Tokyo life starting with painting

Chapter 239 The original author of "The Lonely Gourmet" visits the store

The novelizations of "Midnight Ring" and "The Winner is Right" mentioned by Koharu Hosokawa were naturally handed over to Urashima Publishing House for adaptation - such popular masterpieces will basically not be released for others to adapt.

Similarly, as mentioned before, Urashima Publishing is a large publishing house. It not only publishes comic magazines, but also publishes other magazines and printed materials, including science, education, academia, entertainment, etc., and novels are also published. Within this range.

In fact, in addition to the editorial department of the weekly "Abominable Chill" to which Hosokawa Koharu belongs, Urashima Publishing actually has other publications or editorial departments in the novel category, but the overall divisions are different and the work does not affect each other. Therefore, Higashino Si has never been to other separate editorial offices to see the situation.

Hosokawa Koharu is a little better than Higashinoji, but just a little better.

At most, Hosokawa Koharu can see other editorial editors and talk to them only during public dinners at the publishing house or at year-end summaries. Generally speaking, there is no communication.

This is actually something about factions in Urashima Publishing House. She is now the team leader, and she has to wait until she is the deputy editor before she can come into contact with this kind of thing.

Having said that, comics are changed back into novels. This kind of thing is actually relatively rare in the Japanese industry in 2004. Generally speaking, most well-known movies are changed into novels, or well-known TV series are changed into novels.

But it is rare to say that it is rare. For the most popular ones, like Higashinoji, adapting them into novels is not a problem at all - you must know that there are quite a few examples of later Japanese comics being adapted into novels (mostly light novels). It mainly depends on the readers. According to the market survey form, if there is a strong desire to adapt the data form into a novel version, then you can directly adapt it.

Higashinoji waited in the reception room for a while, and Hosokawa Koharu came in from the outside and brought him two editors from Urashima Publishing House.

One is named Koji Mita and wears glasses, and the other is named Motoyama Kazuji and is a tall and thin man.

Both of them were wearing professional suits and looked very smart and capable.

Among them, Koji Mita, who was wearing glasses, smiled at Higashinoji when he saw him and said, "Teacher Higashino, we have brought a questionnaire about the reader market. A large number of them want to read "The Ring" and "The Winner is Justice". "There is a strong desire to adapt it into a novel version, and Mr. Higashino is also a pillar author of our Urashima Publishing House, so our editorial department has some ideas of adapting it into a novel. This will be beneficial to both of us. I hope Mr. Higashino can think about it."

He placed the specific questionnaire in front of Higashinoji, and the tall and thin Motoyama Kazushi next to him also smiled: "It's basically no problem to leave this matter to us, Higashino-sensei, after all, this is our own adaptation, so it will definitely not work. I will let Mr. Higashino’s treatment go wrong.”

The two of them sang in harmony, obviously very experienced. To this, Higashinoji also smiled and nodded. He didn't answer for now, but just flipped through the data table, and then asked sideways: "Editor Hosokawa, I shouldn't need to provide this adaptation." Something like a manuscript, right? I don’t know anything about writing novels.”

At this time, you still have to make your words clear. Don’t sign, sign, and stamp it when the time comes, and it would be a bit of a joke to suddenly ask Higashino to bring out the original manuscript of the novel.

"Don't worry about this, Mr. Higashino. Editors Mita and Motoyama basically have ghostwriters in their editorial departments. All you need to do is provide the manga manuscript." Hosokawa Koharu explained from the sidelines.

Large Japanese publishing houses basically have ghostwriters. This is not news in the industry, and there is no need for Tonoji to polish or fill in the details himself.

"If that's the case, then there's no problem on my side." Higashinoji flipped through the reader questionnaire again before formally expressing his stance.

Seeing Higashinoji's official stance, Mita Koji and Motoyama Kazuji also breathed a sigh of relief.

The current works of Higashinoji are not as good as those of "Midnight Ring" when it first debuted. In addition to the two of them wanting to win this piece of performance fat, the editors in the same editorial department are also watching, and "Midnight Ring" and "Succession" The two works "The One Who Is Justice" themselves belong to the type that can be very exciting when adapted into novels. As long as they are adapted, there is a high probability that they will not be sold.

