Dominating Hollywood: Starting with Scarlett

Chapter 186 Sales Rise

After several months of revision, "Fifty Shades of Grey" was finally published.

The first batch of printing volume is 100,000, which is not a small number in the publishing industry, but it is not very promising either.

Because the editors all think that the literary quality of this work is average, but this SM story is quite bold and refreshing.

So they didn't know whether this work would be popular with the public, so they gave a moderate publication amount.

On the day of release, Judy was shopping with friends.

"Judy, why didn't your boyfriend come today?" My good friend Lena is a hot girl with a hot figure. She wears a dark leather jacket and shorts with stockings, and has a nose nail.

She and Judy met when they were playing volleyball in school. They were very kind people and not as bitchy as the others.

"He, he was in the video store, and his favorite Avril Lavigne song was released."

"I also like Avril Lavigne, it's cool."

"Okay, I want to buy one, what about you?"

She looked at the other girls discussing with books, looked at Lena and whispered: "Oh my god, Lena, this is so exciting."

"Okay." Judy was not aware of her companion's thoughts, she just thought she wanted to go in and read a book.

Like a cat meowing in spring, Judy felt her body gradually heating up.

Judy, a good girl, simply couldn't bear such intense stimulation.

The various scenes and plots described in the book are so sexy and bold.

She stopped watching when her parents shouted from downstairs.

"Do you know Fifty Shades of Grey?"

Not to mention the detailed description of the love between men and women, which is really impactful.

But upon reading it carefully, her face instantly turned rosy.

Judy subconsciously covered her mouth, blushing at Lena's rude language, but some fantasies were born in her heart that should not have occurred.

"Who wrote this?" Judy picked up a book curiously and found that the author's name was Carmela, whom she did not recognize.

She held the dark gray book and walked out of the bookstore with Lena. When the wind blew by, her hot face finally cooled down a bit.

This reading lasted three hours.

The two of them walked to the bookstore while chatting, and then saw a huge poster posted on the glass of the bookstore.

After the payment was completed, Judy finally felt more confident about her purchase of adult novels.

She even saw some people sitting in the coffee shop and opening books, and she didn't know what their faces would be like when they saw those explicit words.

On the way home, every time she met a girl of the same age, Judy couldn't help but look at her.

"Judy, it's time to eat," it was the mother.

Turn to the back, where there is a plot summary and recommendations.

Returning home with all kinds of distracting thoughts, Judy returned to her room without saying hello to her parents.

"So what exactly is SM?" Judy knew a little about the word, but not much.

She locked the door, then went to the bed and tore off the plastic wrapping of the books.

The two walked into the bookstore and were just about to find the location of the book, when they realized that there were a lot of people on the left side of the bookshelf.

After throwing away the package, Judy folded her legs, placed the book at the junction of her blue and white stockings and her knees, and started reading carefully.

Lena came over and said: "It's abuse, such as whipping your butt with a whip, or handcuffing you to the bedside, and then FXXKYOU hard!"

"I..." Judy bit her lip and replied in a strange way: "I'll buy one too."

It turned out that many people were holding this dark gray book, which made her feel that she was not that special.

The cover of "Fifty Shades of Grey" is printed on it. It not only contains the lingering back figures of men and women, but also has iconic elements such as handcuffs, whips, and candles as embellishments. You can immediately understand what the content of this book is about. .

in school.

Then she suddenly found that her lower body was a little wet. She touched her legs and found that her legs had been covered with sweat for some time.

Meanwhile, many more people are discussing this book.

Then Judy took the book into her arms, curled up on the bed, buried her head in the quilt, and let out shy screams.

"Isn't it good?" Lena seemed very excited. She looked back and forth at the cover of the book, as if she was planning to buy one.

After Lena saw the whip, she suddenly stood still and pointed at the bookstore with her thumb: "Go in and take a look?"

"I'll be right out, Mom." Judy responded and got out of bed.

"Female college student Anastasia Sti and young entrepreneur Christian Gray fell in love at first sight. The two became partners in a sexual sadistic game, and thus began a story of intertwined love and sadistic love."

