Chapter 1208: How can such a person exist?
Translator: Legge Editor: Legge
Later that afternoon.
At Eastern Publishing Firm.
The phone lines were constantly ringing, but the staff were no longer trying to answer every call!
"The stores are pressing us for more books again!"
"The Bookstore wants to order another 4,000 copies of Fortress Besieged!"
"There isn't any leftover stock that we can ship out from the first print. Increase the print run!"
"We've already contacted the production line to do so!"
"Aiyo, this release has gotten way too explosive, my God!"
"200,000 copies of the first print and we're already sold out?"
"How can that be possible?"
"Why would it not be possible? The various major bookstores have relayed the statistics back to us. The sales for Fortress Besieged have emptied their inventories by 70%. Going by this rate, we'll be out of stock by tonight! 200,000 copies sold in a day? In the publishing world, there has never been anyone who managed this before!"
200,000 copies for the first print run, this was really not a low figure!
For most new authors, a first print run of 10,000 to 20,000 copies was very common. Publishers would tend to only raise that figure to 100,000 copies for best-selling authors and would use that figure for a year's worth of projected sales. The publishing industry was experiencing a slump as the impact from various online publishers were having a great effect. If a novel could sell 100,000 copies a year, it would be considered a very popular title. However, no one at Eastern Publishing Firm could have expected that even with 200,000 copies of Fortress Besieged printed for its first run, it was still not enough to last them a day of sales!
This was crazy!
This was totally crazy!
Over there, a female editor was fast walking over.
Everyone looked at her with smiles on their faces.
"Little Li!"
"Well done!"
"You've made a great contribution again!"
"Editor Li, you're looking great!"
Someone even led a round of applause for her!
Li Mei was a little embarrassed. "It's all to the credit of Teacher Zhang for trusting us with his book. I didn't really do much at all."
Li Mei was the newbie from the publishing firm who had struck the deal with Zhang Ye back then. At that time, Zhang Ye had just fallen out with his previous publisher and many of the other publishers were trying to sign him. Eastern Publishing Firm stood no chance of getting him as they were not well-known and were considered a small-time publishing firm in the industry. So they just sent an inexperienced employee to handle the negotiation to try to convince Zhang Ye to sign with them. To the expectations of no one, Li Mei managed to convince Zhang Ye and even got along very well with his mother. Afterwards, all of his works related to publishing were given to Li Mei to handle. In these past two years, the relationship worked fine without any hiccups. Many of the other publishers kept trying to headhunt Zhang Ye in the hopes that they could get a slice of the pie. But they could not understand why Zhang Ye kept choosing to work with Eastern Publishing Firm only and never once gave the rights of his books to any of the other publishing firms. It was also the same for Fortress Besieged!
Li Mei had now become a very reputable person in the publishing industry!
Ever since then, Eastern Publishing Firm had gained a firm foothold in the industry!
At the editor-in-chief's office.
Li Mei cautiously knocked on the door and went in. "Editor-in-Chief, you're looking for me?"
The editor-in-chief looked at her and clasped his hands with a smile. "Little Li, you're here? Quick, take a seat. What would you like to drink? I have some rather good tea here."
Li Mei anxiously waved her hands at that. "That's not necessary, that's really not necessary."
The editor-in-chief laughed heartily. "Have you seen the sales figures for Fortress Besieged yet?"
"Yes." Li Mei was quite happy with the results too.
"You're really great!" The editor-in-chief said in a pleased tone, "I didn't think we could get it again, but who could've guessed that Teacher Zhang would still let us have the publication rights to his new book!"
Li Mei said, "Teacher Zhang is actually very easy to talk to. He's not as ill-tempered as rumored. As long as we do well in our work with him, he won't switch publishers so easily. He's not extremely particular about the royalty fees either. A little more or a little less doesn't matter to him. That's just how he is."
"It was you who handled his account well." The editor-in-chief said with a smile, "How long have you been working at the firm?"
Li Mei counted. "Over three years."
The editor-in-chief nodded. "Upper management has decided to give you a promotion."
Li Mei was taken aback. "Ah?"
The editor-in-chief smiled. "Starting from tomorrow, you will be in charge of the Distribution Department."
Distribution Department?
In charge of it?
Li Mei was stunned!
…
The sales for Fortress Besieged blew up!
During the day, many people opened the book to read it as soon as they got their hands on it.