"Haha, let's talk about the royalty amount. Mr. Higashino, your work this time is a second publication, but we belong to the same publishing house, so after discussion, we decided to give you a 10.5% royalty payment. What do you think? Sample?"

This price can be considered quite reasonable. After all, Higashinoji's "Midnight Ring" and "The Winner is Justice" were serialized in "Cold" and were not published for the first time. Taking 10.5% is indeed very conscientious—— You must know that top authors in the Japanese industry only pay 15% of the royalties for their first publication.

As for the term royalty, I have mentioned it before. For example, if a single volume of the comic "Midnight Ring" costs 450 yen, then based on 10% of the comic royalty, Higashinoji can get 45 yen.

However, Hosokawa Koharu next to him lowered his head to think about it, and said with a smile: "There should be room for improvement. I remember that Mr. Suzuki Ha also adapted a novel before, and at that time he took 11% of the royalties and paid 10.5% according to Mr. Higashino. There’s a little less fame these days.”

Dig as much as she can. She has always regarded herself as a member of Higashikata's ship, and there is no loss in fighting for his interests.

"That time Suzukiha-sensei was a small-scale publisher. The total number of publications was only 8,000, which was very small. But Higashino-sensei is different this time. We want to first print 30,000 copies of both sides, and a total of 60,000 volumes will be tested in the market. water."

Mita Koji answered politely.

This is indeed a big deal. The first printing of 60,000 copies was a test. If it lost money, most of the money would have gone into Higashinoji's pocket.

In addition, novels themselves depend on their popularity and readership. In a sense, sales channels are more important than royalties.

For example, if Suzuki Ha published 8,000 volumes, her accumulated spread and number of readers would be much less than Higashino Tsuka who published 30,000 volumes.

And this is the first printing, so there may be the possibility of reprinting (additional printing) in the future.

But Koharu Hosokawa is still dissatisfied. She feels that based on Higashinoji's reputation, the royalties should be able to be increased a little more, and the other party must have left some room for a premium.

Just as Hosokawa Koharu expected, Mita Koharu did leave some space, but it was reserved for Higashinoji. He obviously did not expect that Hosokawa Koharu and Higashinoji had such a close relationship - the editor of the same publication actually took the initiative Ask for a high price.

This left him speechless.

But in the end he relented with a smile and agreed to Hosokawa Koharu's request for an increase in royalties.

Hosokawa Koharu was not as open-minded as a lion. He only secured 11% of the royalties and was stable. After all, the other party was willing to give him this face. He couldn't really hit the snake with a stick. He wouldn't even save face for the other party. In the future Maybe there will be cooperation.

Higashinoji couldn't get involved in the back-and-forth calculation, after all, it was outside his professional scope.

However, Higashinoji still understands the basic calculation of royalties. Based on the market price of a novel ranging from 1,500 yen to 3,000 yen, the lowest price is nearly 10 million yen, and the highest price is 20 million yen. It’s really easy to just lie down. Make money.

It has to be said that Japan’s paper media is indeed developed. After all, all the people here basically have the habit of reading and will read more or less books. While the paper media is developed, the royalties are also very high.

After sending Mita Koji and Motoyama Kazuji away, Hosokawa Koharu looked back at Higashinoji with a smile: "Teacher Higashino, congratulations."

This time, Higashinoji was able to make money while lying down, and the money came into his pocket for nothing, without spending any time on his own. Hosokawa Koharu was also quite envious.

If she hadn't really been unable to draw comics, she might have followed Higashinoji to learn how to draw comics. The speed at which she was making money was really exaggerated.

"No, I still have to thank Editor Hosokawa. Is Editor Hosokawa free next? I'll treat you to a meal." Higashinoji replied with a smile, and then asked a little strangely: "But how come Urashima Literature The editorial department suddenly asked me if I wanted to adapt it?"

"They haven't won any decent literary works recently. They don't have any high-quality works, so naturally they have your idea, Mr. Higashino."

Hosokawa Koharu sat down, took a sip of water, and explained.

Their "Abominable Cold" side is gradually regaining its glory, while the Urashima Literary Editorial Department is a bit sluggish. This year, it has let go of many award-winning works that should not have been let go.

In a sense, the novel versions of "Midnight Ring" and "The Winner Is Justice" belong to their editorial department to supplement their performance. Otherwise, there will be very few results this year. Wouldn't it be a joke to show them off?

