Rebirth 04: Starting from Taking an Unconventional Approach

Chapter 182: All Lines Surge in Red

The rain poured down, continuing from yesterday and raging all morning, before the sun unexpectedly burst into the sky, instantly burning away all the dark clouds. Han Fei leaned back in his chair, making the most of the large conference room. Around the conference table, all the publishing house members, including Han Fei and Zhang Ruiyi, sat huddled together in chairs—fifteen people in total. They had finished their greetings and swallowed their breakfast. Han Fei surveyed the room, thinking that Qingniao was developing rapidly, expanding in scale, and now even the largest conference room was almost full. It seemed that if they wanted to expand the team further, they would have to find a new location.

"Good morning, everyone," Han Fei said. "It's a new week again. I know you all didn't get much rest over the weekend, but the next week or two will probably be our busiest time, and many of you will be going on business trips or taking leave, so it'll be hard for this meeting room to be full again. So let's take advantage of this rare Monday morning, when everyone is gathered together, to summarize the work we've done so far and to review the key tasks for the next week or two. Wen Jie, you can start."

"Okay," Wen Jie said, his eyes glued to the laptop screen. "Let me report on the conversion rates first. In Shanghai, with a pool of three million official phone numbers, the overall conversion rate is currently 30.3%, with a cumulative total of 900,090 paying users and 9.09 million RMB in revenue. The data has stabilized, and the increase is on a normal decline curve, nothing unexpected. In Guangdong, with two million numbers, the conversion rate has just broken through 40%, currently at 40.1%. There are 802,000 paying users and 8.02 million RMB in revenue. The window of opportunity for public opinion has been largely exhausted, and I don't think there will be any significant growth afterward, but maintaining the current level shouldn't be a problem. Finally, in Zhejiang, with 1.5 million numbers, all pushed out on Saturday. So far, the conversion rate is 26.7%, with 400,500 paying users and 4.05 million RMB in revenue."

"This wasn't achieved with any media hype," Lu Hai said, "it was purely based on the content and copywriting. Impressive, the conversion rate is even higher than I expected."

"And it's only been two days," Zhang Ruiyi said.

"Two and a half days," Wen Jie said with a smile. "It started on Saturday morning. The data has stabilized, and I don't think there will be any major fluctuations. However, the conversion rate is indeed quite high. Shanghai, Guangdong, and Zhejiang combined have a total of 2.11 million paying users, and the total revenue has exceeded 20 million."

1YY

The crowd applauded and cheered.

Han Fei waited until the applause subsided before speaking: "Great! I saw a report in the newspaper before, where someone said Qingniao was 'a pig that flew on the wind.' Now, Zhejiang's conversion rate can shut those people up."

The crowd burst into laughter.

"Sister Mei, how are the magazine sales lately?" Han Fei asked.

"Cumulative sales have exceeded 150,000 copies. The average daily sales are 3,500 copies, a 40% increase compared to last week."

"Three thousand five hundred books a day, that's over one hundred thousand a month," Cheng Xu said.

"Yes," Zhang Meimei said, "so I think we can directly raise the first print run of the next issue to 20,000 copies."

Han Fei nodded: "Hmm...that's possible. But what's the situation with the distribution channels, Lu Yiming?"

Lu Yiming raised his round head and looked at Han Fei.

"I have visited eight townships in Songjiang and Qingpu districts so far, and visited a total of 27 outlets, including newsstands, small supermarkets, grocery stores, and two post office agencies. I have confirmed that I can stock my products at 24 of them, but the other three refuse no matter what."

"What's the reason for your refusal?"

Lu Yiming rubbed his neck: "The two are old men who said they've only ever sold magazines delivered by the post office, and they absolutely refuse to buy any from outside. Even zero-cost trial sales didn't work. The other one is a woman who runs a grocery store. She said that no magazines sell there, and they just take up space, so she's not planning to get any new ones."

"Let's leave that for now," Han Fei said. "Don't waste any more time on them, keep running around to other places."

"Okay, president. That's what I think too."

"Lu Hai, tell me about the status of our contracted authors and manuscript reserves."

"Oh, let me see..." Lu Hai opened his notebook. "As of yesterday, there were a total of 562 contracted authors. There were 303 first-level contracts, 148 second-level contracts, and 111 third-level contracts. There were 1,140 usable manuscripts in stock. Of these, 873 had completed the third review and were ready to be published online at any time, while the rest were still awaiting final review."

