Tokyo life starting with painting

"Editor Dalin, what do you think? With your help, Mr. Higashino should be willing to join our New Rock Building Publishing House, right?"

Facing the questions from his colleagues, Obayashi Yizheng could only laugh dryly and said apologetically:

"No, I'm sorry, Editor Nakatani, it's because I don't have the ability to bring Mr. Higashino over."

"Why?"

After listening to Obayashi Issei's words, the editor Nakatani who asked him next to him turned his head and was a little surprised.

"Our New Iwazuki Publishing House's comic magazine will definitely squeeze the sales of "Abominable", and Mr. Higashino's sales will definitely be squeezed by that time. Logically speaking, Mr. Higashino shouldn't take the initiative to join us. This way?"

Editor Zhongtani didn't expect something.

Now that the two publishing houses are merging, among other things, there is certainly no shortage of excellent authors. After all, the two publishing houses together must have many more leading authors than Urashima Publishing alone.

And excellent quality of works will inevitably lead to an increase in magazine sales.

As the sales of their magazine increase, the sales of "Abominable Chill" will inevitably be affected, and "Abominable Chill" will be affected, and of course Higashino Tsukasa's new works will also be affected.

But Higashikata remained unmoved by their invitation.

This is true

"Maybe Mr. Higashino is confident in the quality of his works." Obayashi Issei recalled Higashinoji's expression just now and answered subconsciously.

"This is not a matter of confidence in the quality of the work. Let me say something inappropriate. Even if Mr. Higashino's new work is really good-looking, the overall sales decline of "Cold" magazine will definitely still affect him. This has nothing to do with the quality of the work, it is simply a matter of the publisher’s background.”

Dalin Yizheng just nodded silently after hearing this.

yes.

This has nothing to do with the quality of the work. It's simply a matter of the publisher's background.

To use an inappropriate analogy, Higashino Sihara Sekai’s weekly magazine "JUMP" and Shogakukan joined forces——

Dare you imagine? "Detective Conan" and "Doraemon" are serialized in the same magazine as "Naruto", "One Piece" and "Dragon Ball".

This situation is simply a chaotic mess, and has nothing to do with the quality of comics published in other magazines.

It's simply a matter of competing for foundation.

After all, no matter how strong you are, can you compare to such a large group of excellent authors?

The number of excellent works alone can overwhelm your comic magazine.

Unless the quality of Higashinoji's works can really crush all the comics in their magazine.

But does Higashinoji have this ability?

Editor Nakatani finally understood why Obayashi Issei said that Higashinoji was confident.

If you didn't have confidence, you wouldn't make this choice.

"Teacher Higashino deserves to be the only ceiling in the Japanese comics industry today. If nothing else, just this kind of self-confidence can be said to be terrifying."

Editor Zhongtani sighed.

But confidence is confidence.

Editor Nakatani estimates that the situation will not change much by then - unless Higashinoji draws another comic with a dominance level similar to "Unnatural Death".

As for the fact that Obayashi Issei didn't bring Higashinoji over, the editor-in-chief probably wouldn't blame him.

After all, who knew that Higashinoji was so confident about his new work?

And if you can't pull Higashinoji over, it won't be considered a loss.

Compared with that, their editorial department, which has now doubled in size, should think carefully about the name of the new publication and the situation of the comic series.

Meanwhile, on the other side.

Higashinoji followed the address given by Osawa Aikichi and came to the front desk of the restaurant. Under the guidance of the waiter, he successfully met the other party in a private room.

But what surprised him a little was another person present—Editor-in-Chief Furuta Shinji of Fuji Publishing House.

Why is he here?

Logically speaking, shouldn’t Furuta Shinji be considered half the enemy of Urashima Publishing House?

After all, it was he who poached Suzuki Ha, the main author of "The Man Reflected in the Camera" from Urashima Publishing, which caused difficulties in the operation of Urashima Publishing's manga department later on.

but

Higashino raised his eyebrows subconsciously, then looked at Osawa Aikichi on the other side, and he probably knew what was going on.

"Hello, Teacher Higashino." Shinji Furuta stood up and reached out to shake hands with Higashino.

"Hello, Editor-in-Chief Gutian."

After shaking hands with Shinji Furuta, Higashinoji sat down under the greeting of Osawa Akiyoshi.

