I am a literary giant in Europe

Chapter 572 Simon & Schuster Publishing Company
Hidden in the Lot Valley, 130 kilometers from Toulouse, lies a picturesque little mountain town.

Saint-Cirq-Lapopie.

This place is known as a hidden valley and is also hailed as one of the most beautiful villages in France.

On the cliffs of the valley, there is a villa with a red roof and white walls.

Indra Sinha lives here.

Prices in Saint-Cyr-Lapopier were not high, and coupled with the substantial inheritance left to him by his parents and the considerable wealth he had accumulated over two decades in the advertising industry, his first two books also brought him substantial profits.

Indra left Great Britain and moved here, living a life like a hermit.

But now, he angrily roared into the phone, "Jonathan, the brilliant idea you gave me has made me a laughingstock!"

In front of him was a newspaper.

There was a photo on the front page of Le Figaro's entertainment section.

In the photo, a man with very distinct Asian features is walking with several women.

The title is: Italy and France are at odds, and angels and witches are vying for a man's affections.

The angel is Emmanuelle Béart.

The witch is Monica Bellucci.

The newspaper reported in a mocking tone: Amos secretly met with Emmanuel and Monica while Mr. Sinha was hysterically ranting.

Two generations of French angels gathered in Toulouse, and Monica was outnumbered.

At the end, the editor jokingly wrote: Amos seems to have lost interest in French girls and turned his attention to Italy.

According to rumors, the newly appointed secretary of the Italian Chamber of Deputies, Mara Cani, who became famous for her nude scenes, spent New Year's Eve with Amos.

The editor says that perhaps French girls really can't compare to the hot Italian ladies.

Amos's affections shift to Italy, and France is about to fall out of favor...

The article concludes with a topless cover photo of Mara Carney for a men's magazine.

Mr. Indra Sinha, who appears three times in the text like a clown, fully demonstrates Indra's incompetence.

How could Sinha not be furious!
He's a Kshatriya emperor, yet he's being trampled on and humiliated like this by an Asian.

How could he possibly swallow this insult?
On the phone was Jonathan Karp, editor-in-chief of Pocket Publishing, a subsidiary of Simon & Schuster.

At this time, there is a six-hour time difference with New York time.

It's 9 a.m. in Lotte Valley, while it's 3 a.m. in New York.

Jonathan was woken up by Sinha and then given a harsh scolding, which made him very unhappy.

Sinha is one of Simon & Schuster's featured authors this year.

Very important!
But it's not that important.

So although Jonathan was annoyed, he managed to suppress his anger.

"Indra, what happened?"

he asked in a deep voice.

Indra angrily retorted, "You previously asked me to criticize that Chinese person in the media to attract public attention."

but……

You didn't contribute anything at all.

After I criticized that Chinese person, I was met with all sorts of ridicule, and the publisher has yet to speak up for me.

And then, in today's news, I was once again mocked by those damn French bitches, and this time it was in that chingchong gossip entertainment news. He's got women on both sides, while I've become the clown.

Jonathan frowned.

"What gossip news?"

"He was having a blast with three women: Emmanuelle Béart, Monica Bellucci, and Marion Cotillard, plus some whore from the Italian Chamber of Deputies. Everyone loved his scandals, but then they dragged me out to mock him."

Jonathan, the publisher needs to do something.

"What House bitch?"

Jonathan Karp was completely bewildered.

He knew that Liu Jin was doing well with female celebrities in the entertainment industry.

But the House of Representatives?

Those are political figures. When did Amos get involved with political figures?

Besides, I asked you to mention Amos, not to criticize his work.

How dare you, an Indian, criticize his work?

That's a Pulitzer Prize winner!

Who do you think you are?
Without Simon & Schuster, you wouldn't even get a Booker Prize nomination.

But he couldn't say these things.

"Indra, don't panic, let me figure out what happened."

As for being ridiculed, that's nothing. Let me give you some good news: your book, *The People of Animals*, is selling very well. The publisher has decided to reprint it, increasing the print run by 200,000 copies. You're going to break records!

The first printing of Sinha's book was 100,000 copies.

