After my divorce, I became a Tokyo literary giant

Chapter 64: October 10st, the sales war begins

For the rest of September, the entire Japanese literary world was undercurrent.

The war of words between the classical and reformist factions is still going on. Kodansha is taking advantage of the popularity to vigorously promote Yomiuri Okamoto. From online advertisements to offline posters in buses, subways and bookstores, the all-round and rogue publicity has made many people outside the circle know about it.

Most of Kodansha's internal resources were used for "Gunzo" and Yomiuri Okata.

Other publishing houses seemed to be deliberately avoiding his edge, asking their serialized novelists to postpone the publication of their works for one issue.

Tazaki Saku visited more than ten bookstores in Tokyo and found that all the major bookstores reserved the most prominent promotional positions for "Gunzo" and Yomiuri Okata, and only an inconspicuous corner was allocated to "Aoba", and there were almost no spontaneous additional resources given to "Aoba".

After all, Yomiuri Okamoto is one of the best-selling writers in today's literary world, and Kodansha is a leading publishing house. Which bookstore dares not give him face?

Looking at the other party's overwhelming posters, Tazaki Saku could only sigh how good it was to be rich.

Given Aobasha's current financial situation, it is unable to provide publicity and promotion resources.

Apart from relying on word of mouth to make a comeback, there is almost nothing that Maki Saionji can do to help.

But there is also good news.

A few days ago, some writers led by Takaki Ikezawa launched a round of intensive criticism against Mishima, but after the end of the month, it is estimated that Kodansha did not renew the contract, so those people did not find fault with Mishima anymore.

On the surface, they just cursed and left.

But in fact, after several rounds of public opinion fermentation, Mishima and his two novels have gained a certain degree of popularity, and the reputation is positive, which is completely different from the mainstream public opinion in the literary world.

Many people began to pay attention to Mishima and were looking forward to his new book.

In this situation, October 10st arrived quietly.

In the morning, as soon as the bookstore opened, groups of readers poured in.

Thanks to Kodansha's massive publicity and promotion, as well as the accumulation of Yomiuri Okata's own fans, most of the first batch of readers came for "Gunzo", hoping to be the first to see the finale of "Afterimage".

"Please give me the October issue of 'Gunzo'."

"OK, just a second……"

The bookshelf of "Group Portraits" with photos of Yomiuri Okamoto printed on it was sold out one after another, and it was as popular as when it first started last month.

Those who bought it went straight to the reading area, opened the magazine and started flipping through it.

After finishing the book, many people looked bewildered, as if they had read it and not read it at all, with no surprises or unexpected events at all. Isn't this just a rehash of Otaku's first book? Just another rehash of the same old story, with a different name and timeframe.

"How does it feel?" someone asked in a low voice.

"It's so lonely..."

"Isn't this just a way to make money?"

"I'm so sad. I won't trust this writer anymore..."

Such comments quickly spread from offline discussions to major literary forums.

Yomiuri Okamoto's reputation is plummeting...

At this time, he was still unaware of it and was enjoying the service of Hojo Aiko in an izakaya at noon on the 1st.

Suddenly, Editor-in-Chief Yamada called.

"Hello? Mr. Ototake, this is Yamada. Where are you now? Can you come over when you have time?"

Editor-in-Chief Yamada's voice sounded very impatient. Otaku Yomiuri's heart skipped a beat and he quickly asked, "I'm eating. What's wrong?"

"Things have changed..." Editor-in-Chief Yamada's voice trembled slightly, "There's a sales problem."

"What's the problem? Didn't we sell 20,000 copies in the first two hours?" Yomiuri Okamoto frowned.

Kodansha is very confident about this month's "Gunzo" and distributed 10 copies to major bookstores on the first day. The real-time sales data for the two hours at 9 o'clock and 10 o'clock also exceeded 2.

At this rate, we will definitely be able to sell 10 copies a day after the evening rush hour.

"The data at 9 and 10 o'clock was fine, but the data at 11 and 12 o'clock was abnormal..." Editor-in-Chief Yamada's voice became increasingly impatient on the phone. "I heard from the sales manager that sales are very poor..."

"How bad is it?" Okamoto Yomiuri was also confused.

The fact that 2 copies were sold in just two hours in the morning shows that readers’ expectations and his market appeal are still there.

