I am a literary giant in Japan

August 1999, 1, 19pm.

Shinbunxiang Publishing House headquarters building in Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo.

Sixth floor, large conference room.

“It’s hard to say, but the situation is very unfavorable for us.

The latest issue of "Wenyi" was released yesterday. I think everyone here has bought it and read it.

It is truly amazing that Kawaide Shobo dared to make such drastic changes to the section details and cover image in the first issue at the beginning of the year.

But what is even more shocking is Mr. Beichuan's new book, "A Beautiful Journey."

Standing on the podium at this time and giving a speech to dozens of senior editors was the new president of Shinwenxiang Publishing House, Takayama Hitoshi.

After the failure of the publishing house's mainstay Nagai Kazufu, the former president Onishi Ping simply resigned from the company. Before leaving, he even bit back at the publishing house and pledged his allegiance to Kitagawa Hide and Kawaide Shobo.

Onishi's betrayal was personally instructed by Mitsubishi Corporation's Managing Director Kenji Iwasaki. The size of Mitsubishi Corporation is equivalent to that of more than one hundred Shinbun-Isang Publishing Houses.

Therefore, even if they were dissatisfied in their hearts, the people who stayed behind could not show their displeasure openly.

After suffering this bitter defeat, the board of directors of Shinbunxiang Publishing House took a deep breath and hired Takayama Hitoshi, a well-known figure in the industry, with a high annual salary of 3200 million yen.

Hitoshi Takayama graduated from the Faculty of Literature at Kyoto University and studied under the late literary giant Ichiko Sadatsugu. He has served as a senior manager in the editorial departments of two major pure literature magazines, "Qunseyo" and "Bungei Shunju".

The biggest difference between him and those managers who are just sitting there doing nothing is that Takayama Hitoshi will assess the situation and adjust the company's operating strategy based on the prevailing circumstances.

Moreover, compared with his other colleagues, he has more respect for Kitagawa Hide, and he will not mindlessly criticize the "number one in the world" in the literary world like Noma Airi and others, overestimating their own abilities and bringing humiliation upon themselves.

After Takayama Hitoshi succeeded Ohnishi Hei, he indeed took Shinbunxiang Publishing House to a higher level and successfully absorbed the various impacts brought about by Nagai Kazukaze's failure.

It can be said that the current Xinwenxiang Publishing House can still survive between Kawade Shobo and Beichuan Wenyu, and a large part of the credit goes to Takayama Hitoshi.

This is also one of the reasons why everyone in the editorial department is still willing to listen to him here in such a serious situation.

Everyone thinks that he will still be able to lead Xinwenxiang out of the difficulties this time.

However, looking at the bar charts and line graphs projected onto the wall, Takayama Hitoshi was sweating profusely and had to point out some more cruel realities.

"The January issues of Shinbun-sang and Kitagawa have been sold in Japan for four days. As time goes by, the sales gap between us and Kitagawa is getting bigger and bigger.

According to statistics from the data department, by the end of this month, we should have sold nearly 100 million fewer copies than Beichuan."

100 copies.

This is already the total sales volume of a large publishing house for a month or even several months.

These are the data after the literary market has been greatly expanded.

In 1995, when Kitagawa Hide just made his debut, this was almost the monthly sales ceiling for pure literature magazines.

"Cities in Darkness" by former Nobel Prize winner in Literature Evander Johnson is the benchmark work they are promoting this time, and various subsequent copyright developments have also been put on the agenda.

Thanks to this work, "Shinbunxiang" was able to quickly get out of the shadow of Nagai Kazukaze's failure.

However, the devil is always stronger than the saint. Facing "Children in the Dark", a new work from Hide Kitagawa's trilogy "The Disabled but Determined", Evindt's new work was completely defeated and lost in both the domestic and overseas markets.

It is bound to lose. Since its establishment, Xinwenxiang has always lost more than it won in every competition with Hechu Shobo and Beichuan Entertainment. Everyone is used to it.

But even with "Children in the Dark" sold in different levels, it still lost so much, losing 100 million copies directly in the domestic market. This result is still a bit hard to accept.

The most respectable part of the loss has been ruined like this, it is hard to imagine how other aspects will be ruined by the opponent.

The executives in the audience finally understood why Takayama Hitoshi had such a bitter face.

No one can bear this result.