Sales are actually pretty good!

Especially after he attacked Liu Jin, many people bought his works out of curiosity, wanting to see what he had written.

The additional printing of 200,000 copies is on a global scale.

Jonathan was well aware that the book's potential had reached its limit.

Damn HarperCollins, damn academic group, damn Random House, damn Hachette Publishing Group...

Why are they allowed to collaborate with a bestselling author like Amos?
However, he also needed to reassure Sinha.

Sure enough, Sinha's tone softened considerably after hearing about the additional printing of 200,000 copies.

“I know, Jonathan, you did your best.”

But I still hope the publisher can give me some public support, otherwise I'll become a laughing stock!

"sure!"

Jonathan gave a perfunctory reply, but his mind was no longer on Sinha.

He hung up the phone and turned on his computer to search.

Simon & Schuster publishers place great importance on the online aspect.

They were also the world's first publisher to launch an e-book.

So Jonathan easily found the latest gossip about Liu Jin.

It's at Toulouse Airport.

Emmanuel and Marion Cotillard hurried out of the airport.

Liu Jin and Monica got out of the car.

Then Liu Jin hugged and kissed Emmanuelle, and then hugged Marion Cotillard. The three tall women surrounded Liu Jin, and his smile was exceptionally bright.

If it were me, I could smile even brighter than him!
Jonathan opened another webpage.

then……

hiss!
He gasped.

The webpage features a topless photo of Mara Carney.

Even though Jonathan was over forty, he couldn't help but react when he saw that alluring face and that seductive figure.

This Chinese person is really eating well!

He couldn't help but sigh with envy.

People's enthusiasm for gossip is immeasurable!

Jonathan was searching online for Liu Jin's scandals and gossip when, before he knew it, dawn had broken.

So much so that when his wife woke up and saw his dark circles, she couldn't help but ask, "Jonathan, were you watching porn again in the middle of the night?"

"I'm working, working!"

Jonathan was furious.

He arrived at the company at nine o'clock in the morning.

Instead of going to the office, he went directly to Ms. Caroline Reddy, the CEO of Pocket Publishing.

"Reddy, we need to change our strategy."

"Hmm?" "I think we should try to persuade Amos again."

Caroline Reddy is currently the president of Pocket Publishing, but in two years she will officially take over as CEO of Simon & Schuster, which has achieved more than 18 percent profit growth for nineteen consecutive quarters from 2008 to 2020.

When she took over Simon & Schuster in 2008, the company was valued at $2.7 billion.

When Penguin Random House, a subsidiary of Bertelsmann Group, acquired Simon & Schuster Publishers 20 years ago, its market value exceeded eight billion US dollars.

Penguin Random House acquired a stake in the book for two billion dollars.

However, Caroline Reddy died of a sudden heart attack in 20, and the person who took over Simon & Schuster Publishing was none other than Jonathan Karp, who was standing right in front of her.

"Has Hachette already taken his new work?"

"But as far as I know, he has another work, a trilogy, an English version of the trilogy."

To date, Singer Publishers has not released any information regarding the publication of this series of books.

It's highly likely that the English-speaking partners for this series haven't been confirmed yet... Reddy, we're one of the top three publishers in North America. HarperCollins used to be our junior, but now they're almost surpassing us... And then there's The Scholars, who have a very stable position in the North American book market thanks to their relationship with the Department of Education.

J.K. Rowling is already the most outstanding among the three.

Now, with their collaborations with Amos on "Night at the Museum" and "Nemo," their market value increased by $1.2 billion last year.

Random House is the same… Although they had a falling out with Amos before, they are now working hard to repair their relationship. Think of Seneca, who was infamous when she jumped ship from Gibbs to Random House. But because she got access to Amos's work, she's now incredibly successful… We've already missed out on so much; we can't afford to miss this opportunity again.”

Caroline looked at Jonathan.

After about thirty seconds of silence, she made her decision.

Those blue eyes were fixed on Jonathan. "What do you plan to do?"

