Frost for a Thousand Years

Chapter 283 Earning Money from Quansheng'an

Song Shi'an put down the book and left.

It's not just ridiculously stylish.

And it's a bit 'stupid'.

Even if you don't write books for money, people are so difficult and belittle you from the very beginning, and you still let them make all the money.

Are you a saint?
The stall owner was quite puzzled. Just then, a man who exuded an air of wealth several times stronger than him and was also somewhat obese came down.

Upon seeing him, he asked, somewhat puzzled, "What's all the commotion about? What Great Sage?"

"Boss!" Upon seeing this, the stall owner hurriedly stepped forward, holding the book in his hands, and said excitedly, "I've struck it rich! I've found a book that will become a nationwide sensation!"

"Such high praise?" The owner was also taken aback, but he must have a reason for saying so, so he happily stretched out his hand, "Come, let me see."

The stall owner is essentially an editor and shop manager, collecting manuscripts while also selling books.

These are usually people with a high level of expertise in reading books and guidebooks. Several Yuewenge bookstores in Sheng'an have stall owners for them.

The owner of the entire Yuewen Pavilion is the boss of the entire Yuewen Pavilion.

He doesn't take responsibility for management; he's a pure businessman who invests and collects money.

Of course, it also possesses some literary aesthetics and cultural depth.

After all, a complete novice can never lead a team unless he can completely relinquish his responsibilities.

But if a boss gets involved in a completely unfamiliar area, he will inevitably start interfering.

The best kind of leader is one who possesses technical skills, delegates authority, and is generous with their resources.

"Journey to the West?" Upon seeing these three words, the landlord showed some surprise. "It's been a long time since I've encountered a book title like this."

"These past few months, we've mainly been receiving erotic novels," the stall owner said.

"You know yourself that only books like this sell well," the landlord reminded him. "There are indeed travelogue-style supernatural tales, but most of them are just imitations with new skins. How many of them are truly of high quality? It's better to write characters from 'The Strange Tales'."

Pure travelogue/supernatural tale [dislikes]
Travelogue/Strange Tales + Erotic Themes [Thumbs Up]
Travelogues, supernatural tales + fan fiction + erotic content [drooling]
"This book is quite different from those plagiarized, pretentious works by pedantic scholars," the stall owner said with great certainty. "This is far superior to 'The Strange Tale'."

"?!" The shopkeeper's eyes widened at these words. "The Strange Tales is a novel from many years ago. Even back then, when it was being printed everywhere, it still sold hundreds of thousands of copies. And now, we have nearly ten shops of all sizes in Sizhou. If we had that kind of quality, one book could support us for several lifetimes."

"As long as there are no quality issues later on, we will definitely be able to surpass it," the stall owner firmly believed.

"You're not kidding, are you...?"

"Master, please sit down and watch."

He helped the boss back to his original seat and poured him tea.

The shopkeeper leaned back and opened the book. Then, he noticed the name: "Wu Cheng'en, is there anyone with the surname Wu?"

"It's probably a nickname."

In the beginning, people usually wrote books under their real names. But as culture flourished and became more grassroots, using pen names became the mainstream.

One reason is that their main profession was still taking the imperial examinations to become a scholar, and they wanted to cut ties with that profession after they succeeded.

Besides, who the hell would dare use their real name to eat dumplings in a book?

That's right, only children can do it.

And so, the boss picked up the book and started reading.

The first four lines of the poem were quite captivating to him, and he couldn't help but look up and say, "I've always felt that we've made quite a bit of money, but we can't always be selling those erotic books. Even if we earn a little less, it would be good to sell books with depth like these."

You can earn less, but the premise is that you have to earn something, and it can only be a little less than before.

"Yes, yes."

The stall owner understood that he meant these kinds of books weren't selling well right now and he wasn't very optimistic about their prospects. So, he didn't argue with him and let him continue reading.

And that opening is indeed quite appealing.

Even bosses with much lower readership read it.

A monkey popped out of a stone.

The birth of this monkey triggered a dramatic change in the world.

"Interesting, very interesting."

His preconceived notions gradually changed.

Then, continue reading below.

While seeking out the Bodhi Patriarch to become his disciple and practice magic, he gradually sat up, and his expression as he read became focused...

The stall owner understood his thinking.

Don't assume that people in ancient times had a rich culture and enjoyed a high standard of living.

To put it simply, people in ancient times had only two hobbies.

Green grass.

alcoholism.

Games like pitch-pot, flying flower order, and dancing are purely for drinking and drinking.

Playing it for fun is pointless.

Therefore, the emergence of the novel can be said to have single-handedly enriched the spiritual and cultural world of the entire ancient people.

This led to the development of "IP adaptations" such as storytelling, vernacular stories, and opera, which brought about the emergence of a true urban class.

However, it is still in its early stages.

The quality, quantity, and level of the goods are far from sufficient.

At this point, a work emerged that could achieve a "dimensional reduction attack".

The boss, who could still offer a few smiling comments at first, then became completely engrossed in reading. But after turning to the last page, he suddenly slapped his thigh in regret: "Oh dear, how could the Monkey King be suppressed by the Five Finger Mountain!"

See, that's how it is.

Anyone who watches it will get hooked and unable to pull themselves out.