"In addition, our readers have been losing since the end of last year. As of today, the reader base has shrunk by nearly a quarter."

Takayama Hitoshi even felt that the temporary defeat was not so fatal.

After all, he lost to the undefeated Mr. Kitagawa. It is reasonable that Kitagawa Hide, who is almost deified in the hearts of the Japanese people, can defeat a Nobel Prize in Literature winner head-on.

But the readership is constantly decreasing, and this problem is very serious.

A large publishing house with at least dozens of magazines of various types circulating in the market.

Xinwenxiang Publishing House is the result of the merger of Xinchao and many other publishing houses that have joined forces to keep each other warm. It is also a well-known giant in the industry.

Today, Xinwenxiang has a total of 6 first-class magazines, 11 second-class magazines, 19 marginalized magazines, and more than 30 other magazines and newspapers affiliated with Xinwenxiang.

With such a huge volume and the ups and downs of the readership, the overall changes are definitely within the range of big data predictions.

However, data recently obtained by Gao Shanrenyu showed that the overall number of readers of Xinwenxiang Publishing House was declining, and the rate of loss was very abnormal.

With the release of Children in the Dark, a rating system was proposed, and the publisher's mainstay New Literary Image suddenly lost one-fifth of its readers, and the number is still decreasing.

This is a sign that the publishing house is going to be doomed!

"Why are readers leaving? Have they all gone to Hechu Shobo and Beichuan Entertainment?" someone couldn't help but ask.

Gao Shan Renyu swallowed, looked back at the data table projected on the wall, and nodded silently.

“From the data, it can be seen that the lost readers did not leave the literary market, but turned around and bought Dazhong, Beichuan or Wenyi.

There is also a small group who may be attracted by the recent rise of the light novel market, but those numbers are currently negligible.”

He rubbed his aching head, sighed deeply, and said pessimistically,

“The siphoning phenomenon of these three leading magazines is extremely exaggerated, a ‘near monopoly’ situation that I have never seen in my decades of working in the industry.

A few magazines have a market share of more than 65%. The last time this happened was in the post-war era, when the resumption of publication of Shincho and Bungeishunju caused a national uproar.

Many young people have never experienced this kind of past.

But those who can sit here and listen to Gao Shanrenyu's talk are all pillars of the industry who are over 50 years old and have experienced that terrible era.

That was a period when Japanese literature was gradually reviving, and an era when Shincho and Bungeishunju dominated everything.

Just awakening those nearly dead memories made their bodies feel an irresistible urge to escape.

In that era, almost everyone had a copy of "Shincho" and "Bungei Shunju". Countless writers emerged from these two magazines, and many big names in the industry were also closely related to them.

Some stubborn conservatives even believed that the Shincho and Bungeishunju that were defeated by Wenyi were not at their peak.

If they were from that era, perhaps the results would be different.

The conjecture of Guan Gong fighting Qin Qiong will never be verified. But at this moment, everyone present understood what Gao Shan Renyu said.

Today's "Wenyi", "Dazhong" and "Beichuan" are walking on this road of monopolizing everything!

There was a slight commotion in the large conference room, and the feeling of unease grew.

Everyone looked at Takayama Hitoshi on the podium, which increased the pressure on him and forced him to continue speaking.

"The cause of the loss is still being investigated. If it goes as expected, it should be largely due to Teacher Beichuan."

Takayama Hitoshi didn't want to tell the truth, but all the real data and all the analysis results pointed relentlessly in this direction.

Kitagawa Hide relied on his own strength to first crush the "Gunzo" which attempted to dominate him, then led the last-place "Bungei" to crush "Bungei Shunju" and "Shincho", and then beat the reorganized "Shinbunzo" several times.

In the process, he also took down the Dengeki Bunko.

If we attribute most of the reasons to Kitagawa Hide and his novels, it can also explain why "Dazhong" and "Kitagawa", which have countless internal conflicts since their establishment, can still firmly occupy the top five positions and occasionally pull down the second place and beat them up.

The whispering got louder.

All the way, from April 1995 to January 4, most of them watched Kitagawa Hideo's rise and invincibility.

But no matter how much you watch, no one will feel much unless the guillotine falls on their own head.

It was not until they faced this ultimate fear themselves that they clearly realized how outrageous Kitagawa Hide was.