“When Sinha spoke to me in the early hours of the morning, he used the extremely insulting and discriminatory term ‘chingchong’ to refer to Mr. Amos. I think that was extremely inappropriate! Such a person should not be an author at Simon & Schuster.”

Since its founding in 1924, Simon & Schuster has upheld the principle of equality and resisted racial discrimination.

"His books sell quite well."

Jonathan laughed when he heard this.

"An author who can't even reach 500,000 copies sold is not worth our attention."

Amos, a bestselling author with at least two million copies sold, is, in my opinion, more valuable than Sinha.

"Then let's do as you say."

"it is good!"

"However, let's not make it too ugly... Simon & Schuster Publishing has always been committed to serving authors."

"I see!"

And just like that, in a few words, Indra Sinha's fate was decided.

……

Meanwhile, Liu Jin was at Lion Bay Wharf, inspecting the condition of his yacht.

He has a yacht driving license.

This exam is very difficult, but it depends on who is taking it.

For wealthy people, this is just a trinket; it's easy to get their hands on.

Liu Jin didn't even show up; Chloe obtained all his documents through the Manion law firm.

But for ordinary people, that's their means of making a living.

This made things exceptionally strict...

Liu Jin was already very familiar with his yacht, the 'Victor Hugo'.

He found a maintenance engineer at the dock and had him conduct a thorough inspection to confirm that there were no problems.

Then he called on Simmons Jr., the youngest son of the mayor of Gruysand, who was also Meera's cousin, to come aboard and begin cleaning.

In May, the sea breeze is refreshing.

Liu Jin and Simmons were both wearing only beach shorts and were cleaning the deck shirtless.

The sun was blazing, but not particularly hot.

Hmm, much better than Zhongzhou in 2025... It's only July and the temperature is 40 degrees Celsius every day. Going outside feels like being roasted alive.

"Amos, that's about it!"

After the deck was rinsed a second time, Simmons shouted.

This guy had a dark brown complexion, giving him an ancient, rugged look, and his muscles were extremely strong.

He was a soldier serving in the French Army.

I have my annual leave this year, so I'm going back to China to visit relatives...

As for which unit he served in and where he was stationed?
Liu Jin didn't bother to ask.

He volunteered to come and help, and Liu Jin warmly welcomed him.

This is a good laborer!

"Well, that's it!"

Liu Jin stretched and looked at the guy's wheat-colored skin with a hint of envy.

His skin is fair, and he can't get tanned no matter what.

Alizee even complained about him about this.

But there was nothing he could do!
"Rest for tomorrow and the day after, then set off the day after tomorrow."

"You're so carefree, I'm so envious."

"Haha, you can retire!"

"It's not that simple. I signed a fifteen-year contract, and I've only served for five years. I still have ten years to go."

"Volunteer soldiers?"

"Yes, technical troops."

"That's really awesome."

Liu Jin didn't ask any more questions; asking too many would only cause trouble.

"However, things will probably be better next year, and I'll be able to transfer back to China."

"where to?"

Liu Jin asked casually.

"Bonifacia".

"where is it?"

"Corsica."

"That's definitely much closer now, your father can rest assured."

"Haha, but I still want to be stationed overseas..."

"You're such a scoundrel."

Simmons laughed heartily.

Just then, an all-terrain off-road motorcycle approached from a distance.

Leslie Cheung, dressed in beach shorts, a brightly colored beach shirt, and a straw hat, sped over and stopped at the pier.

"Amos, why can't I get through to you on the phone?"

"Can't get through on the phone?"

Liu Jin was taken aback. He walked into the driver's seat, picked up the phone from the control panel, and glanced at it. There was indeed no signal.

There doesn't seem to be a base station in Lion Bay, so the signal is terrible.

This wasn't the first time Liu Jin had encountered this kind of problem!

"No phone signal, what's up?"

"Adjani is here. She said she wants to talk to you about the script."

"Um, I'll head over now."

As he spoke, he called out to Simmons and disembarked from the boat.

Before leaving, he exchanged a few more words with the dock management, and then he and Simmons each rode two all-terrain off-road motorcycles straight to the manor.

……

(End of this chapter)