In the anime, Kira Yoshikage longs for a peaceful life

"impossible."

Kasumigaoka Utaha said without hesitation: "With such low sales, it will definitely be cut in half!"

Machida Sonoko was helpless:

"Although the sales volume is a bit low, there are still people watching it..."

"for example?"

Kasumigaoka Utaha asked back, "Can you give me an example?"

"for example……"

Machida Yuanzi was a little confused, but when she saw Kira Yoshikage out of the corner of her eye, her eyes suddenly lit up:

"Hello, this guy, Kira Quinn, maybe Kira-kun has seen it? Hey, brother, have you seen "Love Metronome"? "

Machida Sonoko read out Kira Yoshikage's name according to the nameplate on his chest, and quietly clasped her hands together as if praying, hoping that he could say a few nice words and give her some encouragement.

Kirara Yoshikage, who was wiping the cup, replied without even looking up:

"Seen."

"is it?"

Machida Sonoko heaved a sigh of relief and asked with a smile:

"So what's your opinion of this work?"

Kasumigaoka Utaha added with sharp eyes:

"I want to hear the truth!"

Although she said so, there was a hint of hope in the girl's eyes.

She was expecting to hear words of praise from others, only in this way could she deceive herself into continuing to write.

Kirara Yoshikage thought for a moment and said seriously:

"If I were to evaluate it, it would be considered a decent roll of toilet paper."

Chapter 31 Feeling Not as Good as the Harem

"Toilet paper..."

Kira Yoshikage's words were like a sharp knife, stabbing the girl's heart. Kasumigaoka Utaha bit her lip tightly, her pride made her want to fight back fiercely, but the dismal sales were an indisputable fact.

Kasumigaoka Utaha inexplicably felt a tightness in her chest that made it hard for her to breathe. She covered her chest and lowered her head, closing her eyes in pain, with a faint bitter smile on her lips.

Toilet paper?

Is this how others evaluate her work?

It turned out that in the eyes of others, her work, which she had worked so hard on, was so unbearable.

Machida Wanzi felt a little distressed when she saw the appearance of Kasumigaoka Utaha.

She had originally just wanted to find a stranger to encourage her, but she hadn't expected it to turn out like this, so she hurried to make amends:

"Shi-chan, don't pay attention to what he said. He obviously hasn't read your book and is deliberately trying to make you angry..."

"I am fine."

Kasumigaoka Utaha took a deep breath, raised her head again, and looked at Kira Yoshikage stubbornly:

"Why would you give a review of the toilet...toilet paper?"

Kasumigaoka Utaha's heart ached slightly. To have an author say with her own mouth that her work was toilet paper was undoubtedly the biggest insult to her.

But she just wanted to know why.

Why could the novel she put so much effort into be so despised!

"how to say."

Kirara Yoshikage stopped wiping the cup and thought for a while before speaking slowly:

"If we have to make a conclusion, it's that there is a problem with positioning."

"position?"

Kasumigaoka Utaha frowned, while Machida Wanko looked a little surprised.

She originally thought that Kira Yoshikage was just talking nonsense, but now it seems that he really wasn't talking nonsense...

"To be fair, the author's writing style is delicate and graceful, and is comparable to many famous veteran authors, or even better. After all, many veteran authors need to find someone to polish their works after they finish writing."

After hearing these words, Kasumigaoka Utaha inexplicably felt that Kira Yoshikage was much more pleasing to the eye, but this was not what she wanted to hear.

“The author’s problem lies in the positioning of the work.

“The first volume of Love Metronome describes the young love between the male and female protagonists. If we have to categorize it, it is a story with only one female protagonist.

“But Love Metronome is different from other single-female-lead novels because the author’s description clearly focuses on the female lead, Sayuka, which shows that the author clearly put herself into the role of Sayuka when writing the novel.

"The reader's sense of immersion often comes from the author's words. When the author puts himself into the shoes of Sayuka to write the novel, the reader will instinctively put himself into the shoes of the heroine Sayuka, rather than the hero Naoto.

"Light novels with a single female protagonist are a niche genre, and their sales are far inferior to those of harem novels. Due to this positioning gap, most male readers cannot empathize with the male protagonist. On the contrary, women will have a strong sense of empathy when reading this novel.

"They will put themselves in Sayuka's shoes and imagine themselves having a sweet love with the male protagonist Naoto."

After looking at Kasumigaoka Utaha's expression that looked as if someone had stabbed her in the heart, Kira Yoshikage continued:

“And the author made the same mistake again when he wrote the second volume.”

Kasumigaoka Utaha clenched her fingers tightly, her pretty face slightly pale:

"Because of Zhenwei?"

"Correct."

Kira Yoshikage withdrew his gaze from the girl's slender hand:

“The addition of Shin Wei in the second volume was obviously a compromise made by the author when he discovered that the sales of the first volume were not good.

“The author tried to boost sales by adding a new female protagonist and using elements of party struggles and love triangles commonly used in romance novels, but this instead caused the positioning of Love Metronome to deviate again.

"Although the sales of the first volume were not good, that was due to the limitation of the subject matter. The readers were screened from the beginning. People who read this novel were basically attracted by the 'single female protagonist'. As a result, the second volume suddenly turned into a party struggle, which was equivalent to a second screening of the already scarce readers.

