Tokyo: The life of a literary giant begins with home self-defense!

Chapter 152: Haishi 2
The woman's fingers tapped on the table. On both sides of the long table were the editors-in-chief of various literary magazines.

"Group Portrait", "Modern Times", "Kotan Club".

The editor of Masaga Shirabe sat at the back, shielding his face with his hands, not daring to look at himself.

Takeda Shinki smiled coldly. She hung up the phone decisively yesterday, but now she has learned to play ostrich.

"Editors in chief of each magazine, please tell us about the sales figures for last month."

The executive lady didn't need to say a word as the assistant beside her helped her convey her meaning.

This was a topic that in the past had only to be reported to the next level leader, and the editor-in-chief sitting next to him kept wiping his sweat with a handkerchief.

Takeda Maki has been assigned by the Otowa Group to Kodansha to be in charge of business for many years. She is the most senior person except for the president who few people see.

They act decisively and make clean decisions. Everyone is afraid of being sent to Hokkaido to grow potatoes if they are not careful.

"Qun Xiang magazine sold 45.8 copies last month and published two books."

At this time, those who are engaged in pure literature are still the boldest.

Saito Asuka, the editor-in-chief of Gunzo, raised his glasses and said.

"There is almost no fluctuation compared to the same period last year, but the market for pure literature is not high right now. Thank you for your hard work, Editor-in-Chief Saito."

Takeda Shinki is not an unreasonable person. Although she has an attitude of asking me to kneel down and apologize if the sales are not good, she is still very gentle towards the women of the magazine whose sales are only in the middle and lower levels.

With Saito Asuka taking the lead, everyone started talking at once.

Kodansha is the largest comprehensive publishing house in the country, and its sales are also very exaggerated. Except for a few pure literary magazines, the sales of other magazines are also exaggerated. The sales of a certain boys' magazine comics have almost exceeded 150 million.

"It seems there's another editor-in-chief who hasn't mentioned it yet."

Takeda Shinki knocked on the table, and everyone who was reporting on their work shut up tactfully.

The topic of the meeting was the sluggish sales of "Masaga Shirabe", and anyone with a discerning eye knew that this was a meeting held by Managing Director Takeda targeting his own sister.

Managing Director Takeda looks almost identical to Editor-in-Chief Takeda, and everyone at Kodansha knows their relationship.

It’s just that the relationship between the two sisters doesn’t seem to be very good. One of them just dismissed the other from the position of editor-in-chief of Group 6 some time ago, and now she is targeting "Masaga Shirabe".

If they were not sisters, everyone would almost think that what they were seeing was workplace bullying.

The younger sister lowered her head timidly, while the older sister stared at her fiercely.

"Masaga Shirabe."

Takako Takeda gritted her teeth and opened the documents that Chiyo Tanabe prepared for her.

In the past, this kind of sales report did not include a haiku column at all. The saying "haiku is dead" is not just talk.

It is not as good as the predecessors and has no new ideas. Instead of reading magazines, it is better to read "Manyoshu" or the poetry collection of Matsuo Basho.

If pure literature is considered a niche, then haiku is even more of a niche within a niche.

"8900."

Mrs. Takeda covered her face with the documents and curled her toes tightly together.

"so little?"

Takeda Maki was shocked. She knew that the haiku column was not performing well, but she didn't expect it to be so bad.

Among a large number of publications with sales of tens or hundreds of millions, there is only one whose sales volume does not exceed four digits.

“Why, how to deal with it.”

I originally wanted to give my stupid sister a warning, but it seems that "Masaga Shirabe" is on the verge of being cancelled. Takeda Shinki frowned and put on a businesslike expression.

With sales of eight or nine thousand, I can’t even make back the money I spent on scheduling design and manual printing.

Seeing that no one intended to laugh at him, Yuya Shinoda, who was at odds with him, just looked at him with a gloating look.

Mrs. Takeda pointed out the three reasons why the haiku that Ryukawa Toru mentioned in the car yesterday was unpopular.

