Rebirth 04: Starting from Taking an Unconventional Approach

Just as the van loaded with Bluebird Magazine arrived at the Bluebird Publishing House, Han Fei had just announced in the conference room that China Mobile would be providing support for the project.

Therefore, almost everyone rushed to greet the magazine in a state of excitement.

Han Fei walked towards the gate, feeling his heart pounding with excitement, pumping out vital blood. His feet carried him forward without expending any energy, and his joy made him radiate a blazing light like the sun in the sky. Because he knew this was the beginning, the beginning of the end.

The magazine was personally delivered by Jin Hongfa. He opened the cargo door and saw neatly stacked cardboard boxes inside, each with a label: Bluebird New Rural Fiction Special Issue - Inaugural Issue.

"President Han," Jin Hongfa said, "five thousand copies, not a single one missing."

"Director Jin, thank you for your hard work."

Han Fei randomly opened two cardboard boxes, took out three magazines from the first box and handed them to Zhang Ruiyi. He then took out three magazines from the second box, checking the covers for color differences and dirt, flipping through them to see if there were any inverted pages or missing pages, running his fingers along the edges, and finally pinching a corner of the magazine and shaking it. Zhang Ruiyi followed suit and finished checking as well.

The publishing house colleagues were well-prepared and eager to try, so much so that as soon as Han Fei finished signing the delivery slip, the top stack of magazines had already left the carriage.

The lobby on the first floor of Qingniao Publishing House was turned into a temporary warehouse, which was soon filled with cardboard boxes.

Jin Hongfa promised that the second batch of goods would be delivered on time the next day at the same time, then jumped into the truck and left.

For the next three hours, everyone was busy packing and labeling.

Zhang Meimei held up a list of distribution channels and listed the quantity required for each outlet.

Han Fei kept ten magazines, and had Lu Hai, Cheng Xu, and Zhou Tao repackage the rest according to quantity. Each package was wrapped in kraft paper, tied with rope, and a sticker was attached to each package with the branch name and quantity written by hand to ensure that they would not be mixed up during delivery.

Jin Hongfa also thoughtfully included ten A4-sized posters, featuring magazine covers and enlarged versions of "Mobile Dream Network is selling well with 20 readers," which distributors can place in prominent locations in their stores as promotional materials.

Han Fei stood by the window, gazing at the sky above the building's rooftop. The evening sunlight tinged the base of the thin, wrinkled clouds with orange and red. The group gradually returned to the conference room, each person's forehead glistening with sweat. Zhang Ruiyi distributed the freshly squeezed orange juice she had just bought to everyone.

Han Fei walked to the whiteboard, took the orange juice, took a big gulp, and then smiled and said, "I can see that everyone is a little tired, but we still have to finish the meeting this afternoon, because the headquarters has given us not only support, but also a pledge. We must achieve a turnover of more than five million within three months. I'll briefly mention a few key points so that everyone can go back and rest as soon as possible."

Lu Hai shouted, "It's alright, boss. We're in good spirits!"

Everyone laughed.

"Okay," Han Fei said. "Let's talk about the magazines first. After the second batch arrives tomorrow, we'll start prioritizing deliveries to the 20-plus outlets we agreed on earlier. We'll discuss the specific arrangements tomorrow. Then there's the authors. Signing contracts can't stop; in fact, we need to accelerate it. We now have mobile endorsement, print magazines, and the anticipated pilot programs in two provinces—these are all bargaining chips with authors. For those who are still observing, let's talk again. Tell them that signing an exclusive contract isn't just about online revenue sharing; it also includes print magazine royalties, official mobile recommendations for exposure, and even potential access to traffic from Guangdong and Zhejiang provinces in the future."

"I understand, President," Lu Hai said. "Are we also promoting the same content in Guangdong and Zhejiang provinces?"

"Lu Hai has hit the nail on the head," Han Fei said. "The pilot programs in Guangdong and Zhejiang provinces mean we need to slightly adjust our content and copywriting to cater to readers in these two regions to achieve higher conversion rates. Guangdong users are younger, with many migrant workers who prefer fast-paced, high-conflict, and emotionally intense stories. Zhejiang has a thriving private economy, many small towns, and its readers are more experienced and sensitive to interpersonal relationships, business rivalries, and family ethics. Next, the editorial team needs to reclassify existing manuscripts according to three labels: suitable for Guangdong, suitable for Zhejiang, and suitable for nationwide use. Furthermore, we will organize authors to create targeted content based on the characteristics of these two provinces, even if it's just assigned writing, as long as the story is good, the payment will be generous. The copywriting library also needs a comprehensive upgrade; for the same story, we need 3 to 5 different promotional copywritings for different provinces and user profiles. You and Sun Yue can work together on this; the urban romance authors she brought can test the waters in Zhejiang."

"Okay." Lu Hai smiled shyly at Sun Yue. Sun Yue blushed, tapped her notebook with her pencil, and pretended not to be affected.

"Cousin," Cheng Xu raised his hand, "we have a legitimate phone number now, what did Boss Zhou say?"

Han Fei thought for a moment: "Let's use it for now before we support its implementation. I'll go talk to him about it in the next couple of days."

"it is good."

"Wen Jie," Han Fei said, looking at Wen Jie, "the technical team sent from headquarters will arrive in the next few days. You'll be fully involved. Once the user profiling system is launched, we need to immediately start segmenting and pushing content based on the profiles, including gender, age, and consumption habits—all of which need to be refined. You need to think about the data structure and tagging strategy in advance. The phone number attributes in Guangdong and Zhejiang provinces are different from those in Shanghai, so the backend needs to be able to support provincial-level operations."

Wen Jie nodded silently. There was no smile on his face; he looked dejected and headed towards the exit.

"Is there a problem, Wen Jie?" Han Fei asked.

Everyone seemed to sense something was amiss and turned to look at Wen Jie.

Wen Jie shook his head, stood up, and turned to leave.

The meeting room fell into a sudden, deathly silence; everyone looked bewildered and at a loss.

Just then, Zhang Ruiyi's phone rang, breaking the silence. Zhang Ruiyi went outside to answer the call.

Han Fei cleared his throat: "Finally, let me talk about the risks. NetEase hasn't made any moves lately, but I don't believe they'll keep watching forever. Xu Cheng of Tencent is an even tougher nut to crack; I have a feeling he'll make a move soon. So time is extremely tight for us; we have to treat every day from now on as if it were three."

Han Fei summarized the meeting, his mind already racing with thoughts. He adjourned the meeting and hurriedly left.

Zhang Ruiyi stood at the entrance of the publishing house, having just hung up the phone.

"Have you seen Wen Jie?" Han Fei asked.

"I think he went inside," Zhang Ruiyi said, pointing to a shop on the corner across the street. "What happened to him?"

Han Fei sighed, "I wonder what that kid is thinking. Whose call was it?"

"It's my dad. He's back and asked me to pick him up at the airport."

Han Fei nodded: "Then you go ahead, I'll go find Wen Jie."

"Okay, see you tomorrow."