"One thousand one hundred and forty articles," Wen Jie murmured, "enough to keep things going for a while."

"Enough to keep going for a while?" Lu Hai exclaimed. "Even if we only push out five to eight new articles a day, the existing stock is enough to last four months. That doesn't even include the weekly additions. Right now, the weekly additions are stable at eighty to one hundred articles, mainly from regular contributions from contracted authors and materials incubated by the Root-Seeking Project. The materials provided by the Root-Seeking Project are coming in steadily, all thanks to Xiao He. Her screening efficiency has improved a lot since she came."

All eyes were on Lin Xiaohe, who cleverly raised her eyes and smiled shyly.

"We have to thank Wen Jie's one-sentence submission filtering system for this," she said. "As of last night, we've received '60%' of the submissions?" Lu Hai interjected, "So, do we still have to manually review the rest one by one?"

"yes."

"Thank you for your hard work. I salute you." Lu Hai said, making a salute gesture.

Lin Xiaohe's smile widened: "In the end, I marked a total of 143 pieces of material as 'high potential.' Some of them have already been used by contracted authors for expansion. Teacher Yuanfan alone took on two, and several new authors are also writing."

"Okay," Han Fei said. "Since there are no issues with distribution channels and content reserves, let's set the first print run for the next issue at 20,000 copies, as Sister Mei suggested. Have you finished selecting the manuscripts yet?"

"I've finished selecting," Zheng Xiaowen said. "I'm currently doing the layout."

Han Fei nodded slowly. Just then, the phone on the conference table rang, displaying an unfamiliar number on the screen.

It might be a reporter calling. He was about to press the "reject" button when he suddenly noticed the area code at the beginning of the number was 025. He remembered that was Nanjing's area code. Nanjing, Jiangsu.

Han Fei answered the phone: "Hello, this is Han Fei from Qingniao Publishing House."

The conference room fell silent as everyone's eyes turned to him.

A voice with a heavy northern Jiangsu accent came through the microphone: "Hello, President Han, this is Xu Zhenghong from the Data Business Department of Jiangsu Mobile. Sorry to bother you."

"Oh?" Han Fei feigned surprise, pretending he never expected someone from Jiangsu Mobile to call him. "Hello, Mr. Xu, it's an honor to meet you. May I ask who you are looking for...?"

'

"Here's the thing, we've noticed that Qingniao's SP business data in Guangdong and Zhejiang is very impressive. Especially in Guangdong, we heard that the conversion rate has reached over 38%. Jiangsu Mobile has also been looking for high-quality content partners, so we'd like to talk to President Han to see if there's any possibility of cooperation."

"Mr. Xu is really well-informed. It's indeed running quite well in Guangdong, though it's only been online for a little over a week and the data is still climbing. Zhejiang has just started as well. We're also figuring things out as we go, taking it one step at a time."

"President Han is too modest," Xu Zhenghong said with a smile. "A conversion rate of 38% is top-tier in the entire SP industry. The market size in Jiangsu is no smaller than that in Guangdong, and there are significant differences between southern and northern Jiangsu. I wonder if Qingniao is prepared to create some targeted content?"

"Yes, we've been segmenting the content. We've also studied the southern and northern parts of Jiangsu during our internal discussions." Han Fei chuckled a few times, and from the glances of the others in the meeting room, he gradually understood what kind of call this was. "Southern Jiangsu has many factories and a large concentration of migrant workers, making it suitable for stories about struggling in a foreign land and romance/marriage; northern Jiangsu has a strong sense of local identity and many elderly people left behind, making it suitable for stories about land disputes and filial piety. We've done some targeted content in Guangdong and Zhejiang, and the data has been quite good. If we're going to collaborate, we can certainly do customized content specifically for Jiangsu."

Xu Zhenghong chuckled with satisfaction: "Hmm, you've considered things very thoroughly. So, what specific steps should we take next?"

What would be a more suitable approach? Both Guangdong and Zhejiang have held bidding processes, but we feel that the process would take too long.

"The process is easy to discuss," Han Fei said. "If you have a more efficient method, we will fully cooperate. You set the rules, and we will follow them."

"President Han is quite straightforward. How about this? I'll have our data business department send you a letter of intent for cooperation first, take a look. If it's convenient for you in the next few days, come to Nanjing so we can talk in person and also take a look at our market environment here."

"Okay," Han Fei said, "then I'll set a time as soon as possible. I'll make arrangements to visit you in Nanjing in the next few days, and also learn about the Jiangsu market experience."