Just reading the book, Judy's mind was already filled with all kinds of pornographic content, and the male protagonist in her mind was the shy boy wearing glasses.

"Oh my god... I'm getting so weird." Judy sighed, but suddenly she heard footsteps coming from downstairs, so she quickly stuffed the book under her pillow.

Lena pulled Judy to the bookshelf, and sure enough, the "Fifty Shades of Grey" was placed on it.

When she thought about the scene in her mind just now, Judy immediately covered her face to stop her thoughts from diverging.

"You mean the book about SM?"

"That's right, I just finished watching it yesterday. It's so good. I really want to replace the heroine in it and fall in love with the male CEO."

"But doesn't it hurt to play SM?"

"It feels good when it hurts, and the male CEO is very gentle. The heroine was not hurt at all. I'm so envious..."

within the family.

"Honey, what are you looking at?"

"Fifty Shades of Grey."

"What did you write that made you so fascinated?"

"Look at it."

"Let me see... dripping wax? WTF?"

"That's right, hubby, how about we try this tonight?"

"Aren't you afraid of pain?"

"It doesn't hurt. I mean I'm going to put some wax on you."

"Hou Li Crab, you are crazy!"

"Come on, honey, don't run!"

A week later, when Tang De received the sales data, he found that 90,000 copies of 100,000 copies had been sold, far exceeding expectations. The girls' love for this book is frightening. Without much publicity, it has already sold out in New York through word of mouth.

Therefore, the publishing house plans to print an additional 20 copies in the next batch, and the printing plant is already operating at full capacity.

Meanwhile, Supreme Creative is also promoting Fifty Shades of Grey.

Since the establishment of advertising channels, the cost of promoting internal works within the company has been further reduced.

Especially in California, various promotional advertisements and billboards for "Fifty Shades of Grey" were everywhere, and many people learned about this work at once.

But even though the book sold well, people in the industry criticized it.

For example, the well-known romance novel writer Flammy commented after watching "Fifty Shades of Grey": "This is a work that completely abandons love and purely uses gimmicks and eroticism as its selling point.

"The author bases the relationship between men and women on S&M, which has no logic and no narrative focus. The large text only describes their pleasures one after another. This is undoubtedly disgusting and very opportunistic.

"At the same time, this novel lacks basic literary qualities and depth. There is no doubt that this is the worst work this year, bar none."

In addition to him, some literary critics also expressed their opinions.

"It's a gimmick, with dull and inferior writing, and characters with bizarre fantasy. The love between a 21-year-old girl and a billionaire? Sorry, there is no love, only naked desire and body humiliation."

"It is a very fake work, as if it could be written by a teenager. It has no merit except for its large scale. It is not recommended to watch it."

"Love is an eternal theme, but "Fifty Shades of Grey" got rid of this. It found a new and more obscene way to attract readers to watch. Although it is exciting, there is nothing worth remembering other than excitement. ”

While people in the industry were criticizing "Fifty Shades of Grey", the book's sales were getting higher and higher.

This is a very strange phenomenon. In the past, there was a positive relationship between reviews and sales.

Works with good reviews often have high sales. Because readers value the quality of writing, they don’t want to buy junk.

But in "Fifty Shades of Grey", it became an inverse relationship.

The reviews were poor, but the sales were getting higher and higher. Ninety thousand copies were sold in the first week, which doubled in the second week, and soon the printing speed of the publisher could not keep up with the purchase speed.

Countless young people are discussing this work, and girls can be seen buying it in major bookstores.

To this end, the New York Times sent reporters to investigate these readers and draw some conclusions.

"After interviews and sampling surveys, we found that 23% of the readers of "Fifty Shades of Grey" are girls under the age of 35, and the remaining % are people with families and over the age of . Housewives, the last five percent are men.”

"And among the 17 percent of young girls, percent are under the age of ."

"This is the most difficult group of people to reach in the traditional publishing industry. It is not difficult to understand why the sales of "Fifty Shades of Grey" are still booming despite so many negative reviews."

