Tokyo Literary Godfather

The selection of Naoki Award is divided into three rounds, the first round, the second round and the final selection.

A large number of works will be eliminated directly in the first round. The novels that make it to the second round are all works of acceptable quality.

A novel that can enter the final selection can already be called a masterpiece, but in the end, the best of the best has to be selected.

There are five judges in total for the Naoki Prize, and Mika Miyano is one of them. The works submitted by the judges will directly enter the second round of selection.

Soon, a new issue of "Qiankun Chunqiu" will be released. This issue contains the serialization of the twelfth chapter of "White Night Journey".

The sales volume of this issue of "Qiankun Chunqiu" magazine was 460,000 copies, while the sales volume of "Spring and Autumn Literature Appreciation" during the same period was 520,000 copies.

There is still a certain distance between the sales of nearly 60,000 copies, but anyone who knows the sales of these two magazines this year knows that this is the closest sales volume between this magazine and the supplement.

Some people even couldn't help but wonder: Will the sales of supplements one day exceed those of this magazine...

But it's just a joke. After the statistics and rankings of this issue's supplement, "White Night Walk" is still ranked first in the fault line, and the second, third, and fourth places combined are not enough.

So it is easy to judge that a large part of the reason why the supplement sold so well is that Bai Yexing drove the sales, and this novel is about to end in one issue, and the momentum of the supplement will drop instantly. It's nonsense.

Is it possible that if we give it one more issue, it will be able to complete its counterattack and surpass this magazine? Don't be kidding, how is this possible? After all, the sales of "Spring and Autumn Literature Appreciation" are also increasing every month. It will take time to really surpass it.

However, what all the editors of the Spring and Autumn Society did not expect was that a change occurred, which caused the "Qian Kun Chun Qiu" to surpass this magazine's counterattack and arrive ahead of schedule.

This variable is Arima Guixiang.

When Dongjima Station was filming a documentary for the famous kabuki family Hakutsuya, Arima Guixiang also appeared as the daughter of Hakutsuya. In the documentary, Arima Guixiang mentioned the book "White Night Walk".

"This is an amazing novel." Arima Guixiang said, "To be precise, this is a novel that makes people insomnia. When I read the end, I also felt like being stabbed in my chest by scissors..."

At this point, Arima Keixiang subconsciously covered her mouth with her fingers: "Did I spoil the story?"

"As far as I know, this book is still being serialized. How did you read the ending?" the reporter asked.

Arima Guixiang smiled: "I know the author and have read the entire manuscript."

After the documentary was screened, it inspired a large number of fans to buy the last issue of "White Night Journey" and also tapped a large number of potential readers.

So when this issue of "Qian Kun Chun Qiu" was published, it was reprinted many times, and the sales volume soared to 550,000 copies in an instant, while the "Chun Qiu Literature Appreciation" in the same period did not perform well, and it only sold 520,000 copies book.

"Qian Kun Chun Qiu" surpassed this magazine for the first time since its inception, which also shocked the editorial department of Chun Qiu News Agency, so the editor-in-chief made a decision to increase the first printing run of "White Night Journey" to 40,000 copies.

The first printing had 40,000 copies, which is already a standard for a well-known author.

The cover design of "Bai Ye Xing" hired a well-known designer. After referring to Kei Fujiwara's opinion, the designer used a minimalist style with dark tones. The whole book looks very stylish.

The paper material is also high-end, and the price is 2,700 yen per copy, which is really not cheap, but as long as the book is good enough, the high price will not affect sales. No wonder Japanese writers are so rich.

Kei Fujiwara's royalties are divided into zones. If the sales volume is more than 100,000 copies and less than 300,000 copies, his royalties are only 6%;

But if the sales volume is more than 300,000, the excess will be calculated as an 8% royalty;

If the sales volume exceeds 500,000 copies, a 10% royalty rate will be calculated.

If the sales volume is higher than 600,000, the excess will be calculated as 12%.

If the sales volume is less than 100,000, the royalty is calculated as one percent.

Twelve percent already belonged to the royalties level of first-line writers. Without this "gambling" contract, Kei Fujiwara would not have been able to get so much.

Kei Fujiwara actually proposed this method of calculating royalties that is a bit of a bet. In the beginning, Chunqiu Club gave him 8% of the royalties. This is an appropriate price for newcomers, but Kei Fujiwara is not satisfied.

Fujiwara Keimoto hoped to get 10% of the royalties, but Kawaguchi Nobu rejected him on the grounds that newcomers' works may not be able to achieve sales. Kei Fujiwara was also prepared and proposed his gambling plan.

If the sales are not good, he only needs to pay one percent of the royalties, but if the book sells well, the royalties will be increased appropriately.

Kawaguchi Nobu was initially surprised by Fujiwara Kei's aloof confidence. After some hesitation, he actually agreed.

The reason is also very simple. Kei Fujiwara's proposal is actually beneficial to the interests of the publishing house. Only one percent of the royalties will be paid for less than 100,000 copies. Part of it is calculated based on high royalties.

What is the concept of 600,000 copies? At least that's what a popular book like "Aurora Murders" can do.

Even if "Bai Ye Xing" is really a big hit, with a super high sales volume of 700,000 or 800,000 copies in the market, Chunqiu Society only needs to pay 12% of the royalties based on the extra 600,000. .

Besides, if "White Night Walk" is really strong enough to sell a super high sales volume of 600,000 copies, not to mention giving him 12%, 14% is not impossible to consider. After all, publishers make money.

The news of the gambling between Kei Fujiwara and the Spring and Autumn Society spread quickly. The editors of the Spring and Autumn Society were very surprised. In their view, if the gambling agreement was proposed by the Spring and Autumn Society, it must be a deliberate attempt to deceive people. Deceiving new authors.

But it is actually the author himself who requested the bet, which is really strange. But is this author a little overconfident?

Judging from the agreement he proposed, the author himself has high expectations for "White Night Journey" and believes that the book can sell at least 500,000 copies.

In fact, when Kei Fujiwara first proposed this agreement, Itagaki Kazuhiko also persuaded him because he felt that Kei Fujiwara was overconfident. As far as his personal feelings were concerned, he could not bear to have Kei Fujiwara's interests damaged.

But Fujiwara Kei was still very insistent, and Itagaki Kazuhiko was not in a position to say anything more.

After Shimada heard about this, he couldn't help but sneer in his heart. A mere newcomer dared to make a bet. Are you blinded by the so-called good reviews on the Internet? Do you really think you have written some masterpiece?

However, he also began to worry faintly in his heart. What if "White Night Journey" is really a hit?

Now someone in the editorial department has begun to discuss it. The senior management seems to appreciate the fact that Itagaki Kazuhiko unearthed "White Night Journey". If this book really achieves a super high sales volume, then the position of team leader...

Shimada gritted his teeth. He couldn't just watch the duck fly away. At this point, some measures had to be taken.