It doesn't make sense that it can't be sold all of a sudden...

"11 copies were sold at 3000 o'clock, and the 12 o'clock copy hasn't come out yet, but based on the partial data that has been collected, it is estimated that there are less than 1000 copies..." When reporting this number, there was some fear in Editor-in-Chief Yamada's voice.

Hojo Aiko's face turned pale and she couldn't even hold the chopsticks.

I thought that after sacrificing my body, I would get a super bestseller like "Five Bodies Are Not Satisfied", but now it seems that on the first day the complete ending is released, "Afterimage" seems to be facing a sales slump...

Kodansha seems to be in trouble, and the situation on Aobasha's side is still unclear.

The atmosphere in the editorial and sales department offices was rather solemn, as everyone was paying close attention to the trends in major forums and real-time sales data.

When everyone saw that Yomiuri Okamoto's reputation took a sharp turn for the worse and he was criticized by the entire Internet, they couldn't help but laugh.

But when I saw that my own "Aoba" sold about 1 copies in one morning, I felt a little complicated.

To be honest, most people are very satisfied with this data.

If they could sell this much in August, the sales manager would probably have to slide on his knees.

But after seeing the sales figures of 9 copies in September, everyone's expectations have been much higher, hoping that this one can at least maintain the level of 20... But to reach the sales figure of 20, the first-day sales must be at least 20.

It’s only over 1 in the morning. Can 3 be sold in the afternoon and evening?

No one is very confident.

After reading "The Sheep Chasing", most people felt that the book had the potential to become a masterpiece and their expectations were high. Now, faced with the situation where sales are lower than expected, everyone is uneasy and feels like a failure.

"There's no reason why it can't be sold..." Yonekura Yukiho muttered softly, picked up her phone and kept sending messages to Tazaki Saku.

On the other side, Maki Saionji was also fidgeting in the office, pacing back and forth in the limited space.

The sound of those stiletto-heeled shoes kept echoing in Tazaki Saku's ears, making him a little annoyed.

Looking at the series of messages sent by Yukiho Yonekura, the last message was to ask her to come to the president's office, and then asked Maki Saionji to bring some sales materials, ready to give the two women a shot of reassurance.

Not long after, Yukiho Yonekura walked into the president's office.

She wore a long autumn coat and high-waisted jeans, looking very fashionable and attractive.

Waist-length hair, clear and calm eyes;
She has fair skin, a slim figure, and breasts that are neither too big nor too small, just the right size everywhere.

"President!" Yonekura Yukiho first looked at Saionji Maki. "Hmm~"

Saionji Maki, dressed in formal office lady attire, nodded in response, then lowered her head to search for a data report. After a moment, she handed a document to Tazaki Saku, "This is the sales data analysis for 'Aoba' last month."

"Okay, you sit down too." Tazaki Saku nodded.

The two women looked at each other and sat down across from each other at the desk.

One is noble and cold, the other is pure and elegant.

Yukiho Yonekura looked at Saku Tazaki and found that he was not panicked at all. She thought he was really calm.

If it were her, she would probably be speechless...

After all, this was a month with absolutely no hype and the film could only rely on Mishima's own fame.

Many people in the industry are watching.

If sales don't meet the target this month, those innovative new writers who want to sign with Aoba might hesitate again...

Under such heavy pressure, Tazaki Saku was not panicked at all. Just this mentality made the two women feel that he was not simple.

"Everyone seems a little worried about sales, and I can't tell everyone all the time, so if you two come in..." Tazaki Saku flipped open the file in his hand, his voice calm and composed, "Please don't worry, I'm very confident about sales."

Tazaki Saku pulled over a mobile whiteboard and quickly wrote some data on it.

"Here is a profile of readers who purchased 'Aoba' last month, including gender, age, occupation, region of residence, and purchase time..."

The division of labor in Japan's publishing industry is very systematic, with specific people responsible for each aspect.

Especially when it comes to data, the attitude is very rigorous, and all kinds of strange data will be collected and counted in detail.

This attitude of doing every little thing to the extreme is often jokingly called "XX Immortal", but it is precisely because of this professionalism and spirit that many companies can stand like evergreen trees.

"Over 70% of last month's copies of 'Aoba' were bought by students."

