny-wise and pound-foolish, doing more harm than good!?

Fuji Takashi thought for a moment and decided to persuade his friend.

"Yamazaki, even if this Teacher Akiwara is an already debuted writer and has had serializations in *New Fiction*, it's still not worth..."

"No, it is very worth it." The man in plain clothes shook his head. Seeing that Fuji Takashi was still confused, he explained it in detail.

After hearing it, Fuji Takashi discovered that the experience of this writer named Akiwara Yuto was even more exaggerated than he had thought.

After debuting in *New Fiction*, he successfully released a series of works, helping the sales of *New Fiction* go from 30,000 to 200,000 copies; his works under that banner were announced for film adaptation by relevant film and television companies, and were even reported on by television stations.

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

Fuji Takashi was even more confused.

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

While he was puzzled, the man in plain clothes raised his hand to signal a staff member to come and take the order form. Fuji Takashi could only stop thinking, pick up his pen, struggle for a moment, and then write a number on the order form—500 copies.

Forget it, let's just buy more first. In case this work becomes a big hit, there might not be enough time to restock...

After Fuji Takashi submitted his order form, other bookstore operators also submitted theirs, and this reading session was officially declared over.

Anjiu Gangyi, along with Satake Maki and others, bowed and thanked everyone at the venue while saying goodbye. All attendees also left the venue one after another.

When only the staff of Anjiu Bookstore remained at the venue, Satake Maki held a stack of receipts and said, "President, should we count the specific number of books sold now?"

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

Anjiu Gangyi did not 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.

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

Upon receiving the instruction, Satake Maki walked to the hall, sat down, took out a piece of paper, copied the data from the order forms onto the paper one by one, and then tallied them up.

"Fuji Bookstore, 500 copies."

"Jixia Bookstore, 450 copies."

"Nanqiu Bookstore, 200 copies..."

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

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

"How many?" Anjiu Gangyi was still a bit nervous; after all, the volume 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 speech.

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

Anjiu Gangyi was worried and didn't expect to hear this number. He glanced at Satake Maki and found that she had laughed out loud, and immediately realized 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 crack a joke occasionally.

Moreover, his mind was not on that right now.

To be honest, he was even feeling a bit excited!

6,700 copies—this number was significantly higher than even his best guess, meaning that one-fifth of the 30,000 copies in the first printing could be sold off directly through this reading session.

It was simply incredible! Or rather, it was amazing!

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

Teacher Akiwara, let's work hard together and make this work a big hit!