Back to 80: My literary life.

Chapter 713 Advertising in Times Square
The lady has short hair, wears glasses, and has light makeup, giving her a scholarly air.

"Everyone, this is Professor Li Li from the College of Liberal Arts at San Francisco State University. She is also the new president of the publishing house."

Fang Minghua gave a brief introduction and then handed the floor to Li Li.

"Hello everyone, from today on, I will be in charge of the work of Ashley Press." Li Li spoke in pure English: "I hope everyone will cooperate with me to do a good job."

"Now, there is a very urgent task." Li Li said and took out a three-inch floppy disk from her pocket.

"Here is Mr. Fang's latest fantasy novel, about 24 words. Our job now is to proofread and typeset it as quickly as possible and then publish it, Mr. David."

Li Li looked at David and said, "You are the editor-in-chief. How long will it take to proofread and typeset this book and produce a sample manuscript?"

"President Li, it will probably take at least a month." David thought for a moment and immediately gave an answer.

He is in his early fifties, a little bald, with a slightly hunched back, and looks no different from those old editors of domestic magazines. He has worked in a publishing house for more than 20 years and is familiar with the process.

"Can it be completed in 20 days?" Li Li asked back.

"Ah? This?" David was about to deny it, but when he saw Li Li's gaze, he nodded.

“It can be done.”

"OK!"

Sitting next to him was Jack, the head of the distribution department, who was delighted to hear this.

"This old man usually works so slowly, why is he so active today? Oh, he is trying to take credit for his work with the new boss.

Jack was daydreaming when he heard Li Li calling his name.

Jack, what do you think of the capabilities of the company that prints books for our publishing house, Simpress? "

"Simpress is a very famous printing company in San Francisco, specializing in printing books and magazines." Jack answered immediately, and then suddenly added:

"President Li, I have to tell you some bad news - I originally told Mr. Garcia, but now you are the person in charge."

Bad news?!

Li Li's mood suddenly became a little nervous.

I just got bad news on my first day in office? Is this a test of my ability?

But he remained calm on the surface.

"Mr. Jack, what's the bad news?"

"Yesterday, Andrew, the deputy manager of Simpress, called and said that in recent years, none of the books published by our publishing house has exceeded 50,000 copies, which has greatly increased their company's printing costs. If this continues, they will cancel their cooperation with us and no longer print our company's books."

As soon as Jack said this, there was a murmur in the conference room.

Even Simpress, which has always had a friendly relationship with the publishing house, is going to cancel the contract!

When Li Li heard this, her mood became lighter.

"Mr. Jack, you don't have to worry about this. Tell Mr. Andrew that our new book will definitely be printed in more than 50,000 copies. You'd better tell him to plan according to the scale of the initial printing of 500,000 copies, so as to avoid being in a rush when the time comes."

"Oh my God, five hundred thousand copies!" Jack couldn't help but exclaim.

"is it not OK?"

Li Li looked at him, and her originally gentle eyes became sharp.

"OK! I'll tell Mr. Andrew." Jack replied immediately.

But I'm complaining in my heart
At most, Mr. Andrew will laugh at me a few times, but if you can't fulfill your promise and Simpress cancels the contract, it will have nothing to do with me.
Li Li looked at Neil from the Marketing Operations and Promotion Department again.

"Mr. Nick, do you have any good ideas for promoting the new book?"

The man named Nick was in his thirties. When he saw Li Li calling his name, he cleared his throat and said, "President Li, in the past, the promotion of new books mainly included advertising in newspapers, asking famous writers to write prefaces and reviews, and signing and selling books. Of course, this requires a lot of money."

Li Li shook her head after hearing this.

"That's not enough, Mr. Jack, have you ever been to Times Square in New York?" She suddenly changed the subject.

"I've been there. So what?" Jack was confused. What did this have to do with the promotion of the new book?

"Did you notice the advertising screens in Times Square? TSX, MiFi, The Bird, and the Nasdaq screen?" Li Li asked back.

