"The Little Prince is the main business of the group this year...... Anna, do you know what that means? Osborne asked.

"You know, this book is important to Scholastic Publishing, and it's important to you." Anna whispered.

Making a book is expensive.

In particular, the hardcover classic style of "The Little Prince" uses thickened pure paper made in the Netherlands, which is three to five times more expensive than the lightweight paper commonly used in ordinary publications.

In the context of the price increase of the entire paper printing industry under the epidemic, the starting volume of the group to the printing house is still as high as hundreds of thousands of copies.

It's just printing.

And the cost of publicity and distribution is even more amazing.

Similar to the film promotion process, you have to put book reviews in major newspapers across Europe, buy ads on Amazon and GoodReader (international Douban), dozens of meetings between translators and readers, and hold related activities in major chain bookstores across Europe...... And so on and so forth.

A large number of American knives were thrown.

This is a book that does not allow for failure, and there is no reason to fail.

To put it mildly, the new book "The Little Prince" already has all the ingredients to become a new bestseller of the classics.

If Osborne doesn't do well, the loss is still a small thing, and the board of directors will really doubt your ability.

"Then you should also know the importance of illustrators to fairy tale books like The Little Prince." Osborne asked rhetorically in a calm tone.

Appearance determines sales.

This is especially true for the classics.

It sells "The Little Prince", and other publishing houses also sell "The Little Prince".

Why should I buy your version?

The foreign physical book market has high sales and strong competition, and there may be five or six different editions on a shelf.

The first thing that determines a reader's choice is the quality of the translation.

Similar to the more sophisticated professional readers of the Eastern Xia, those who buy Shakespeare must buy Zhu Shenghao's version, those who read Turgenev must read Feng Zikai's, and Balzac's works should choose the translated version of Fu Lei......

The second is the illustration and cover.

If the quality of a translation is the "bone" of the book.

Then the illustration designed by the illustrator is the "skin" of a book.

A beautiful, well-illustrated book that readers will naturally enjoy.

In a sense, whether the illustration, especially the cover illustration, attracts the reader, is even more important than the content.

Humans are visual creatures.

Whether the content of the book is good or bad, the cover art is the first impression you make to your readers.

Big data statistics of the group's marketing department,

In front of a row of bookshelves, the average reader will often subconsciously choose the version with the most pleasing cover illustration to put in their shopping cart.

And Osborne also understands that the publishing house has conducted professional questionnaires in advance.

In the annual sales of "The Little Prince", a large proportion of them are Christmas gifts bought by parents for their children, souvenirs between literary couples, and bought back and placed on the bookshelf at home as stylish display decorations...... The gift attribute is even greater than the reading attribute.

If you want the cover to be ugly, you will be sentenced to death directly for this part of the sales.

"If it's a general illustration work, Anna, you come to me, it's impossible for me to refuse. However, "The Little Prince" is different, and the group's plan is to hire a famous first-line illustration studio to escort this work. Not even the in-house veteran illustrators have a chance to write. ”

Osborne is open about his difficulties.

As a large publishing group with a market value of 10 billion US dollars, Scholastic naturally has its own art and design department.

The vast majority of publication designs are done in-house, which is less costly.

Only particularly important ace works will adopt a policy of outsourcing.

This is exactly the same as the group has its own professional translation department, but hires Dean Hawke of Oxford University to write and translate.

In the Scholastic project, because "The Little Prince" has entered the realm of public editions, there are only two aspects of the author's share of the expenses.

In order to achieve the best possible result in the final presentation of the book, the conditions given by the translator and illustrator were generous.

Dean Hawke gets 18% of the royalties from sales, which is the lion's share, and the rest is the illustrator.

The price for the main cover of the illustration is $25,000, and the rest of the book's interior ranges from $3,000 to $9,000 per copy of the small illustrations, plus a 5% royalty commission.

This treatment is very tempting,

It's enough to hire almost any famous A-list illustrator.

