Tokyo Soft Rice King.

Akira Kuroba also hoped that his manuscript would be approved smoothly, but his main purpose was not really to see Shiori Shirai strip naked; that was just an extra bonus.

The most important thing is still the royalties.

Once Qi can publish his work and receive royalties, he will have his first pot of gold, and many of his financial problems will be easily solved.

Neither the Purple Palace's development plan nor the subsequent discovery of other geniuses will be limited by economic conditions.

My dream of becoming a gigolo needs to be accelerated!

……

Keima Mori is the deputy editor of Hurricane Library, and this is his eighth year in the industry.

During his tenure, dozens of literary stars emerged from his hands, dozens of promising new books were published, and seven best-selling works that can represent the emerging light novel industry were created.

Although more than half of these works have become worthless and unwanted even in secondhand bookstores, most of the promising newcomers have disappeared after a brief period of fame...

But his efficiency was so high that it put other editors to shame.

It's worth noting that for most editors, discovering one promising new author and publishing two new works in a year is considered exceeding expectations.

After all, many new editors don't need to discover new authors and new works; they just need to take over the resources from the senior editors.

However, Keima Mori is quite something. Every year he manages to produce seven or eight popular new works, and he also brings in four or five newcomers who have never written a novel before, no matter where they come from.

His boldness in choosing personnel is such that even the head coach of the national football team would be ashamed of himself.

However, because of his ruthless style of abandoning authors who struggled to produce work or those who were incompetent, he was resented by many authors and was considered the 'most ruthless editor,' bar none.

This is because 70% of the works he had were cut off after just one volume, without even being able to finish them. It would also be difficult for him to publish a second work. His career as an author was shorter than a shooting star.

Of the remaining 30%, although 20% will escape the fate of "dying in one volume," they will still be forced to end within five volumes, with no room for negotiation.

However, these authors did produce excellent works after switching to other editors or publishing houses, and can be considered the backbone of the light novel industry.

This terrifying 90% cancellation rate is rare even in the notoriously ruthless world of comics, and it's unique in the world of novels, though it's hardly a compliment.

However, the remaining 10%, namely the seven works mentioned above, are all popular works from the Hurricane Bunko series, including the former pillar of the Hurricane Bunko series, "Unhappy Don't Cry".

However, even though his style as an author could be described as ruthless and heartless, everyone in the editorial department of Hurricane Bunko had complete faith in Mori Keima and had no complaints.

Because he was very generous, he gave all the authors he had personally nurtured to other editors, including those strong authors who had become pillars of the light novel industry.

Therefore, people in the industry who know him call him half angel and half devil. The angel refers to his gentleness towards fellow editors, while the devil refers to his strictness towards authors.

In fact, Keima Mori himself never felt that his practice of separating authors and works was anything to be praised.

He simply felt that those authors were already quite mature and didn't need editors to guide them in creating works with a strong personal style, and most of them would sell quite well.

That's why he can confidently delegate these authors to other editors, since one person's energy is limited, and he won't stop discovering new talent.

This is why Mori Keima is still only an 'assistant editor-in-chief', because the editor-in-chief's job is not just to discover new talent and chase after manuscripts.

The editor-in-chief also needs to discuss joint events with major publishing houses, hold author signing events, maintain regular contact with printing plants, and handle a series of miscellaneous tasks such as adapting novels into comics and anime... Of course, these are also tasks that ordinary editors need to do.

However, Mori Keima never cared about these things. He had already achieved impressive results, proving his insightful judgment, so he was entitled to not do these trivial matters.

In fact, his initial motivation for entering the editing industry was to be the 'first reader'.

He was a bookworm when he was in junior high school, especially fond of buying popular new novels. He always tried to be the first to read the newest and hottest novels as soon as they were released.

But after watching for a while, he realized...why are these authors releasing books so slowly?! What are the editors doing?! Are they playing mahjong at the publishing house?! Go and chase them up! I want to see the rest!

When he was desperately frustrated because he couldn't see a sequel, he suddenly had a breakthrough.

Isn't an editor the first person to see a finished product?

Alright! I've decided to be an editor!

Authors! Your end is nigh!

Once I enter this industry, none of you lazy writers will be able to slack off! I'll force you to produce your manuscripts even if it means whipping you through your asses!

However, after becoming an editor, he discovered that creating works is not as simple as cooking hot pot, where you can just boil water, throw in ingredients and soup packets, and expect things to fall into place naturally.

Often, the author himself doesn't know what he's going to write next, and can only manage to squeeze out ten words in three days, half of which are names and punctuation marks.

These authors aren't unwilling to write, nor are they trying to slack off... they just genuinely can't write!

This greatly disappointed and angered him.

Is this all you self-proclaimed professional writers are capable of? Produce me more interesting works! If you can't, I'll force you to become enlightened!

Thus, fueled by a burning rage, Keima Mori embarked on his career as a devilish editor...

This concludes the illustrious resume of Mori Keima, a professional editor.

And now he's reading amateur works that he submitted to Hurricane Library.

This was originally the job of a new editor, who would pick out the readable pieces and bring them to the serialization meeting for discussion. But he took on this task, and he has the power to decide whether or not to publish a work.

Although most of these new submissions are self-indulgent works by middle school students, there are also some interesting ideas among them.