“Readers who originally wanted to see the young love between Sayuka and Naoto were unable to accept it, so sales will naturally continue to plummet.

"There are many similar examples, such as the numerous 'pseudo-harems' in light novels. They start out as harems, but end up with a single female protagonist. Even if this kind of novel sells well, it is just a disgusting roll of toilet paper in the minds of readers.

"In fact, if the author could continue the style of the first volume when writing the second volume, Love Metronome might not be a niche masterpiece. Unfortunately..."

Kira Yoshikage paused for a moment, Kasumigaoka Utaha's face turned paler, and she whispered to herself:

“There are no ifs in this world.”

Kasumigaoka Utaha raised her head, tears welling up in the corners of her eyes, and smiled bleakly:

"You're right, 'Love Metronome' is just a roll of... toilet paper."

"Shi-chan."

Machida Wanzi felt more and more distressed.

"I am fine."

Kasumigaoka Utaha wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes with the back of her hand, looked at Kira Yoshikage and whispered:

"I'm sorry to disappoint you..."

Being able to analyze so thoroughly, the other party is obviously her loyal reader. The deeper the love, the deeper the hatred. Being able to give a cruel evaluation of toilet paper, the other party must be very disappointed in her, right?

Kasumigaoka Utaha felt a little bitter. It wasn't the readers who let her down, it was she who let the readers down!

Kirara Yoshikage glanced at the girl who seemed a little guilty and said frankly:

"Not really, because I'm not your reader."

Machida Wanzi was somewhat speechless:

"How can a reader who is not Shi-chan give such a thorough analysis? Don't tell me this is your friend's analysis!"

"That's not the case. That's my own feeling. But I'm definitely not her reader because I haven't spent a penny on her books."

"..."

Kasumigaoka Utaha opened her mouth, not knowing what to say for a moment, and subconsciously asked:

"So how do you read books?"

"I used to work in a bookstore and just flipped through it."

Kasumigaoka Utaha was a little annoyed: "This is not just a casual flip!"

To be able to analyze it so thoroughly, it must be because you have read it from beginning to end many times!

So what if I didn't spend money? Why can't I just admit that I'm her reader? Is she unworthy?

"Well~"

Machida Wanzi tried to smooth things over again:

"In short, this is not Shi-chan's problem. One failure doesn't mean anything. Failure is the mother of success. The Fuzugawa Library Grand Prize will end in four months. Shi-chan should learn from this lesson and submit the work before then. It will definitely sell well next year!"

Kasumigaoka Utaha remained silent. She was actually not that confident.

Kirara Yoshikage glanced at the two of them and suddenly said:

"Actually, it's not completely hopeless. There's no need to think about the next book so soon."

"Eh?"

Machida Wanzi's eyes lit up:

"Do you have any suggestions, bro?"

"The current poor sales are because the original readers are deceived and no longer buy into the book, but the author himself has never admitted that his novel has a 'single female lead'. So it is entirely possible to declare that this is actually a harem novel, but Sayuka has more scenes in the first volume."

"As long as people are willing to spend money on publicity, Love Metronome still has a chance to make a comeback."

Chapter 32 I must make you mine!

“Introducing new readers?”

Machida Wanzi's eyes lit up, this is very feasible!

The first volume screened out those readers who liked harem novels, leaving only readers who liked single female protagonists to buy her books. The party struggles in the second volume disappointed the loyal readers of the first volume, so the sales volume kept decreasing.

But if the story is re-promoted, the single female lead, which was originally a selling point, will be turned into a harem.

That will attract new readers. These readers who come for harem novels will have a higher tolerance for the "fake" single female protagonist in the first volume when they know that the second volume will be a harem novel.

In this way, as long as the third volume continues the writing style of party struggles and harem, the selling point of "harem literature" can be fully established! You can even revise the first volume and reprint it, adding some scenes of Zhen Wei to solidify the label of "harem literature".

Machida Wanzi took out her cell phone and said excitedly:

"Shi-chan! I'll talk to the editor-in-chief right now, maybe..."

Kasumigaoka Utaha grabbed Machida Wanzi's right hand which was holding the phone and pursed her lips tightly:

"I do not like this."

Machida Wanzi was stunned, but Kasumigaoka Utaha said in a depressed mood:

"I don't want to disappoint them any further, so that's all..."

"Shi-chan."

Machida Wanko looked a little helpless. She knew that Kasumigaoka Utaha felt sorry for the loyal readers of the first volume, so she wanted to let it go. And if Kasumigaoka Utaha gave up and no one wrote the third volume, it would be useless even if Machida Wanko could convince the editor-in-chief.

Kasumigaoka Utaha looked up at Kira Yoshikage and said softly:

"Sorry, let the story end here. This way, at least the Sayuka from the first volume can remain in your heart..."

Kirara Yoshikage glanced at her and pondered for two seconds:

"Is there a possibility, I mean possibility, that I am actually a harem member?"

Kasumigaoka Utaha was stunned for a moment, then her face turned red, feeling that her self-esteem was insulted.