"What's next?" the boss asked.

“That’s all.” “If there’s no more, then he’s a eunuch…” He stopped mid-sentence, realizing how offensive that was to the palace officials, but still asked with lingering interest, “Didn’t that person say when he would come to deliver the second part?”

"Look, he just dropped the book and left," the stall owner said.

"How's the money going?" he asked. "Around 30% is acceptable."

At worst, I'll just beat him up again later.

“That’s the problem, boss,” the stall owner said. “That guy said he wanted a 0.00% cut, and he’d give us this one for free.”

Upon hearing this, the landlord quickly understood, closed the book, and held it in his palm: "He's even more confident than you, convinced this book will be a bestseller."

"Even if this book sells well, he might try to raise the price of his next book and demand a 50% cut," the stall owner said. "But we still have ways to deal with that, don't we?"

Manually adjust the sales figures.

“You’re too young,” the owner said, pointing with his finger. “Anyone with eyes can tell this book isn’t finished yet; the story gets even more exciting later on. If it sells well, pirated copies will pop up and circulate all over the world.”

"Then, the people of Sheng'an and the surrounding areas of the royal domain will eagerly await the second part!" The stall owner finally understood.

He was simply using their platform as the largest bookseller to print the book and leverage their resources to quickly promote it, making everyone look forward to the second book.

The second book will be snapped up as soon as it's released.

"He'll definitely publish the second book, but not here... so maybe he'll open his own shop to sell it?"

The stall owner suddenly realized.

If that's the case, then Yuewenge will have no competitive advantage.

Because there is a cycle in which a book is published.

The moment a popular book is published, someone will pirate it.

Setting up the movable type printing plate, printing, and mounting takes at least seven or eight days.

On the one hand, Yuewenge books were not easy to steal; on the other hand, pirated books sold by small vendors in the private sector for only seven or eight coins each.

Even if they lower their price to the lowest possible level, selling for fifteen coins, they still won't be competitive.

Moreover, sometimes they print too many books, and the remaining books can't be sold. They have to sell them to small vendors at a low price, about three to five coins, to clear their inventory. They can't even keep the original cost.

There's no other way; I need to make money.

“If we open a shop to sell it, we won’t make a single penny.” The owner frowned slightly. “But if we sell it after it’s printed…”

"Even if we set the price at thirty coins, we'll only make seven or eight coins per book."

"Seven or eight coins? If it sells well, they might only give three or four!" the shopkeeper shrewdly remarked. He was probably thinking the same thing, after all, their shop was big.

"What should we do now?"

"There's no other way but to print them and sell them first. If they sell well, he'll see our capabilities and then we can cooperate with him in the future."

"How many do you want to print?" the stall owner asked.

After thinking for a moment, the shop owner said, "Twenty thousand copies. Send them directly to all the shops, including those in several nearby large counties. Sell them all before piracy becomes widespread!"

.........

Song Shi'an took the three dogs with him and went together to a family-run printing workshop in the south of the city.

It's basically a courtyard with a dozen or so people, regardless of age or gender, all of whom work in this industry.

"Young master, are you going to print a book?" a boy of about thirteen years old asked when he saw the two.

“Yes,” Song Shi’an said.

"Okay, please come with me!"

And so, he took Song Shi'an to a printing room.

Inside, a shirtless, burly man was engraving characters on a woodblock, working on a book with movable type.

Upon seeing Song Shi'an arrive, he slammed the book shut and yelled at his son, "You good-for-nothing! Didn't I tell you? No one is allowed to come in while I'm typesetting!"

"Father, I see that the young master is dressed very richly..." the son whispered.

"Shut up, how dare you talk back!" the burly man roared. "The boss paid for the original copy of the book to be kept here. If it leaks out and someone else prints it, what loss will the boss suffer? Is your worthless life worth it?"

Seeing his irritability, Song Shi'an smiled with satisfaction.

Furthermore, he deliberately withdrew from the area to avoid suspicion, saying, "I'll wait for you outside."

Seeing that he was so sensible, the burly man said nothing. After slapping his son on the head, he walked out and said to Song Shi'an, "Would you like to have your books printed, sir?"

"How many copies can you print in a month?" Song Shi'an asked.

"As long as we have enough paper, we can print as many copies as we want," he said confidently.

Actually, the most troublesome part is the layout step.

To typeset a book overnight, it usually takes about five or six people working together all night.

So the boss married several wives, had many sons, and even taught them to read so they could work.

Once the printing plate is ready, all that's left is to print it like crazy.

If we have enough paper, we can work overtime and produce nearly a thousand books in one night.

"So, how many copies did you print in your busiest month?" he asked.

He smiled and said rather proudly, "Twelve thousand books."

How much is one book?

"If you can really print this many, I'll give you the lowest price, five coins a book." He held up his hand, indicating five.

"Five coins a book, at most I can earn sixty thousand coins a month, which is sixty taels of silver..."

After doing the calculations, Song Shi'an said to San Gou beside him, "Give it to him."

"..." The burly man was completely dumbfounded, his hands trembling as he took the money. "Young master, what is this?"

"After this batch is printed, you are not allowed to accept orders from anyone else."

Quite casually, Song Shi'an said, "I'll buy your whole family's property for a month. Go on vacation."

(End of this chapter)