"Of course I noticed." Jack said casually, then suddenly realized, "Oh my God, you're going to advertise your new book in Times Square?"

"Yes, advertise in New York's Times Square!" There was an uproar in the conference room again.

Not to mention the small Ashley Press, even large publishing houses like Langdon & Simon have never advertised any writer's novel in Times Square!

Li Li seemed not to hear and just looked at Nick: "As for the content, time, frequency of the advertisement, and which advertisement screen has the best cost-effectiveness, please give me a plan after you finish reading the novel. Mr. Nick, how long will it take you to come up with a plan?"

Jack looked at Li Li, then looked at David next to him, and gritted his teeth: "Twenty days!"

"Okay, in addition, we will also advertise this book on Yahoo. Mr. Nick, you will be responsible for this as well." Li Li continued.

"OK!"

Jack quickly agreed.

But he was muttering in his heart.

Yahoo?

What website?
Never heard of it.

But how dare he say this in front of his boss now?
Go back and check online
Li Li emphasized a few other points and then adjourned the meeting.

Everyone left while talking, and only Fang Minghua and Li Li were left in the office.

"Minghua, how did I perform?" Li Li asked.

"Very good!" Fang Minghua gave a thumbs up.

"Can you compare with my cousin?" Li Li asked playfully.

"Comparable." Fang Minghua said with a smile.

"Okay, stop praising me. I know I'm far behind my cousin. You came up with a lot of ideas today, but you just said them through my mouth. Do you really want to advertise in Times Square?"

"You have already arranged your work, how can you have a day off?" Fang Minghua smiled and said, "You must spend what you need to spend."

"Okay then, I'll go talk to David about the proofreading and editing of this book, as well as the cover. I thought of several cover layouts last night." Li Li stood up and walked out.

Fang Minghua shook his head.

It's clearly been assigned to your subordinates, but you insist on doing it yourself?

How come this is the same as Tangtang?
But she let it be.

When it was almost time to get off work, Li Li drove her own Ford car, while Fang Minghua drove the company's black Buick Electra Park Avenue, which was considered a luxury car in the United States, but it had only been driven for ten years.

It can be used as a means of transportation.

Time passed quietly. Fang Minghua also went to Stanford University to find her brother-in-law Liu Jianjun, who was studying for a doctorate. They chatted for an afternoon and before leaving, she left him a check for one hundred thousand U.S. dollars.

Although Liu Jianjun was sent here by the government, he still had to pay for his daily living expenses.

"Don't even think about working and studying. That's a pure waste of time. Your task now is to study hard. Learn as much as you can. It will be useful when you go back!" Fang Minghua patted Liu Jianjun on the shoulder before leaving, speaking earnestly.

It was already early December and Fang Minghua had been in the United States for two months. He was still mainly staying at Li Li's house typing, and occasionally visiting the company to handle some matters.

Phillips has sold all of his Apple shares, totaling $1358 million after paying stamp duty and handling fees.

Of course, according to the contract, Phillips must be paid a commission of 9.85.

The acquisition of Ashley cost US$410 million, leaving about US$930 million. Fang Minghua added US$300 million of it to the company for operations and deposited the rest into his personal account.

Li Li is still mainly responsible for the publishing house's affairs. Apart from attending classes, she spends most of her daytime time in the publishing house, so Fang Minghua, on the other hand, has nothing to do all day.

That afternoon, Li Li came back from the publishing house and told Fang Minghua that the proofreading and editing of the new book was basically completed, and the next step was to enter the printing stage. Nick had already taken people to New York to contact for advertising in Times Square.

Everything went smoothly as planned.

Fang Minghua nodded after hearing this.

"You've worked hard, let's eat."

The meals were prepared by Fang Minghua and they were all Chinese dishes. Li Li enjoyed them very much.

"Lili." Fang Minghua suddenly said, "I'm going to Seattle tomorrow."

(End of this chapter)