Typical British humor appealed to Richard, who laughed, "That's right, we can sell Sherlock to aliens, if we can find them." ”

"Since foreigners love Sherlock Holmes, so do aliens, I wish you all a speedy accomplishment of this goal. ”

Zhang Chu stood up, he shook hands with Richard Dent, and the cooperation between the two was completed at this time.

Before Richard got into the elevator, he suddenly thought of something and said mysteriously: "We have licensed this show to PBS, it has been very popular in the United States, maybe you should ask the agent to contact Random House." ”

When Zhang Chu was thinking about what this PBS was, Richard stepped onto the elevator and waved goodbye.

After the elevator door closed, Zhou Kang asked curiously, "What did he whisper to you just now?"

"He said that you should contact Random House, it seems that "Sherlock" has officially aired in the United States, and I don't know what this PBS broadcast platform is. ”

The people in the hallway didn't know which PBS station was, and they seemed to be exposed to CBS, NBC, FOX, C, and other TV stations.

Zhang Chu didn't expect the rest of the people to give an answer, he took out his mobile phone and searched for it, and finally understood that this was also a public TV station in the United States, consisting of 354 franchised TV stations, but the number of viewers was small, and the record in the last three years was 5.4 million people watching the program.

However, PBS still has many famous programs, such as the well-known "Nature", "Discovery", "Sesame Street" and so on.

If "Sherlock" is broadcast on this TV station, in fact, the platform is not good, because it and public TV stations have tens of millions of viewers!

Zhou Kang quickly figured out what Richard meant, taking advantage of the opportunity of the TV series being broadcast on TV, if it didn't make it to the bestseller list in the United States, then the book probably never had a chance.

"This is indeed our last chance, since it has reached the top in the UK, and now it is difficult for the US to even be in the top ten, it seems that the United States does not like the British very much!"

Zhang Chu said approvingly: "Sherlock Holmes is definitely more popular in Britain, the United States looks down on the British, but envy the British culture, haven't you heard of the ridicule on the Internet? If you want to win the Oscar, you will shoot the story of British masterpieces and British celebrities." ”

"After all, the United States became independent from the British colonies, and while it was sometimes good enough to wear a pair of pants, there was certainly a difference. Moreover, the book market in the United States is much larger than in the United Kingdom. A staff member of Menglong Culture laughed and joked.

The man stared at Zhou Kang and asked, "Teacher Zhou, what should we do now?" Now the company is concentrating manpower and resources on the promotion of "Wanli Fifteen Years", and it seems that there is no ability to go to the United States to help Zhang Chu?"

The pre-sale of "The Fifteenth Year of Wanli" has begun, but now it doesn't seem to be in a very good form, probably because the keyword of history + academics has scared readers away.

Fighting on two fronts is simply impossible for small companies, especially in the United States, where many people don't even understand the basics of how the American book market works.

Before Zhou Kang could speak, Zhang Chu waved his hand and said, "I don't think we need to do anything, just urge Random House." They are the publishers, and if the English version of Sherlock can make it to the American charts, they will be the biggest beneficiary. ”

"Xiao Zhang is right, even if Random House has a big business, it should pay attention to this book, how many books can sell millions of copies around the world! I immediately went to call the editor of Random House and asked. ”

Just do it, Zhou Kang is a vigorous and resolute person, now time is pressing, if you don't hurry up and get out the momentum and reputation when the TV station broadcasts the program, then there will be no chance in the future.

Because Zhang Chu doesn't plan to write the "Sherlock" series anymore, the second season will only have a script, and there will be no more such things!

……

In the middle of the night, in an ordinary apartment in Brooklyn, New York, the ringtone unique to the Apple mobile phone pierced the silent night sky.

A furry arm stretched out from the quilt and grabbed the mobile phone next to the bedside lamp into the quilt, and a slightly hoarse foreign male voice asked very unpleasantly: "Hello, whoever you are, don't call me at three o'clock in the morning." ”

In the office, Zhang Chu, Zhou Kang, and translator Xiao Li looked at each other, and they seriously suspected that they had made the wrong call.

Although Zhou Kang couldn't understand what he was saying, the anger contained in his words had exceeded the boundaries of language, "What did he say?"

Xiao Li translated in a low voice: "He seems to have been woken up by our phone call when he was sleeping at three o'clock in the middle of the night, and he is angry at this moment." ”

"Three o'clock in the middle of the night, didn't you say that it was only 11 o'clock in the morning in London?" Zhou Kang muttered in a low voice, and he also went to check the time.

