Tokyo: Oreimo

"The program will be almost complete in about two weeks. After testing, it will be ready for large-scale CD burning."

How many copies are planned to be printed?

"As I mentioned before, due to the size of the game, we chose DVD as the medium. This is a new technology, and it is much more expensive than the old CDs."

Ryosuke had already started calculating the cost of burning the disc two months ago.

With the latest DVD technology, the price of a blank disc is around 1300 yen. LTC computer stores sell them. Phoenix Institute gave them a price, and they can round down the price if you order 1000 discs or more.

There's also the cost of burning services. Considering both time and equipment costs, he couldn't afford to buy a burner specifically for this, so he had to ask Phoenix Institute to find someone to provide burning services.

The price is 500 yen per transaction.

"So, including the game's packaging and card box, the cost is close to 2000 yen."

Ryosuke looked at the text message from Hououin on his phone, thought for a moment, and then began to edit the message.

"Let's burn about a thousand copies first."

"Is that all? You have so little confidence in your own work?"

Phoenix Inu Saori was quite surprised.

As the lead programmer, she knew all too well the quality of this game; it was absolutely top-tier.

With high-quality illustrations and almost full voiceovers, from a cost perspective alone, printing only a thousand sets would not recoup the investment.

"Currently, I only have 200 million yen left in my budget."

The figure Ryosuke gave was based on all the money he could come up with after deducting all outstanding debts.

This was after the third volume of Kino's Journey had been officially published and a round of royalties had been settled.

Considering that the CM exhibition is at the end of August, he should still be able to save up nearly two million yen, and the best-case scenario is an initial release of 2000 sets.

Make bricks without straw.

In short, it all boils down to two words: no money.

"How long would it take to package 1,000 blank DVDs?"

Ryosuke sent another text message.

"Well, why are you suddenly asking about this?"

"Burning a disc takes about 20 minutes. The burning service I used will take about 5 hours for 1,000 discs because they have enough burning equipment."

Ryosuke: "If we work overtime all night to burn the discs, how much will the cost increase?"

When Saori Hououin saw Ryosuke's reply, a look of realization dawned on her face.

She roughly knew what Ryosuke was planning to do.

"The CM exhibition lasts for three days. Are you planning to sell one batch and then immediately start burning the next batch?"

Chapter 54 Bonus

"Isn't this the only way? After all, CM officially doesn't allow pre-orders for production."

The essence of CM exhibitions is a doujinshi (fan-made comics) sales event, with a fixed sales model where the product-transaction must be completed on the spot.

Otherwise, Ryosuke's first consideration would be a model of collecting money before production.

In the future, there may even be crowdfunding models for development, but in the current era, commercial development has not progressed to that extent.

Phoenix Institute: "If we plan to use this method, we should be able to produce around 5,000 copies before the last day."

"If you include the starters, that's enough."

Ryosuke didn't intend to become fat overnight.

"What about pricing?"

"8000 yen per serving".

"The price is high. Aren't you worried about not being able to sell them? Or do you have an extra budget for advertising and pre-launch promotion?"

The question raised by Phoenix Academy hit the nail on the head.

They themselves recognized that the game's quality was correct, but the customers didn't know that there were countless booths at the CM exhibition. How could they stand out from the crowd?

You should know that those booths with long queues at conventions are either owned by well-known doujinshi artists or by groups with excellent previous works.

Even if an unknown small group is discovered like a treasure on the spot, it may already be the last day.

Even when reprinting, we have to ensure that it sells out on the first day.

Ryosuke: "Don't worry about that. The booth at the exhibition has already given us a definite answer, right?"

"That's right, it's located at C93 in the East Exhibition Hall, which can be described as a very remote corner."

That's how it is in small clubs. No matter how good your work is, your position is determined by lottery. If you're unlucky, you'll just be left to gather dust in a corner.

Unless it's a well-established, large organization, the organizers will consider giving it a more prominent position.

So what do you plan to do?

Ryosuke had already considered Phoenix Institute's question beforehand, as game promotion has a significant impact on game sales.