Higashinoji's face remained unchanged, while Furuta Shinji on the other side smiled: "I thought Higashino-sensei would be surprised that I'm here. I didn't expect Higashino-sensei to be so calm."

"It can't be said that he is calm." Higashi Yesi smiled sideways.

"Today, Iwakaku Publishing House and Mozhu Publishing House merged. I was actually thinking about what Urashima Publishing House would do. I didn't expect that President Osawa would actually think of joining forces with Fuji Publishing House."

Yes, the fact that Shinji Furuta is here must have been invited by Osawa Akiyoshi, and the reason why the other party invited Shinji Furuta, an 'outsider', must be to discuss the issues of the now merged Iwazhu Publishing House.

After all, the three major manga publishing houses like Urashima Publishing may not be able to withstand the squeeze from each other.

Not to mention Fuji Publishing, a comic publishing house that has risen in recent years.

By then, the comics department of their publishing house will probably be eaten up by Iwazhu Publishing House, and even the dregs will be left.

In other words, the current interests of Urashima Publishing and Fuji Publishing are the same.

"As expected of Mr. Higashino, being able to understand the situation so quickly also makes it easier for us to talk."

Osawa Aikichi nodded with a smile, took a sip of sake and continued cheerfully: "To be honest with Mr. Higashino, our two publishing houses actually have plans to merge."

Um?

As soon as Osawa Aikichi said these words, Higashinoji couldn't help but raise his eyebrows.

He expected that Osawa Akiyoshi would cooperate with Fuji Publishing House, but he did not expect that he would adopt the same method with Iwakaku and Mozhu Publishing House.

But this is too hasty, right? Mergers between publishing houses are not decided at the drop of a hat.

Seemingly understanding Higashinoji's thoughts, Shinji Furuta from Fuji Publishing House explained:

"Actually, we have more or less understood the trends of Yanjiao and Mozhu Publishing Houses a long time ago. Similarly, we have been discussing merger matters for a long time. It was probably last October. The two of us have The publisher has received the news."

When he said these words, Touyoshi couldn't help but sigh a little.

Should I say that he is worthy of being a veteran at the top of the publishing industry?

He actually had already guessed about today's situation and was ready to backhand.

Sure enough, few people who can reach this point are fools.

The kind of incompetent and furious villains in novels are quite rare to appear in reality.

but

Higashinoji had actually vaguely guessed this situation.

He put his hands on the edge of the dining table and said thoughtfully:

"When Chief Editor Gu Tian said this, I felt confident. No wonder someone from the New Century Art Association took the initiative to invite me to join some time ago."

Yes.

Before going to Aomori Prefecture, the vice president of the New Century Art Association came to him and wanted to make Higashinoji the honorary vice president. At that time, Higashinoji was still a little puzzled.

After all, his reputation in Tokyo is indeed not small, but he was promoted to the honorary vice president, which was more or less hasty.

Then Higashinoji checked some information about the New Century Art Association on the Internet, and found out that the publishing houses behind the New Century Art Association were actually two competing publishing houses, Urashima and Fuji.

Moreover, Higashinoji also discovered that the new association that the group of painters who maliciously left the New Century Art Association had happened to be backed by the two major publishing houses, Mozhu and Iwajiao.

This can be said to be tit for tat.

It is estimated that as early as that time, Fuji and Urashima Publishing had already had the idea of ​​​​merging?

However, they did not rush to take action, but waited.

Osawa Akiyoshi and Furuta Shinji were a little surprised by Higashinoji's eyesight. They didn't expect that he would even notice such details.

"The New Century Art Association is a springboard for our publishing house to enter the traditional art world. It is a good source of profit. However, Yanjiao and Mozhu Publishing House found out about it and poached many painters."

Shinji Furuta explained from the side.

At the same time, he was also a little helpless: "Not only the New Century Art Association, but also many outstanding comic book authors under our Fuji Publishing House have been poached."

At first, he was poaching authors from the three major comic publishing houses, but now times have completely changed.

New Yanzhu Publishing House came back and poached many of his authors.

If this continues, his weekly magazine "Thriller" will almost have an author gap.

With no other choice, Fuji Publishing House thought of seeking cooperation with their old rival, Urashima Publishing House.

However, only the editors-in-chief and presidents of the two companies knew about this matter, and the editors below were not informed.

