I am a literary giant in Japan

Chapter 156 "Paradise Lost" poked Big Brother in the ass when it was first serialized?

Late April, which in ancient times would be considered March, is the beautiful time when cherry blossoms are in full bloom.

Outings, picnics, cherry blossom viewing, and walks.
In parks of all sizes in Tokyo, couples and families can be seen laughing and playing under cherry trees.

Every year, as the flower season approaches, news media begin to report "frontline" news related to cherry blossoms, such as where the cherry blossoms have just begun to bloom, where they have already covered the mountains and fields, and so on.

Television programs will also never tire of broadcasting the breathtaking scenes of cherry blossom resorts, as if every frame can be captured as a screensaver.

But during this cherry blossom season, many newspapers, magazines and TV stations have given up on broadcasting the same old beautiful scenes of cherry blossom sites and have instead shifted their focus to the relatively niche literary world, constantly reporting all kinds of gossip about the physical copy of "Border" and the new book "Paradise Lost."

On April 4, Hide Kitagawa's latest physical novel, "South of the Border, West of the Sun," was released simultaneously in bookstores across the country.

For readers in the Tokyo area, they have already followed this novel from the beginning to the end when it was serialized in "Wenyi". Buying a physical copy of the book is purely to show support for Mr. Kitagawa.

The most fanatical group of book fans had already received the latest signed version of the novel at the "Border" signing event not long ago - according to incomplete statistics, more than 3000 copies of "Border" were sold on the day of the signing event, setting a new sales record for physical book signing events in recent years.

But for Kitagawa fans in certain areas, such as the large number of pure literature readers in Okinawa, since "Wenyi" cannot cover these rural villages, they can only take advantage of the holidays to go to bookstores in big cities to buy physical books and read them.

This delay, which cannot be unified across the country, has led to a large number of information gaps.

On the one hand, Kawaide Shobo's new headquarters was still receiving a large number of letters of praise for "Border" from readers in remote areas, and on the other hand, it had to help Kitagawa Hide respond to the urging of core readers in three major metropolitan areas such as Tokyo to serialize "Paradise Lost"!

It was obvious that "Paradise Lost" was going to be serialized in the "Nikkan Sports News", but those readers didn't care. They didn't know that Kitagawa Hide had signed a freelance writer collaboration contract with Kawaide Shobo, and they thought he was an author under your company. If not you, who else should they urge?

Fortunately, the Nikkan Sports News and Kitagawa Hide didn't keep the crazy readers waiting too long.

On the morning of April 4, the latest morning edition of the Nikkan Sports News used extra-large bold fonts and exclamation marks to remind all readers that Kitagawa's new work, Paradise Lost, with a strong mono no aware style, will be serialized in the morning edition of April 23.

The serialization frequency is three times a week, published in the morning edition on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, each serialization has two chapters and about 5 words!

This move by the Nikkan Sports News Agency immediately alerted similar competitors.

Originally you were just a second-rate figure in the newspaper industry, and yours was a newspaper specializing in sports, so not many people in the news industry took you seriously.

I didn't expect that you are not satisfied with the current situation and are trying to get involved in the more comprehensive newspaper market!
Soon after the news was announced, several second-rate newspapers urged their editorial departments to control the quality of news on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and not to let a sports newspaper snatch away the audience.

What is most frightening is the pile of literary newspapers that are affiliated with the five major pure literature magazines.

Japan is indeed a very interesting country.

In the entertainment industry, standing at the top of the pyramid are newspaper groups, such as the Yomiuri Group and the Asahi Group, which not only firmly control several national newspapers, but also have large stakes in various TV stations and film and television companies.

Under the newspaper industry are comprehensive trading companies that make a living from various magazines, the most famous of which is Kodansha.

However, in the field of pure literature, magazines are much more popular than newspapers. Pure literary newspapers basically serve as the free stuff in a buy-one-get-one-free offer, and are cheaper than the girlfriend you get for free when you top up your phone bill.

Their lives were already difficult to begin with, and now seeing that a sports newspaper was trying to steal their jobs, they all bared their sharp claws under their paw pads like stressed cats, and began to do their best to protect the already scarce readership.

But everyone in the newspaper world underestimated the appeal of the name Hide Kitagawa to the general public.

Before the serialization of "Border", Kitagawa Hide was just a new writer who was relatively popular in a niche circle and had just reached the threshold of being an "upper-class writer".

After the serialization of "Border", he has become a socially recognized "upper-class writer", and his fame and status are no less than those of veteran writers such as Shintaro Ishihara.

With the hot sales of the physical book of "Border", the serialization of "Paradise Lost" has become the most anticipated event in the literary world in the first half of the year.

All the efforts made by the editorial departments of those newspapers were wiped out the moment the morning edition of the Nikkan Sports News went on sale at 4 a.m. on April 25.

An apartment building in Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo.

"Madam, starting now, if you subscribe to the Daily Sports News for a quarter, you can enjoy a 12% discount! This is an unprecedented discount for us!"

The male salesman in a suit stood respectfully at the door and spoke with a smile to the housewife, whose head was only visible.

The briefcase he carried with him was filled with the Daily Sports News and various small gifts. When the other party opened the door to listen to him, he would take out a lot of gifts to tempt the other party and then ask her to subscribe to the newspaper.

As the economy continues to go downhill and the sales industry becomes more and more competitive, these originally simple and naive housewives have gradually become savvy, and their family members must have discussed this matter with them.