In comparison, the fact that a master of modern world literature like Evander Johnson was unable to stop him was a trivial matter.

It felt like Kitagawa Hide was driving a dump truck and accidentally ran over a praying mantis on the side of the road while rushing around.

If world-class literary masters can only be mantises on the roadside, then what are they?
Ant?

Or bacteria, microorganisms?

"There should be other ways, such as spending a lot of money to recruit some famous authors, or increasing the magazine's publicity and promotion efforts and preferential policies," someone asked in a low voice.

Takayama Hitoshi looked in the direction of the question, his eyes full of helplessness and lamentation.

He had tried these methods countless times.

If he really had no other choice, why would he encourage others and destroy his own prestige at such a meeting?

Seeing his expression, others immediately understood.

The large conference room instantly fell into deathly silence.

After a long time, someone finally broke the deadlock and asked in a low voice: "Is there no way to successfully overcome this difficulty?"

"Actually, there is." Takayama Hitoshi swallowed again on the high platform.

"What is the countermeasure? I knew that President Takayama must have a way to turn the tide. Please tell me!" A bald director in the audience asked loudly.

The people in the audience are not only senior executives of the editorial department and the company's top brass, but also relatively important shareholders of Xinwenxiang Publishing House.

Many people have invested almost all of their assets in Xinwenxiang's stocks.

They could not accept the reality that Xinwenxiang was about to be completely defeated.

"I have contacted many writers from the outside world and asked them to study Mr. Beichuan's books and keep up with the trend. They should also write some novels about deaf and mute children."

The bald director who asked the question and many senior executives' faces suddenly changed after hearing his words.

In the final analysis, isn't this just asking people to imitate and plagiarize Kitagawa Hide?

To put it nicely, this is called following the trend and learning. To put it bluntly, it is just picking up the leftover vegetable leaves of others!

If it really comes to this, what is the difference between Xinwenxiang and something that exists in name only?
Faced with a series of fierce questions, Takayama Hitoshi did not defend himself, but accepted and acquiesced to them all.

Because the fact is that no matter what subject Kitagawa Hide writes, what new book he publishes, or what weird things he does, readers all over Japan, no, it should be said that readers all over the world just love to read it!
This has been proven countless times in practice.

Since it is impossible for the writers under him to defeat him head-on, what's wrong with choosing to join him if they can't beat him?
At least by doing this, the company can survive, and many people who depend on the company for their livelihood can also survive.

This advanced "surrender concept" was considered to be extremely treasonous and against human nature in Japan at that time, especially in a country that believed in the traditional Bushido spirit.

It is totally unacceptable to the group of people below.

But countless celebrities in later generations have verified this.

Especially a self-proclaimed GOAT who is the "Emperor" of basketball.

Even though I lost face and money, at least my pockets are fatter, I have fame, and I have a historical position, right?
In fact, Takayama Hitoshi has a more effective way.

That is to simply let Kitagawa Entertainment or Kawaide Shobo invest in New Literature, and everyone can become one family, live happily together, and completely monopolize the Japanese literature market. Wouldn't that be great?

“That is, if we don’t do this, we’re screwed.

And the final advice you gave us, President Takayama, who the company hired with a salary of 3200 million, was to step down and apologize, and bow down to Kitagawa Hide with everyone else?"

Someone in the upper echelons said something very nasty.

Many people's faces changed, they turned to look at the person who was speaking, and then looked at Gao Shanrenyu on the stage.

In the past, the president's loyal dog would have come out and barked at the person who was speaking.

But now.
After the questioning, there was only dead silence.

"Doesn't this mean that the president with an annual salary of 3200 million is just an incompetent guy?" the man added.

"I'm so sorry!"

Gao Shanjinyu stood up straight, then bowed 90 degrees to the audience.
"If you must understand it this way, you can say that it was indeed my incompetence that caused the company to be unable to withstand Mr. Kitagawa's combination punch."

"Even now, you're still calling me Teacher Beichuan! You bastard!" the man continued to growl.

He cursed harshly and didn't give Takayama Hitoshi any way out.

But Takayama Hitoshi, who stood up and accepted the scolding, and was willing to bear all the consequences, made his sarcastic words instantly lose their power.

This is the case.

In an instant, only a feeling of desolation filled the huge Xinwenxiang Publishing House.

So what should we do next? (End of this chapter)