"But I still didn't expect it." Osawa Aikichi exhaled and shook his head: "I didn't expect the other party to be so decisive. They merged suddenly today and didn't give us any time to react."

Shinji Furuta, who was standing next to him, also nodded solemnly.

This sudden merger crisis really caught them off guard.

"According to the information I received, Iwakaku and Mozhu Publishing House will be renamed New Iwazhu Publishing House. They have planned to launch a new magazine "Chiyo" next week."

Shinji Furuta explained: "Chiyo" is a comic magazine that combines their two previous signature comic magazines "Hiharu" and "Hanazakura".

"Hikaru" from the old Iwakaku Publishing House and "Kanazakura" from the old Mozhu Bookstore. These two major weekly comics magazines have led the trend of Japanese comics for a period of time. They are the three major comics in Japan along with "Abominable Cold". Magazine.

There are eight or nine comics writers in these two major comic weekly magazines alone, including main and small main comics.

The new comic magazine "Chiyo" after the merger of the two major publishing houses is the stage for these eight or nine authors. Just think about it and you will know how competitive the pressure of this comic magazine is.

It is estimated that authors who are not at the level of small pillars (average sales of 500,000 to 600,000 copies) will not be qualified to be serialized on it.

The pressure of competition is high, and it also brings a super high level of quality.

Urashima and Fuji Publishing, which are currently scattered, cannot defeat each other alone.

"So our two agencies have also decided to launch a new comic weekly magazine."

Osawa Akiyoshi said without hesitation: "Combining the power of Urashima Publishing's "Cold" and Fuji Publishing's "Thriller" is the only way to maintain the market."

What he said does make sense.

If Urashima Publishing and Fuji Publishing merge, the situation should be greatly improved.

After all, the current comic quality of "Abominable Cold" can only be said to be above average, and the quality of the comics at the bottom of the list can only be said to be below average according to readers' surveys.

If there are works from Fuji Publishing House, it can really compete with Shin Iwa Tsuki Publishing House.

"That's why I asked Mr. Higashino to come over."

While Higashinoji was thinking, Osawa Akiyoshi over there explained his thoughts:

"We plan to have your new comic works, Mr. Higashino, be promoted to the first issue of the new comic weekly. In other words, the cover and front page of the first issue of this magazine will be dominated by your comics, Mr. Higashino."

"Phase one.?"

Tonoji subconsciously tapped his fingers on the table.

He had thought before that the stage of "Naoki Hansawa" would be huge.

But I never thought it would be this big.

This is no longer a simple competition between comic magazines.

It's a competition between publishers.

It is also a competition among the top publishers in the industry.

It's like two armies fighting, and Higashino Tsukasa's manga is chosen as a general and is responsible for the main task of killing the enemy.

"I know Mr. Higashino may feel a lot of pressure." Osawa Akiyoshi looked at Mr. Higashino and put forward his own conditions: "But if Mr. Higashino is willing to take on this responsibility, Urashima Publishing House and Fuji Publishing House are willing to assist you. Establish a platform for reading online comics.”

Um?

When Osawa Aikichi mentioned this, Higashinoji finally showed a look of surprise.

Higashino Studio is currently busy building an illustration exchange website and an online comic reading platform. Only internal employees should know about it.

Why did this matter reach the ears of Osawa Aikichi directly?

"Teacher Higashino, the Japanese publishing industry is not as big as you think. In fact, many people know that you want to create an online media comic reading platform."

Shinji Furuta interjected from the side.

This is true.

Higashikata nodded.

The entire Japan is only as big as the palm of your hand, and you can fly from the north to the south in a few hours by plane. It is not surprising that publishing bosses like Furuta Shinji and others would know about it.

But looking at their looks, it's obvious that they don't care much about reading online media.

Otherwise, after knowing this news, he would not have given this opportunity to Higashi Yesi in vain.

This is of course.

Who would have thought that in a few years, paper comic magazines would gradually decline, while at the same time online media comics would gain momentum?

In this case, let’s use Urashima Publishing House and Fuji Publishing House’s resources without their knowledge to expand the influence of the online comic reading platform!

Fortunately, I have lived up to my command - I have finished writing 8,000 words. I immediately took a shower and lay on bed. Everyone, please go to bed early.