"It satisfies young girls' sexual fantasies about their future partners and uses a gentle method to transform SM into normal interests, making all women who watch it feel relaxed and comfortable."

At the same time, the New York Times also released many readers’ comments.

"I love this book, it makes me know that there is another kind of love relationship in this world."

"I love the male protagonist. He is so handsome and manly. This is my ideal type."

"It's an experience I've never had before. After watching it, I was exhausted just from imagining it."

"Every girl should read it. It can be very helpful in choosing the right boyfriend in the future."

After this report was published, more girls became interested in the book, and within a few days all copies of "Fifty Shades of Grey" were sold out.

This left writers and editors in the industry dumbfounded, wondering why these girls were so crazy!
The name Carmela immediately became popular. During this period, Tang De's mother continued to receive invitations from publishing houses and interview invitations from reporters.

This made this housewife who had been focusing on her family for many years at a loss.

Under Tang De's instruction, she accepted interviews with several mass media and prepared for several days.

Similarly, major newspapers across the United States also published many articles about this book. Some people attribute the success of this book to the awakening of female consciousness, while others think that it is completely sensationalist alternative literature.

But no one can deny that this book will become one of the best-selling books in 2024.

Out of curiosity and attention-grabbing considerations, newspapers conducted a series of interviews with readers of this book.

One of them is the most explicit.

"After you read this book, will you try SM with your partner in the future?"

This issue undoubtedly makes all conservatives feel uneasy, especially those old white men. They think this is simply rebellious and has deviated from the traditional concepts of America.

But the girls didn't care. They expressed their truest thoughts with their votes.

"Sixty percent of the people chose yes, 30% chose to consider it, and only 10% chose not to."

This has undoubtedly brought women's issues back into the public eye. The National Women's Organization issued a statement saying that whether to choose SM is women's right and their freedom, and men need to respect women.

Many female celebrities have also come forward to express their love for "Fifty Shades of Grey", although in Tang De's view, they actually want to gain the support of young girls.

But it also made more people aware of the book, so he was happy to see that happen.

In addition, "Fifty Shades of Grey" has been discussed in talk shows and news on major TV stations, with guests expressing different opinions.
But most of them choose to support the diversity of love.

After all, diversity is the political correctness of America. Although it is not as crazy as it will be in the future, there are already signs.

It is amid this heated discussion that the sales of "Fifty Shades of Grey" are rising steadily.

In just one month, sales exceeded 800,000.

And this sales volume has not declined yet and continues to grow.

Tang De knew that it was time to add another fire.

So at the beginning of the second month after the release of "Fifty Shades of Grey", Norton Eyes suddenly announced that it had obtained the film adaptation rights of "Fifty Shades of Grey" and planned to start global casting in the second half of the year and complete it before 2005. Shoot.

For a time, the whole of Hollywood focused on Norton Eyes. From this news, major film companies not only saw the strength of Norton Eyes, but also smelled the money.

"Don De! Universal, Columbia, Sony, and Paramount are all coming to us!" After Jimmy walked into the office, he slammed the folder in his hand on the table.

"The investment for the movie has been secured." He didn't expect that the novel Tang De wrote casually would actually sell out. This was simply incredible.

At first, he thought Tang De was just playing tricks.

Tang De smiled when he heard what he said: "Don't get excited, this is just the beginning. The investment in this movie is huge, and we have to choose the most generous company."

"So how much are you going to spend?"

Tang De pondered for a moment: "Fifty million, maybe."

This figure made Jimmy stunned: "Did I hear you right, Tang De, you plan to spend fifty million dollars to shoot a movie?"

"Don't be surprised, Jimmy, not every movie can be like "Saw", with big investment and big returns. This is the secret of Hollywood!"

"Okay, you have the final say, but how much money can we make? We don't have the money to invest!"

"Don't worry..." Tang De smiled: "Although we don't have money, we have something more important, the copyright. Now help me reject all the film companies. I want them to be anxious."

"No problem! This is my specialty!" Jimmy also laughed.

(End of this chapter)