But it's okay. Anyway, Tonoji can get such a large sum of money without any cooperation, which is pretty good.

and--

Hosokawa Koharu stretched out his hand: "Teacher Higashino, the biggest difference between your comics and other comics is that they are very useful whether they are adapted into novels or TV series."

This is true.

Whether it is horror and supernatural "Midnight Ring" or professional comic works such as "The Winner is Justice" and "Unnatural Death", it is much easier to adapt them into novels than hot-blooded comics, and the plots are also exciting enough. This is Higashikata has unique advantages.

Even Hosokawa Koharu can't figure out how Higashinoji came up with these plots. Some of them are not bad at all on TV.

"Let's not talk about eating for now." Hosokawa Koharu is indeed a little greedy. After all, every time the company has dinner, someone asks her the secret of success, so she has not had a good meal recently, but she also knows the seriousness of the matter, so she turns to Another thing I told Higashinoji: "Teacher Higashino, you should know about "The Lonely Gourmet" which will be released next quarter, right? The crew asked you if you could take some time to come out. They want to record one at the end of each episode. The little easter egg is the part where the original author personally visits the store."

When Hosokawa Koharu said these words, Higashinoji was quite surprised.

In the previous version of "The Lonely Gourmet", there was a small segment where the original author visited a restaurant for a meal, which was regarded as an advertisement for various corner restaurants - and at the same time tortured the stomachs of viewers who watched food programs late at night.

Should it be said to be fate or a hidden destiny? The "Lonely Gourmet" in this world actually invited him, the original author, to visit the store.

"This link can be deleted. If you don't have time, Mr. Higashino, I will reject them." Seeing Higashino thinking with his head down, Hosokawa Koharu thought he couldn't spare the time, so he took the initiative to speak.

After hearing what Hosokawa Koharu said, Tonoji raised his head in time and waved his hand: "No problem, I can go."

Could it still be called "The Lonely Gourmet" without the actual tasting session that tortures the audience's stomach?

Isn’t this soulless?

Higashinoji, who has been dedicated to torturing Japanese readers and audiences, just thought about it for a moment and said he wanted to go.

The TV series "The Lonely Gourmet" currently focuses on the streets of Tokyo, and can be filmed in several places in one day. The first season only has twelve episodes, and it basically takes five or six days to shoot the food tasting scenes—— After all, the author tortured the audience for only one or two minutes, and he tortured the audience for three minutes as a post-credits Easter egg. Higashino couldn't go that far.

"Really?" Hosokawa Koharu took another look at Higashinoji and joked a little funny: "Didn't Mr. Higashino say before that he would go to school to check on the situation? With such a busy situation, it seems a bit difficult to go to school."

Hosokawa Koharu's words touched Higashinoji's heart.

It's really a bit busy.

I originally planned to go to school tomorrow, but now it seems that I have to wait until at least next week.

But to be honest, Higashinoji is actually a little curious.

He actually chose a lot of original scenes to draw in the "Lonely Gourmet" comic, and the names of those restaurants have basically remained unchanged. If you are careful, you should be able to discover these details.

I wonder if the promotion I did in "The Lonely Gourmet" can help these corner stores regain their lives?

Touyesi groaned, feeling somewhat hopeful in his heart.

Generally speaking, the promotion of comics is definitely not as good as that of TV series, but no one knows unless you watch it.

On the other side, Hosokawa Koharu also nodded thoughtfully: "That's right, it doesn't matter if you go and see it. Maybe this work will win the Japanese Drama Academy Award?"

The Japanese Drama Academy Award is called the Japanese Drama Academy Award by the Japanese people. However, according to the voting and review habits in Japan, this award is not as authoritative as imagined. Okay, it's an award that I would feel embarrassed if I didn't get it.

"That's not what happened. Forget it. Editor Hosokawa, do you want to go to dinner?" Higashinoji packed up his things and stood up and asked.

Rather than choosing a perfect day, why not invite Editor Hosokawa to dine at the ‘Japanese food restaurant’ in the first episode of “The Lonely Gourmet”.

Higashinoji hasn’t passed for a long time——

I just happened to be able to take a look at the specific situation there, and I don’t know what it’s like now.

Go and have a look to get a feel for "The Lonely Gourmet".

Thanks to Wuyishi, April Flower Name, and Changli Kitten for their tips! Thank you so much!