Industry practice is that the illustrator of a hardcover book gets a 3% to 4% royalty share, and the children's fairy tale may float a little higher.

Five percent doesn't seem outrageous.

But that's not how the account is calculated,

Generally, many unpopular works in the European and American book markets sell between a few thousand and 10,000 copies.

Being able to sell tens of thousands of physical books is considered a normal level that is neither high nor low, and the sales of most popular publications with a certain reputation in the industry are hovering around this range.

By the standards of the Scholastic Group, a work that sells about 100,000 copies is considered a bestseller.

As long as it's not extravagant, basically anyone with a bestseller can live a laid-back life of skiing in the Alps in the summer and sunbathing on the Mediterranean beach in the winter and applying sunscreen to the bikini girls.

And "The Little Prince" is expected to sell about one million copies a year, and every extra percentage point will be a huge salary.

Any painter who is fortunate enough to write for the Little Prince, both in terms of fame and monetary income, will reap great benefits.

"If it was a normal work, I wouldn't call Uncle Osborne...... I'm sure there's a way to do it if you want to, right? ”

Anna's sincere request.

Faced with the request of Detective Cat for a manuscript, she thought about it for a long time.

Drawing knives is too unpopular.

There are not many good opportunities in the industry in a short period of time.

Of course

She can still find some low-end contracts.

But this kind of small appointment of a few hundred euros, she thinks that it is better not to accept it.

In particular, this will be the first serious illustration of the detective cat.

The starting point of a painter is very important, just like the actor's first play, which is to play tricks in online dramas. is still the heroine in Cameron's A-grade commercial films, and the future prospects will be in a completely different direction.

The African female painter was originally an online illustrator.

If you don't have a good background, you need a higher platform.

"The Little Prince" - Faced with the detective cat's need for a knife drawing, this is the most suitable choice Anna can think of.

The style of children's fairy tales is very suitable for the temperament of knife painting,

Magnificent and varied, the colors are varied, and the pigments are thick and dreamy and layered.

If Detective Cat Lady was really good at drawing knife drawing, Anna couldn't think of a more suitable scene than this.

"It seems that the artist is really important to you."

Osborne sighed: "Let's tell me which painter it is, if it's not too bad, I'll figure out a way-"

"It's a detective cat."

There was silence on the other end of the line for a few seconds.

"The detective cat?"

"That detective cat." Anna nodded.

"Fuck, you're the agent of the detective cat. Anna, this hellish detective cat has gotten you in trouble enough. ”

Osborne's voice on the phone turned angry, "Do you know what you're doing, even if you really like this shit web painter." Being her agent doesn't do you any good as she does. ”

"So...... I'm not her agent. ”

Anna said calmly.

"So what the fuck are you trying to do?"

Osborne's voice revealed the incomprehensible absurdity of Anna's choice.

"She's a good painter, that's all. And I'm sure Uncle Osborne, about recommending a detective cat, you're going to keep it a secret for me, aren't you? ”

Anna's tone was still calm.

"Aunt left me your phone number, and if I want to ask Uncle Osborne or something, then this is the matter."

"Are you trying to blackmail me? Miss Anna Yelena. ”

Osborne's tone became colder.

"No, it's a formal request. I need Uncle Osborne's help with this, which I personally am very grateful. ”

Anna's tone was unusually serious.

Osborne does owe the elders of the Elena family a favor, but he is not a subordinate of the Elena family, and now he is the vice president of Europe of the Ten Billion Publishing Group.

Human affection is always getting weaker and weaker the more you use it.

You've spent a lot of favor on this matter, and it's hard to talk about it next time.

There are also some people with low emotional intelligence who naturally feel that others will always owe you, and they can be at ease when they tell others to do things, and in the end, the benefactor can become an enemy if he doesn't do it well.

Anna's emotional intelligence is not low.

Why did Uncle Osborne offer to help Anna get rid of Sir Brown and the artist Van Doorne when he called the other party?