Sometimes, a book wasn't a good read even though it sold well, because a myriad of factors affected the sales figure of a book, like the promotional material or the fame of the author. Fortress Besieged had sold so crazily well because of Zhang Ye's popularity. Just like if Zhang Yuanqi or one of those seven Heavenly Kings and Queens released a book, their sales would definitely not be bad. But as for how good the book really was, that depended on the content inside.
At Peking University.
Yao Jiancai's daughter, Yao Mi, came running back to her dormitory.
"I've got 'em!"
"How many do you have?"
"My mom sent three books!"
"Give me one!"
"I want one too!"
"I wonder if it's any good."
"This is our Chinese Department's teacher's book you're talking about, how can it not be good!" Even though she said that, Yao Mi wasn't very sure of it either. Zhang Ye was dabbling for the first time in longform literary fiction about marriage. Compared to the Ghost Blows Out the Light that he had written, it was an entirely different genre. Yao Mi did not really know how good this book was.
So they sat down in the dormitory and started reading it together.
They spent the next few hours reading.
All of a sudden, one of her roommates yelled, "Heavens!"
Yao Mi was also very surprised. "Th-This is such a good read!"
A girl next to her said, "What do you mean by a good read? That's such a plain description! It's simply not enough to describe this book!"
Yao Mi asked, "Then how would you describe it?"
The girl declared, "This is a fucking godly read!"
That's right!
It was a godly read!
The few of them felt a sense of extreme shock!
…
At Zhang Xia's house.
Grandma Zhang was sitting back in her chair and reading a book.
Her nearby son called for her to take her medicine several times, but she did not hear him.
"Mom."
"Ah?"
"It's time to take your medicine."
"Oh, alright."
"What are you reading? You look lost in it."
"Hur hur, it's called Fortress Besieged."
"Zhang Ye's new book? Is it good?"
Zhang Xia hesitated for a moment before giving the most appropriate evaluation she could think of. "It's not a matter of it being good or bad, it's a shocking read!"
Her son said, "Then I'll read it too."
But Zhang Xia laughed and said, "You're such a restless person and have been so ignorant about things since childhood, so I doubt you'll be able to understand the intricacies and cultured language contained in this book. Such a book can only be written by someone with great wisdom. Little Zhang is really surprising. If he ever decides to venture into the literary circle, he would probably shock a great deal of foreigners. I believe that they don't yet know about this great talent that has emerged in China."
After taking her medicine, Zhang Xia continued reading Fortress Besieged. She sat there reading for the entire day.
…
At a certain author's studio.
The author, Chen Xian, also received a copy of the book. Someone from his studio brought it back for him, but he threw it aside without reading it.
"Teacher Chen, about tonight's Qilu Literature Prize…"
"Just leave it to fate, it's out of our control."
"You have a very good chance of winning."
"Hopefully, but it's difficult to say until the very end."
"Do you think that Zhang Ye has any hopes of winning?"
"Well, can he write literary fiction?"
Chen Xian just shook his head. In the field of poetry, there was probably no one who could outdo Zhang Ye in the whole of the literary field. This had been verified time and again. But when it came to novel writing, especially longform literary fiction, no one would be afraid of Zhang Ye. That was because no one had ever seen him write anything like this before, so they did not take him seriously. It was only due to the controversy surrounding the Yanhong Literary Prize that the Qilu Literature Prize committee had nominated him. It was simply a nomination, so of course they wouldn't award the prize to him.
But when he received a call, Chen Xian felt a sense of unease come over him.
It was his old friend on the line.
"Old Yu?"
"Chen Xian, did you get a copy of Fortress Besieged yet?"
"I have one, what's the matter?"
"Have you read it yet?"
"Why would I want to read it?"
There was a two-second pause on the other end. "I suggest that you give it a read."
Chen Xian was startled. "…Alright."
After hanging up, he immediately found the book and flipped to the first page.
An hour later, Chen Xian's expression had completely changed. After he closed the book, he took a deep breath and tasted a bitterness in his throat, like he had taken some Chinese traditional medicine!
Could he write literary fiction?
Thinking of this question he posed earlier, he already knew the answer!
That's right!
He really could write it!
Chen Xian had been stunned. Even if he was one of those from the literary circle who denounced Zhang Ye several years ago, even if he was extremely biased against Zhang Ye, he was still very shocked by this book!
How can such a book exist?
How can such a person exist?