"The haiku masters are in power, and later generations have no chance to advance? An interesting statement." The editor-in-chief of Gunzo Saito Asuka nodded.

Ryukawa Toru's first point is that no author has studied haiku carefully, his second point is why readers are not interested, and no one has ever mentioned the third point that Matsuo Basho alone cut off the popularity of haiku.

Everyone has regarded the great poet who innovated haiku as a saint and ancestor, and no one has ever said that he is a stumbling block to the death of haiku.

But if you think about it carefully, it seems to be the case. Matsuo Basho standardized the use of haiku sentences and advocated standardization and seriousness.

As a result, many things could no longer be written after haiku entered the literary hall, and his poetic spirit almost dried up the haiku spring and autumn. There are more than a thousand haiku, and almost all of them are excellent works. It would be difficult for several generations to reach his level.

“Solution.”

Takeda Maki knocked on the table. She didn't care about the haiku situation. If there was no way to increase sales, this loss-making project should be stopped as soon as possible.

"I signed a collection of haiku poems two days ago. It was written by the owner of Dassai."

Mrs. Takeda turned around and rummaged around, intending to take out her collection of haiku poems, but when she found nothing, she realized that she hadn't brought it with her when she went out last night.

"Master Dassai?"

Saito Asuka, who was a literary figure and had previously worked as a haiku column editor, raised an eyebrow.

There are only a few people who write haiku now, and many of them have almost stopped writing. How could a Dassai owner suddenly appear?

"A collection? That's probably hundreds of songs?"

Yu Shinoda, who was sitting opposite his wife, smiled.

She felt that Mrs. Takeda had no professional ability except for her good looks. Writing ten haiku was enough to rack one's brains, and no one could write so many at once.

"I'm afraid Editor Takeda has met a scammer."

The woman had a 'can you do this?' smile on her face.

The wife took a deep breath. This man became more and more arrogant after taking her place.

The editors were talking about it, but Takeda Shinki only looked at the results.

"If sales don't improve after three months, you will go to Group 6 to learn as the editor-in-chief."

Group 6 has shown some improvement under the leadership of Yu Shinoda. Takeda Takako's eyes widened after hearing this.

Didn't I just not come home last night? Is it necessary to send myself to the enemy?

The lady gritted her teeth, feeling that her sister was even more hateful than Longchuan Che at this moment.

"That's the thing about the haiku column,"

Takeda Maki suddenly put on a serious face.

"What do you think about the group portrait award?"

All those present were editors, and they were among those with the widest connections in the literary world. When they heard the leader's question, their faces froze.

"Is there no way to get the Ministry of Education to withdraw from this? Or replace it with someone else?"

Saitori Tobito, who represented Kodansha on the jury panel this time, smiled bitterly, "There are a lot of doubts in the pages of major newspapers right now."

Choosing a young author as a judge is itself an incredible thing, let alone "Group Portrait", one of the five major newcomer awards.

There has been overwhelming discussion about whether the Group Portrait Award is rigorous this year, and Takeda Maki sighed.

"Let"

Takeda Shinki looked uncomfortable, as if she was unwilling to do it, but had to do it.

"Let the publicity department do some positive PR for Longchuan Tetsu."

"PR is just a temporary solution."

Saito Asuka shook his head. "Seniority is just seniority. This kind of media PR is unlikely to be effective."

Those who are being scolded now are all writers, the "geniuses" who think that they write well and that letting Ryuukawa Tetsu come may bury their own works.

They don't think that Ryukawa Toru is capable of telling them what to do, and many people even say that he is just good at some "niche literature" that is not accepted by the mainstream.

"Snow Country", "Hear the Wind Sing", "Golden Pavilion" and many people don't even know this work.

"that."

A group of people were discussing the possibility of having Ryukawa Toru withdraw from this group portrait award, and Takeda Takako frowned.

"What if he is also good at writing poetry and haiku?"

Haiku is almost at the top of the literary contempt chain, Mrs. Takeda asked in the editorial office.

(End of this chapter)