Was it because Osborne had just learned about Anna's plight at this moment?

Of course not.

They were waiting for Anna to ask him for help.

"I can help you with this, but remember, this is what you asked me to do."

If I help you, I don't owe anything to the Elena family.

Anna didn't immediately agree, because she preferred to use her precious favor in this matter.

"Well, since you're so stubborn...... I can only say that I will find a way. Osborne sighed.

"By the way, about this appointment, let me say in advance, Detective Cat thinks she's better at drawing knife paintings." Anna whispered.

“What？ Draw...... Knife painting? Shit, where did this come from. Nonsense, are you sure you're really awake now? You don't have drugs, I'm going to talk to your butler. ”

"I'm an adult, Uncle Osborne, and I'm pretty sure of what I'm talking about. If you're not sure how serious I am right now, then I can tell you that I'm in the Royal Prayer Hall at Melk Abbey. ”

There was silence again.

"Can I give you a suggestion? Anna. ”

Osborne knew how solemn the decision made in the Royal Prayer Hall was for the members of the Elena family.

"You say."

"If you're in the monastery right now, I'd suggest you should have Abbot Melk do you an exorcism instead of coming and calling me. Anna, you're like you've fallen into the devil's ......."

Backbite......

The other side hung up the phone.

Anna put the phone in her pocket with a blank face.

She glanced up at Athena again and left the royal prayer hall.

She didn't go back the way she came.

Anna maneuvered her wheelchair through the inner door of the Royal Prayer Hall and headed deeper into the convent.

The accessibility here is well done.

After a few turns, she finally came to a quiet courtyard by herself.

This is the cemetery of the monastery and the resting place of the ancestors of the Elena family.

There was a slight rain in the sky, and the atmosphere of the cemetery had a unique melancholy.

She took a flower for mourners from the side of the flower bed and laid it down at her aunt's grave.

And then

Anna turned her wheelchair again, and according to the vague impression she remembered, she walked towards the depths of the cemetery.

The wheelchair crushed over the damp fallen leaves and the slight standing water on the pavement before finally stopping in front of a stone monument, where she pulled a tissue from her pocket and wiped the dust off the tombstone.

A name that had been seen countless times in the family tree appeared before her eyes.

【Carla von Yelena】

[The courage to pursue beauty is the driving force for my struggle against life - Malerin Coral]

【1849.5.3——1882.3.1】

"Grandma Kara, I've found the person I'm looking for."

Anna whispered into the epitaph on the tombstone, "If it were you, you would make the same decision as me, wouldn't you?" ”

Of the history recorded in the family tree of the Elena family, the story of this grandmother Kara was the most touching and impressive to Anna.

Grandma Kara's mother was a nobleman from Greece.

She is half of Greek ancestry and has a rare long blond-red hair.

The elders of the family liked to call her Carol, using the Greek goddess Coral as her nickname.

As an aristocratic girl born in the long 19th century.

Grandma Kara's normal life should be like that of other aristocratic ladies, with her waist strained and her breasts high, and she attends all kinds of high-society salons, tea banquets, and balls every day.

The Elena family had always been known in old Austria for producing beautiful girls and was in good financial shape, unlike some of the down-and-out aristocrats in Europe who had to sell their daughters to rude American rubber planters or oil tycoons in exchange for decent money to maintain the family.

Theoretically,

As long as Grandma Carla works the two promising paths of seducing men and flirting with her flirtatiousness, it is not impossible to hang a prince of the Habsburg royal family as a golden beetle son-in-law even on her bed.

However, when she should have made a name for herself at a social dance, she went to France to study at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris.

It was a very rare thing for girls to go to college in those days.

At first, the elders of the Yelena family recognized.

Anyway, there is a strong artistic atmosphere in the family, and girls, learning art is also a means of gilding in the marriage market in the future.

Soon, however, Carla received a letter from Paris declaring her intention to become a professional painter.

It's very non-mainstream.

(End of chapter)