This is indeed a difficult problem in this era.

Unlike in my memory of later generations, the simplest way was to directly upload the demo to the Internet. However, even if it were possible with the current Internet technology, the requirements for the server would be quite high.

He can't afford that kind of expense right now.

"I will try to find a magazine to collaborate with, and if nothing unexpected happens, I will need your help then."

After sending the message, Ryosuke dialed Hayakawa Rumi's number.

......

As far as I can remember, Ryosuke used to buy some old magazines that came with a free CD.

These could be music CDs or demo versions of certain games.

This was also a common form of publicity during the era when print media was still thriving.

Of course, even if the gifts themselves are free, the magazine, as a promotional channel, will still charge a certain percentage of the cost.

Sitting in the conference room of the Kadokawa Building, Hayakawa Rumi brought him a cup of coffee.

"Mr. Shi Yuze, please wait a little longer. Editor Hattori has already contacted the distribution department."

"Thank you for your help."

Ryosuke nodded in acknowledgment.

I really deserve to thank them; I must say that my editor is a person with exceptionally strong execution skills.

I received a reply shortly after the phone conversation.

The distribution of magazine giveaways is not something the editors can control; it falls under the purview of the distribution department.

She asked Hattori Takuya to act as a go-between and successfully contacted the person in charge.

Hayakawa Rumi sat down in the seat next to him.

"I underestimated Shigaze-sensei's energy. He still has time to do other things while serializing novels and comics."

Ryosuke felt slightly embarrassed. Unlike the manga, since it didn't involve Kadokawa, he hadn't informed the editor beforehand.

"This will not affect the updates of Kino's Journey. The fifth volume finale will be completed soon."

"I didn't mean to urge Mr. Shi Yuze, I was just expressing my admiration for him."

Hayakawa Rumi responded quickly to Ryosuke's words.

Having experienced "Cardcaptor Sakura," she had no such intentions whatsoever; she was simply expressing admiration.

"Really? Sorry, I was overthinking it."

Ryosuke breathed a sigh of relief.

"However, barring any unforeseen circumstances, I should be releasing a new work in the second half of the year after Kino's Journey officially concludes. I'll have to ask editor Hayakawa for help then."

"Huh? Really?"

Hayakawa Rumi was pleasantly surprised.

Although she has started to discover works by new authors and is no longer solely responsible for "Kino's Journey," who would complain about having another good work on their plate?

With such excellent works preceding them, the new work can't possibly be too bad, right?

"Mm." Ryosuke nodded.

"I'll have to trouble editor Hayakawa then. I'm confident that the film will do much better than Kino's Journey."

"Leave it to me! I'll definitely do my best to make it happen!"

Hayakawa Rumi placed her hands on her chest and said earnestly.

...

It was already 2 PM when I walked out of the light novel editorial department.

With Hattori Takuya acting as a go-between, Hayakawa Rumi chiming in, and the publishing department colleagues being quite accommodating, they were willing to help Ryosuke promote the booklet, charging a 100 yen labor fee per issue.

The free gift must be sent to Kadokawa's distribution department at least two weeks before the week's issue is released.

Without the editorial connection, it would be difficult to even meet with the head of the distribution department.

"The CM exhibition is in August. If I start advertising in the magazine now, can it last for two months?"

If calculated on a weekly basis, it can be advertised a maximum of ten times with the publication.

"Given Kadokawa Magzine's circulation, it's impossible to achieve full coverage. Releasing only 500 free gifts at a time to maintain activity is the best option. Most importantly, we don't have that much advertising budget."

Ryosuke only had 200 million yen on hand. Although CD-ROMs are much cheaper than DVDs, perhaps only one-tenth the price of a single disc, the quantity still adds up to a considerable expense.

"Let's inform Phoenix Institute first, refine the demo further, burn it to CD as soon as possible, and start promoting it."

......

"So slow!"

After Ryosuke finished dealing with the publicity matters, he returned home and bumped into Ayano, who was wearing shorts, in the entrance hall.