Han Fei hung up the phone.

The others just stared at him.

"President," Lu Hai said with a smile, "did Jiangsu just come to us of its own accord?"

"Um."

The crowd cheered loudly.

"Jiangsu is a big province," Wen Jie said excitedly. "The first batch of phone numbers released in southern and northern Jiangsu combined must be at least three million, right? If the conversion rate can reach the level of Zhejiang, then there will be an additional seven or eight million in transaction volume."

Cheng Xu grinned, rubbing his hands together: "This is great! Shanghai, Guangdong, Zhejiang, and now Jiangsu..."

"We'll be visiting Shandong and Fujian provinces simultaneously. The monthly revenue must be heading towards 50-60 million, right? This conference room will probably be too crowded next time we have a meeting."

More laughter erupted from the table. Han Fei and Zhang Ruiyi exchanged a glance, their eyes widening before they simultaneously burst into laughter.

"You're quick with the math," Han Fei said with a laugh. "I just hung up the phone and you're already thinking about tens of millions in revenue."

"Okay, that day will come eventually. Right now, we need to secure the cooperation in Jiangsu. How's the draft proposal I asked you to prepare last time?"

The new editor, Qiao Siyi, who was sitting at the end of the conference table, stood up automatically. Her face didn't show a smile, yet she was a very charming woman. Qiao Siyi was slender, with strands of hair falling lifelessly down her sides. Her face was pale, with sharp features, and she wore a serious and tired expression. She wore a blue suit that accentuated her feminine curves, but underneath the skirt, black leggings and practical flat boots were visible, erasing any possibility of her deliberately flaunting her sex appeal. She stood there, looking at Han Fei.

"President," Qiao Siyi said in standard Mandarin without any accent, "Regarding the Jiangsu-targeted articles, Su Beining and I have divided the work. I'm responsible for southern Jiangsu, and he's responsible for northern Jiangsu. We've each completed six sample articles and the corresponding copywriting framework. Let me start with my side."

"Okay," Han Fei said.

Everyone listened quietly to Qiao Siyi's report. She believed that the southern Jiangsu region, especially Suzhou, Wuxi, and Changzhou, had a high concentration of migrant workers, among whom women aged 25 to 35 accounted for a significant proportion. Their reading activities primarily took place after get off work in the evenings.

Before bed and during weekend breaks, her emotional needs centered around three areas: loneliness in a foreign land, anxiety about marriage, and workplace bullying. She identified three themes related to these pain points and shared a sample article for each.

The first story, titled "Secrets in the Workshop," tells the tale of a female assembly line worker who, after being sexually harassed by her team leader, unites with other female workers to fight back. The core themes are "alliance of the weak" and "workplace justice," making it suitable for female readers to share.

Next is "A Rented Marriage," a novel about a working couple who pretend to be married to appease pressure from their hometowns. Their story unfolds as they move in together, their initial scheming eventually turning into genuine affection. The themes are "pretending to be married" and "oppression from one's family of origin," resulting in a high level of emotional intensity.

Finally, there's a suspense novel called "The Landlord's Surveillance Camera," which tells a story about privacy fears and a high-IQ counterattack. The main plot revolves around a female tenant who discovers a hidden camera in her room and, in turn, sends the spy to jail.

Qiao Siyi used the novel "A Rented Marriage" as an example to demonstrate the opening paragraph:

On the day we signed the contract, he asked me, "To what extent can you act?"

I said, "Anything is fine except for sex."

He laughed: "What a coincidence, me too."

On the night they got their marriage certificate, he got drunk and hugged me, saying, "Actually, my mom is dying. I just wanted her to see me get married before she passes away."

"What a great story," Lu Hai murmured.

"Did they get married in the end?" Cheng Xu asked.

The only response he received was the monotonous whirring of the laptop fan.

"President," Qiao Siyi concluded, "based on the reader feedback model I developed while working on the lifestyle section of *Shanghai Weekly*, this type of urban romance combined with realistic pain points might have a conversion rate five to eight percentage points higher in the southern Jiangsu region than purely rural themes. I suggest prioritizing female users aged 25 to 35 for the initial testing phase."

Han Fei smiled and said, "That's good. Su Nan's three points are all very accurate, and your report is also very solid. From now on, Su Nan's reports will continue to follow your direction."

"Okay," Qiao Siyi smiled, but her smile was somewhat reserved. "I understand, President."