"Hello, is anyone there?" sounded a little inflective, a little slurred.

Zhang Chu knew that if he didn't say anything, it was estimated that the call would be over.

He walked over to the hands-free phone and asked, "Chris, is that you?" I'm Zhang Chu, and I want to ask you something. ”

Chris sat up from the bed abruptly after hearing Zhang Chu's voice, and a blonde beauty next to him turned her back in dissatisfaction, leaving a smooth back.

The Random House editor got up and put on his bathrobe beside the bed, tiptoed out of the living room and replied, "It's me, why are you calling at this point?"

"You shouldn't be in the United States, right?" Zhang Chu briefly calculated the time and asked suspiciously.

Chris over there suddenly realized, "I forgot to tell you about this, it's been almost a month since I transferred from London to New York. ”

"Sorry to disturb your sleep, or call me back when you wake up. ”

It is indeed very inhumane to disturb other people's sleep, and Zhang Chu is not willing to receive any phone calls at night!

Chris walked over to the fridge, took out a can of beer and took a sip, since they were all awake, there was no need to wait, "It's okay, let's talk about something now." ”

He wasn't the rigid Englishman of that type, and of course even the most rigid Englishman would not show it to his employer.

"I've just signed a contract with the BBC for the second season of Sherlock, and the script has been handed over to them, so I expect there will be news in the next two days. I heard that the show was airing on PBS in the US, so I wanted to ask if it was possible for it to make the New York Times bestseller list or something. ”

Zhang Chu told the situation on his side and the target in one breath, and wanted to hear the news and advice of professionals.

After taking a sip of beer, Chris was not surprised that Zhang Chu would sign a contract with the BBC for a sequel, which is a win-win situation, and neither party will have to deal with money and fame.

"Now "Sherlock" is okay on PBS, after all, it can't be compared to CBS, which just finished the second episode yesterday and attracted a total of 3.8 million views. The film has sold 1.2 million copies in the U.S. and actually sold 800,000 copies, which is not far from the work on the New York Times bestseller list, but we can't say that it will make the list. ”

Unlike China, where official agencies directly publish the book rankings, the United States does not have any regulatory body to supervise it, and relies entirely on the credibility and high-level tasting of the list makers to accumulate influence.

Today, the New York Times no longer dominates the bestseller lists, with USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, as well as online book retailer Amazon and Barnes & Noble, the largest offline physical book retailer, each with its own way of ranking and enriching its readers.

Nielsen Book Monitor also updates its rankings, with data coming directly from cash registers at more than 4,500 retail bookstores across the country.

In the case of Barnes & Noble or other bookstore chains, the bestseller list is determined based on the sales of its own chain stores and its official website.

Since the book rankings of each newspaper are not disclosed, and the bookstores selected are very different from the sources of distributors, the results of the major bestseller lists are often very different, especially the latter ones.

Sometimes, books that are in the top 10 on the New York Times list may not make it to USA Today!

Nowadays, the American people are no longer as foolish as they were in the past, and their approach is to listen to each other, refer to different lists of multiple newspapers, and use the repetitive works as the main target of reading.

There are many factors that affect the popularity of a book, among which the reputation of the author and the charm of the work itself should not be underestimated, but sometimes the right publicity and promotion can also transform a book.

For publishers and writers, best-selling is a charming word with magic power, which represents the reader's affirmation of the publisher's vision and hard work, and the recognition of the writer's words.

For many, bestsellers may seem like a miracle that is unattainable, but with the constant exploration and analysis of market data by large companies like Random House, they have deciphered some of the secrets of bestsellers.

To put it bluntly, bestsellers are meant to arouse the interest of most people in society, and really serious and professional political, economic, and historical books are usually difficult to sell.

As the world's largest publisher, there is also fierce competition among the editors within the company, and their salaries and bonuses are linked to performance!

A book that has been on the bestseller list is much better than ten books that do nothing, and the money and fame are inseparable, both in terms of money and promotion.

Chris had signed a number of great films when he was in the UK, but when he moved to New York, he desperately needed a good piece to help him secure his position.

That's why he said categorically: "Don't worry, I will try my best to make this book a bestseller, even if it doesn't make it to the New York Times, I will show up on the rest of the lists!"