"Consumers under 20 years old account for half of the total."

"The top five cities in the country sold 18 books, nearly 5% of the total. Tokyo accounted for half of that, and of Tokyo's total sales, the five wards of Tokyo and New Taipei City accounted for 23% of the wards..."

"The peak sales period is between 4pm and 7pm..."

"The bookstores that sell the most books are concentrated in high-end business districts and neighborhoods..."

Listening to Tazaki Saku writing and reading, the two women had almost analyzed the reasons why the current sales did not meet expectations.

"You mean, it will swell up at night?" Saionji Maki frowned and looked over.

She had been president for ten years, so logically she should have been able to judge the current situation. However, this was the first time she had encountered such strange data, and for a moment she was unsure what the reason was...

"Tell us about it." Yukiho Yonekura looked at Saku Tazaki.

Normally she has the image of an icy beauty, and only in front of Tazaki Saku does she reveal her feminine side.

"The fundamental reason why morning sales fell short of expectations is that our largest target demographic is still in school." Tazaki Saku threw the report aside and told them in the simplest and most straightforward terms, "Judging from their age, it's clear that the main target audience for 'Pinball in 1973' is students. The surge in sales after 4 p.m. is the best proof of this."

Hearing this, both women nodded.

Japanese students usually finish school at 3:30 in the afternoon.

"From a sales perspective, the audience is concentrated in large cities, upscale business districts and neighborhoods, and most buyers are white-collar workers. Most of these people have relatively stable jobs and don't have time to buy books in the morning. Also, the book 'Sheep Chasing' has a deeper level of thought, and word-of-mouth conversion takes longer, so it hasn't immediately driven sales growth."

When saying these words, Tazaki Saku was very confident.

Haruki Murakami holds a significant place in the hearts of the petty bourgeoisie and young intellectuals. Young people in high school and college, and newly graduated white-collar workers are the largest audience. Even if not many are sold on the first day, as long as word of mouth spreads a little, it can trigger a wave of hot sales.

Especially now that we are in the Internet age, as long as word of mouth is good, some marketing will be able to go viral and boost sales again.

"I completely understand what you said." Maki Saionji said with a little shame.

Obviously, she was the president and she was the one who should have analyzed the situation calmly, but she didn't expect to be taught a lesson by Tazaki here.

It's also her fault that she hasn't signed this type of writer before...

Yonekura Yukiho also felt a sudden sense of enlightenment, and nodded gently and said, "I trust Taki's judgment."

"Well, I believe it too. From now on, I will ensure that "Aoba" will never be out of stock!" Maki Saionji promised.

To this, Tazaki Saku nodded in approval.

That's the benefit of being your own boss.

If it were a large publishing house, if the first-day sales did not meet expectations, they would have to consider reducing the printing volume.

This is Aobasha, and Tazaki Saku owns 30% of the shares. Even if there are any problems on the first day, Saionji Maki will have to stand firmly on his side.

Because of the master-servant agreement, even if there are disagreements, she has to take Tazaki as the master.

…Otherwise you’ll get spanked.

After calming the two down, Tazaki Saku sent Yonekura Yukiho back to the editorial department.

"I'm sorry to have you bothering to comfort me at this time..." Yonekura Yukiho smiled apologetically, raised her hand to smooth her hair, and looked very ladylike. "I'm really incompetent to cause you trouble at this time..."

As Tazaki Saku's editor, she lost her composure at the critical moment and had to ask her own author to help calm him down. This was really wrong.

"If I were you, I'd probably be even more panicked." Tazaki Saku smiled, waved his hand and said, "Go back to work. After get off work tonight, accompany me to a salon."

"What salon?"

"There are quite a few writers in the literary salon who want to sign us, and we need you to negotiate..."

"Mmmmm~"

"Also, dress up nicely and make me proud."

"Hmm~" Rice Snow Ho nodded vigorously, took two steps forward, and looked back, "Taki~"

"What?" Tazaki Saku looked at her.

"The book will definitely be a hot seller, right?"

"Of course!" Tazaki Saku replied with a bright smile.

Seeing this smile, Yukiho Yonekura felt warm in her heart. She felt that no matter how big the difficulties were, there would be no problem as long as he was there.

(End of this chapter)