He would write down these ideas and try to contact the authors who came up with them to see if they were worth nurturing. If they were poorly written and lacked any real substance, he would obtain the contributor's consent, purchase the ideas for a fee, and then provide them to other authors as a breakthrough when they were stuck writing.

This trick has proven effective time and again. It not only helps authors find creative direction, but also makes contributors who can't become professional writers happy to see their ideas incorporated into published works.

Since most of the ideas came from students, they not only received a sum of money but could also boast to their friends, "Look! I came up with the sequel to this novel!"

Although Mori Keima knew that this was actually taking advantage of the students' naivety and launching an 'inspiration extraction' campaign against them before they understood commercial value, it was actually a despicable act.

But what does it matter if it's despicable?

As long as the work is interesting, that's enough!

I'm an editor, after all! My mission is to make the work interesting!

Then he began his work for the day.

The first one is a submission that just arrived recently.

The book is titled "My Little Sister is Actually a Master of H-Game Creation?!"

Mori Keima's eyes lit up.

Excellent! Your book title has already successfully caught my attention!

This proves that the author is at least 'in the know'; in today's light novels, eye-catching gimmicks are becoming increasingly important.

Let's see what kind of novel reading experience this little-known 'expert author' can bring us!

Chapter 113 I Predicted Your Prediction

"……interesting!"

After reading only the prologue, Mori Keima couldn't help but offer his opinion first.

The prologue sets the tone and includes exciting bonus content, but the most eye-catching element is the younger sister's dramatic appearance at the brother's most awkward moment.

He had already keenly sensed the potential of a hit work, which would most likely be the best submission so far this year.

From an editor's perspective, what he found most valuable was that the prologue alone was very 'visual'.

Creating vivid imagery in a novel requires considerable experience from the author; only seasoned writers can master this skill. Some authors, despite their incredibly detailed descriptions, struggle to conjure up images in the reader's mind.

This may not be the most crucial point for traditional literature, but it is especially important for light novels.

Because light novels are the most suitable genre of novels to be adapted into manga and anime.

Since Keima Mori entered the industry, the definition of light novels has been constantly changing, but the core principle remains the same. He believes the most important point is whether the novel is suitable for adaptation.

Comic book and anime adaptations can lead to a surge in sales for the original novel, making this the most powerful collaboration in a country with a thriving anime industry.

Illustrations and character designs are the inherent advantages of light novels, but few authors grasp this and prioritize the visual appeal of their works, instead pursuing literary depth and meaning...

To hell with literary merit! If you want literary merit, go write a traditional novel! You submitted to the wrong publisher!

And this author is well aware of this.

Keima Mori's expectations were raised, and he wanted to read the next chapter immediately, only to find that the prologue was followed by character introductions and descriptions.

Watching this first will spoil the plot... or should I skip it... hmm?

Mori Keima, who had originally intended to skip this part, inadvertently glanced at the dialog box and was immediately puzzled as to why there was a dialog box on the character introduction page.

Then, upon closer inspection, his eyes gradually widened.

No! This isn't a character introduction!

"This is... a reserved page for color illustrations!"

Each character's name is followed by a line of dialogue related to that character, which vividly highlights the character's personality.

And all four are female protagonists... which means this is a novel that uses female protagonists as its selling point.

The following description was not originally a character introduction, but a note describing the scene. It was also Photoshopped to indicate that this part of the illustration should have been placed at the very beginning, but it was placed after the prologue so that the editor could have a 'preview'.

Indeed, in general, the color illustrations for light novels are placed at the beginning, but for a submission, doing that right away might make Mori Keima think the author is being cunning. However, after reading the prologue, one can judge whether the content of the novel is acceptable.

If the prologue merely emphasizes the visual appeal, then this reserved color illustration page clearly shows that the author had already planned out what to draw, which was obviously intentional on the author's part.

Mori Keima's curiosity was immediately piqued. In what context did they say these things?

Keep reading and you'll find out.

Four more hours passed, and the morning's workday was over. Mori Keima was so engrossed in reading that he even forgot to eat lunch.

After reading the entire volume, Mori Keima couldn't help but exclaim in admiration.

"Amazing..."

This is not to marvel at the author's talent, but to marvel at how thoroughly the author could have considered everything.

This is already a 'complete light novel'.

First of all, it's rare for novels submitted to editorial departments to be a complete novel written in one go like this. Most submissions consist of a beginning with an outline, and are sent with the intention of seeking advice.

Sending the entire volume directly shows that the author is quite confident in himself.

Moreover, it's not that the author thinks too highly of himself, because the manuscript had indeed completed all the pre-publication adjustments.

Publishing a light novel typically takes two to three months. First, the author produces the original manuscript. Then, after receiving the manuscript, adjustments are made over one to two weeks, mainly regarding the content, word count, and layout. Next, illustrations are added, and the book is sent to a printing factory for printing. Finally, it is placed in bookstores across the country.

However, this submission did not require any editing adjustments. The length and word count were just right. As long as an illustrator is commissioned to create illustrations, the novel can be printed and published now.

In Mori Keima's editing career, this was the first time he had seen a submission with such a high level of completion, indicating that the person had an excellent understanding of the publishing house.

He even suspected that a well-known author might be teasing him under a new pen name, and he wanted to find the sender's address and name to confirm.