Chapter 089: Blazing with Fury

The gimmick that Zhang Tan was a high school student was indeed eye-catching. Yet whether it was the traditional-character edition published by Fresh Culture in Taiwan or the simplified-character edition from Hunan People’s Publishing House, neither had deliberately revealed that the author was still in high school. After all, a physical book was different from a serialized magazine release. In serialization, a gimmick like that could still bluff people a little, tempt them into spending a few coins to satisfy their curiosity.

But with a physical book, absent any publicity campaign, being a high school student would only make readers keep their distance.

Who would be interested in a martial arts novel written by an unknown teenager?

Even Han Jingming, who had once been hugely popular, had dropped out of high school, but there was no comparison to be made. He had won first prize in the New Concept Writing Competition, had promoters behind him stirring up publicity, and had become famous before he had even begun writing novels. The newspapers had trumpeted his name so loudly that admirers naturally flocked to him.

No one was promoting Zhang Tan. The only thing spreading his name was Legends of Past and Present: Martial Arts Edition, and even that magazine’s influence was still fairly weak.

Still, this counted as a stroke of luck for Zhang Tan. Hunan People’s Publishing House had chosen to follow the proper publishing process and had not replaced the author’s name with some flashy pseudonym like Iron-Armed Li or Extraordinary Zhang to pass off one thing as another.

For ordinary newcomers, even the right to sign their own name on a book was often beyond reach.

Back then, when Chunfeng Literature and Art Publishing House brought out The Demon-Slaying Empire by Squad Leader Xiao, they had dressed it up in the skin of Guo Jingming’s three books, Phantom Realm, Phantom Shadow, and Phantom Dream. Only after those three books sold wildly did they change them back and restore Squad Leader Xiao’s pen name.

That was the publishing world for you: a complete mess.

Inside Yucai Bookstore, Wang Guohua had casually dropped the phrase “high school student,” and the two students browsing there were struck dumb. They could hardly believe that Four Great Constables Shock the Passes, which had absorbed them so thoroughly, almost to the point of trance, had actually been written by someone their own age.

“That balding uncle is pulling our leg, isn’t he?” the bespectacled student muttered to his companion.

“No idea. It doesn’t say so in the author bio.”

“It’s definitely fake. He hadn’t even read the book himself. He was asking us whether it was any good. How would he know how old this Zhang Tan is?”

“That makes sense. When he was flipping through the pages, his eyes kept darting around. He looked like a swindler.”

The two students whispered back and forth for a while, thoroughly scorning Wang Guohua, then lowered their heads and returned to reading. Students without enough pocket money to buy books could only steal time in bookstores whenever they had the chance.

Meanwhile, the man they had dismissed as a fraud had already left Yucai Bookstore and climbed back into the jeep with his assistant, Wu Hai.

“Xiao Wu, did you find out?”

“I did, Director. Our publishing house supplied Yucai Bookstore with two hundred copies of Four Great Constables Shock the Passes, and they’ve already sold a hundred and ninety-five. Yucai is getting ready to contact us and place another order for five hundred more,” Wu Hai said, his tone brimming with excitement. Most of the commission from book sales would naturally go to Wang Guohua, but as his assistant, if the boss made money, he would get a little of the broth as well.

“Excellent. They’re moving fast. In just two days, out of two hundred copies, a hundred and ninety-five are gone! Come on, let’s go to the next one—Sanlian Bookstore!”

The half-worn jeep sped along the roads of Changsha and soon arrived at Sanlian Bookstore.

Sanlian was also a nationwide bookstore chain, and like Yucai, it served as a bellwether for book sales. It too had stocked two hundred copies of Four Great Constables Shock the Passes.

After asking around, they received similarly heartening news.

Of Sanlian’s two hundred copies, more than a hundred and seventy had already been sold.

In the store, Wang Guohua even stopped a man of about thirty who was carrying Four Great Constables Shock the Passes to the register and asked why he was buying it.

The man’s answer was rather interesting.

“This one? I read it ages ago in Legends of Past and Present. I’ve always wanted a copy to keep. Before, I’d only heard that the traditional-character edition had been published. I didn’t expect that when I dropped by to browse today, I’d discover the simplified edition was out too, so of course I’m buying it.”

“You like Four Great Constables Shock the Passes that much?”

“I do. It’s a fine book—something you can return to, and every rereading has flavor. Besides, the author is only a first-year high school student. Good heavens, kids these days are incredible. Give him less than ten years and he’ll surely become one of the grand masters of martial arts fiction. Buying a copy now to collect has real meaning.”

“Hah, collecting it? Are you that fond of martial arts novels?”

“Martial arts fiction is a fairy tale for grown-ups. However much children love fairy tales, that’s how much adults love martial arts.”

“Well said!” Wang Guohua gave him a thumbs-up, and he meant it sincerely. If everyone thought that way, then this book really would become a bestseller.

For the entire afternoon, Wang Guohua visited more than a dozen bookstores around Changsha and gathered firsthand sales data.

Basically, in stores with heavy foot traffic, Four Great Constables Shock the Passes was selling like wildfire. In smaller stores, where there were fewer customers, the momentum was not yet so obvious, and sales were only average.

But one could not ignore the fact that it had been on shelves for barely more than two days.

“It’s going to explode. We’ll do another printing the moment we get back!” When Wang Guohua returned to the publishing house, he marched off full of ambition to contact the issuing department and work out a reprint plan.

...

The reprint plan was delayed somewhat. After all, they had just printed ten thousand copies, and now, not even two days later, he wanted another run. Quite a few people at the publishing house felt Wang Guohua was moving too aggressively and ought to steady himself first.

Wang Guohua was helpless as well. The publishing house was state-owned, not his private business. He could not simply order a reprint on a whim. Everything required reports and approval.

A week later, when the approval paperwork finally came through, the telephones in the publishing house’s marketing department were nearly ringing off the hook.

Bookstores everywhere were placing new orders for Four Great Constables Shock the Passes. The accumulated orders had already exceeded thirty-three thousand copies, and they were still increasing. Especially in other provinces, some bookstores had caught the scent of the book’s potential and were calling one after another to request shipments.

“Quick, start another run—one hundred thousand copies!” The instant Wang Guohua got the approval, he contacted the printing factory.

Only after the workers at the press had begun laboring overtime to print the books did Wang Guohua finally let out a long breath.

When he had first gone to sign the publication contract, he had never imagined that Four Great Constables Shock the Passes would sell this well. He had only intended a small operation, perhaps a few tens of thousands of copies, enough to earn himself a commission of a thousand yuan or so. Competition in publishing was fierce; not everyone could discover a bestseller. Most publishers muddled along exactly like this, making modest money in small ventures.

“But this time, I’ve finally hooked a big fish!”

The initial run had been ten thousand copies, and within one week they had sold out. Subsequent orders had already topped thirty-three thousand. Even this new print run of one hundred thousand might not be enough to satisfy the market.

Still, Wang Guohua did not dare print more. The market had its limits, and once a book caught fire, pirated editions would soon appear.

Pirated books cared neither for the integrity of the text nor for the quality of the paper. In practice, if a book became a hit today, the counterfeit versions could begin spreading tomorrow. The golden sales window for legitimate editions lay precisely in that span before the pirated ones emerged.

Thinking of this, Wang Guohua pulled out his phone again and dialed a number.

“Hello, President Li? This is Wang Guohua from Hunan People’s Publishing House... Yes, that’s right. I have a martial arts novel here, Four Great Constables Shock the Passes, and I’d like to put it up for sale on your Dangdang site... Good, good. Let’s meet tomorrow and discuss the details.”