Tokyo life starting with painting

A week passed by in a daze.

September 15th, after school in the afternoon at Beiyi Junior High School.

"Hurry up! Aoi! Today is the day when the single volume of Mr. Higashino's "Midnight Ring" is released!"

The girl with a ponytail carrying a shoulder bag said to the girl with glasses behind her.

"What are you so anxious about? Isn't it already at the bookstore? And you've finished reading "Midnight Ring" drawn by Higashino-san, right? Why do you still need to buy the single volume?" Fujiwara Aoi wiped the sweat from her face and asked the senior teacher in front of her. Yumi Hashi.

She didn't know what the publisher was thinking and why it chose to release the single volume of "The Ring" in the afternoon.

Logically speaking, shouldn't it be easier to collect data if it's released in the morning? If it goes on sale in the afternoon, wouldn’t it be in the evening to actually get the actual product?

"That's definitely different!" Yumi Takahashi turned her head confidently: "Single books are the main source of income for comic book authors. How can you support your family just by earning money from original manuscripts?"

She stretched out her hand and calculated carefully: "Just hiring an assistant during the serialization will cost at least 9,000 to 10,000 yen per day, and some assistants will also ask for food and accommodation, so I will support you if you can. A single book is not expensive.”

Fujiwara Aoi also nodded.

A single volume of manga in Japan is indeed not expensive. Urashima Publishing’s price is 400 yen, and Higashinoji can make a profit of 40 yen per volume.

Then she looked a little worriedly at the crowded student bookstore in front of her and the single copies of "The Ring" that were constantly being sold.

This is like the frenzy of clearing out warehouses at year-end discounts, which makes Fujiwara Aoi can't help but worry.

I really don’t know if they can get one when it’s their turn.

After waiting in line for about ten minutes, it was finally the turn of Aoi Fujiwara and Yumi Takahashi.

Takahashi Yumi had quick eyes and quick hands, and she immediately pulled out two separate volumes of "The Ring" from the few bookshelves. Fujiwara Aoi didn't say anything when she saw them.

After all, it’s only 400 yen, so it would be great if it could support Tonoji’s sales.

but--

"Don't forget Urashima Publishing House's new monthly magazine "Aoba". Didn't it say that Higashino-san has new comics in it?"

Fujiwara Aoi gave an instruction.

Yes, I don’t know what happened to Urashima Publishing House. They actually put the new monthly "Aoba" on sale in the afternoon together with "Midnight Ring". Readers who get these books will probably have to be free in the evening. Read it.

It is impossible for the editors of Urashima Publishing House to expect "Midnight Bell" to scare them again tonight.

Or are they counting on Higashino Tsukasa's new comic to scare them at night? This is also unlikely.

Higashino Tsukasa's new comic is a food comic, and they both know this.

How can a food comic achieve the same effect as "The Ring" at night?

"You don't have to tell me, Aoi, look at what this is." Yumi Takahashi took out another magazine from the paper bag.

That is "Aoba", a youth monthly manga magazine mainly produced by Urashima Publishing House.

The main groups it targets are young people, college students and newcomers to the workplace. Most of them are professional comics, such as doctors, lawyers, detectives, etc. Occasionally, there are also horror comics.

"good."

Seeing that her friend had gotten everything, Fujiwara Aoi took another look at the "Midnight Ring" release site, which was still hot.

I don’t know how much money Higashinoji will make this time. Anyway, looking at it, it will be no less.

At this time, Urashima Publishing House.

"How many copies of "The Ring" have been sold? Should the quick statistics be out?" A male editor asked another editor in a low voice.

"It seems that 20,000 copies have been sold, which is amazing. The total circulation is only 100,000 copies. I feel that "The Ring" will be reprinted."

The other editor was somewhat dumbfounded. He looked at the data several times and found that there were no errors before answering in shock.

‘Reprinting’ is what is known as printing by a printing house. If the sold comics are sold out in advance and the supply exceeds demand, the editorial department will send a request to the printing department for reprinting.

But the initial sales volume of the single volume of "The Ring" was already 100,000 copies. In just a few hours, 20,000 copies were sold. What would the statistics be if it were a week? The sales volume must exceed 100,000 copies in a week, right?

This is just the result of the first volume!

As long as Tonoji can stabilize the quality, the number of single volumes sold in subsequent volumes will basically only increase and will be difficult to reduce.

Just when the two editors were still surprised, a hoarse explanation voice came from behind: "The reprint of "The Ring" has basically been confirmed. The next reprint number should be 200,000 copies."

"Chief Editor Urashima?"

The two editors turned around and saw Chief Editor Urashima with heavy dark circles under his eyes.

In the past two days, Editor-in-Chief Urashima has been worrying a lot about the release dates of "Midnight Bell" and "Aoba".

For this reason, he deliberately chose the afternoon as the sales time, and communicated and negotiated with the company's superiors for a long time, until his throat became hoarse, and finally managed to get this afternoon sales time.

The purpose is to maximize the effects of "The Ring" and "The Lonely Gourmet"!

That's right!

Tonight, readers are not only accompanied by the spine-chilling Sadako, but also "The Lonely Gourmet" that makes people grit their teeth but can't put it down!

As for why Editor-in-Chief Urashima has to worry so much about "The Ring" and "The Lonely Gourmet"

That's because——

"This is indeed what Mr. Higashino and Editor Hosokawa deserve."

Editor-in-chief Urashima drank tea to soothe his throat and looked at Koharu Hosokawa, who was excitedly reporting the data on the single volume of "The Ring" to Higashinoji.

He couldn't help but shook his head.

The request to Higashinoji and Hosokawa Koharu to ‘satisfy all editors’ was not because he wanted to deliberately make things difficult.

But he didn't want to see a very promising horror comic author waste his time on gratuitous food comics.

But Higashino Tsukasa has proved with facts that he can indeed draw excellent food comics.

Now that Higashinoji has fulfilled his request, as the editor-in-chief, he will naturally strive for more for him in response to this young comic author.

So he went to great lengths to set up such a late-night stage for Higashinoji.

"It's rare for me to be enthusiastic."

Chief Editor Urashima took another sip of tea and touched his throat.

It takes a lot of time and energy to convince the old guys at the top to allow their own judgment.

But in the end he succeeded.

Because Editor-in-Chief Urashima believes that Higashinoji will be able to surprise him this time.

Whether it's "The Ring" or "The Lonely Gourmet"!