Now is no longer the time when you can achieve results by simply promoting products!

Nowadays, the success rate of this sales process is very low. Probably, less than ten out of a hundred housewives are willing to subscribe to the newspaper, and they only try to subscribe for one month.

But recently, the young salesman suddenly found that the Nikkan Sports Newspaper had become popular. After asking around, he found out that a writer named Kitagawa Hide was going to serialize a new novel in this newspaper! Everyone was scrambling to subscribe to this newspaper, so the sales job became easier.

He seized the opportunity and decisively gave up selling other newspapers during this period. He only sold this one to the residents, and the results were quite fruitful!

"Hey, this is a sports newspaper, right? No one at home pays much attention to sports news." The housewife inside the door was obviously attracted by the 28% discount.

But when she heard the name of the newspaper, she began to hesitate.

Although you may feel like you're getting a good deal when you buy something at a discount, it's actually useless. Even if you get a good deal on something that's completely covered in dust, it's useless!
The young salesman immediately replied, "No, no, no, although the name of this newspaper is related to sports, it actually covers a variety of current affairs news, and the amount of news is not single. By the way, ma'am, have you heard of Mr. Kitagawa Hide?"

"Kitagawa Hide?" The housewife showed a puzzled expression, as if she had heard it somewhere before but couldn't remember it.

"That's the one who looks like a TV star and wrote No Longer Human!" the young salesperson reminded him hastily, and took out a best-selling book, Border, from his briefcase. "Look, that's the author of this book."

The housewife took the book with some doubts, but after seeing the cover and the name, she suddenly realized: "Oh, it's the handsome writer who was on the Yomiuri Shimbun."

As she spoke, she quickly covered her mouth and glanced at the salesman shyly.

The salesman pretended not to hear and took out an early edition of today's "Daily Sports News" and handed it to her respectfully.

"Ma'am, look, Mr. Kitagawa's new work Paradise Lost is being serialized in this newspaper, and it will continue to be updated. If you subscribe for a quarter, you can get a 4000% discount, and the total price is only yen, which is very cost-effective."

He knew that the novel would not last a quarter, but what did it matter?

As long as he successfully sells the newspaper, he can get a generous commission. As for how to retain these new audiences, that is something the newspaper needs to consider.

As a salesman, all he has to do is keep selling the best-selling newspapers!
The housewife was obviously moved.

The young salesman had seen customers like her many times, and his first impression of Mr. Beichuan was that he was very good-looking.

Speaking of which, it seems I should get to know this teacher Beichuan better, so that next time I go to a high-end community to sell newspapers, I won't be turned away because of my unprofessionalism.

"Paradise Lost. What a beautiful opening." The housewife quickly glanced at the newspaper and was immediately attracted by the first few sentences of "Sunset".

The young salesman put away the newspaper and looked at her with an apologetic smile: "I'm sorry, ma'am, I can't show it to you for too long."

"Oh, I see. So one quarter is 4000 yen, right?" She was ready to go back to the house to get the money.

"Yes! In fact, if you are willing to subscribe for half a year, I can give you a bigger discount."

Similar conversations are happening all over the place.

Ken Matsuyama, president of the Nikkan Sports News, is truly a business elite who has fought his way up from the bottom.

After hearing about Kitagawa Hide's new book from editor-in-chief Yamasaki No, he immediately notified all departments of the newspaper, focusing on the element of "extramarital affair" for publicity, and targeting housewives as the first audience of the novel.

The second group is middle-aged men who hold high positions in the office.

Then come the lovers of pure literary novels.

After clarifying the path it wanted to take, the Nikkan Sports Newspaper squeezed into the top 4 of the sports newspaper sales rankings on April 25 with its terrifying circulation!

That night, when Kitagawa Hide was typing in a cafe, he suddenly received a private call from Matsuyama Ken.

On the phone, Ken Matsuyama could hardly suppress his joy and told Hide Kitagawa that his newspaper had sold a total of 267.4 million copies today!

Kitagawa Hide didn't know much about the circulation of newspapers, so he smiled and congratulated Matsuyama Ken, then hung up the phone and searched the Internet for information about the newspaper industry.

Today, the number one newspaper in Japan is undoubtedly the Yomiuri Shimbun.

According to statistics from Oricon, the average daily circulation of the Yomiuri Shimbun is about 1000 million copies, including daily and evening editions. This means that one out of every twelve Japanese people buys the Yomiuri Shimbun every day!

The big brother of sports newspapers is the Tokyo Sports News. The predecessor of this newspaper is the famous National Times. Now it firmly occupies the top spot in the sports category, with an average daily circulation of about 242.5 million copies.

Now Kitagawa Hide finally understood why Matsuyama Ken lost his composure like that, and called him overnight to tell him the good news.

Who could have thought that once "Paradise Lost" was serialized, it would allow the second-rate "Nikkan Sports News" to poke the ass of its big brother and successfully counterattack and take over!
Kitagawa Hideya was stunned for a moment, then he happily called his little wife to share the joy together!
Before, he had been worried that the revised version of Paradise Lost would not be accepted by readers. Now, he felt relieved, at least the book was a big hit at the start!

This is not only a new peak in his career, which will bring an unexpected wave of financial income, but also increases Kitagawa Hide's confidence in continuing to climb to a higher position in the literary world.

While he was happy, some people at home couldn't even sleep!
(End of this chapter)