Each of the customers who attended the book signing was given a questionnaire made of cardboard cards before entering the door, which was used to count the reasons why they bought the fairy tale book and what they thought was good about the book.

In order for everyone to fill in carefully.

The card can be used as a £2 cash voucher when paying at the cashier.

The Scholastic Group's marketing department collects these cards and analyzes the sales and reader feedback of each book published by the Scholastic Group to populate its own business data model.

"Sir, I need to send all of this to the manager at once."

The staff seemed to be a little anxious when they looked at their expressions.

"I'll take a handful if it's okay, and you can send the rest."

Dean Hawke grabbed a dozen or so investigation cards from the basket and waved his hand to signal the other party to go about his own business.

The questionnaire is distributed from top to bottom with four items -

Do you have a habit of buying physical books on a regular basis? Have you ever bought The Little Prince from the Townsensmann Group before? 】

[What are the channels through which you understand this signing meeting?] 】

Have you heard of the translator Charlie Hawke before? 】

[What made you decide to buy this book?] 】

Below each item there is a row of possible printed options that can be easily checked by the reader.

Dean Hawke glanced casually, and saw a row of nos in front of him.

The translator couldn't help but frown.

If it is not filled in randomly, judging by this questionnaire.

The reader who bought "The Little Prince" usually didn't buy books, didn't know about book signings, and didn't even hear of his Charlie Hawke name.

"I came to the book signing, but I didn't even know the result!"

Mr. Hawke tugged at his chin unhappily.

To be honest, I'm not a world celebrity.

George RR Martin, Stephen King, they walked down the road and there were a bunch of people they didn't know.

But this reader, who had just asked for his autograph, was completely ignorant of his literary achievements.

Mr. Hawke was inevitably a little stunned.

In the last column, the column that drives the customer's decision to buy the book.

It is not St. Exupéry's literary fame, nor the thirty years of translation that the Oxford dean's career, nor the marketing advertisements of the publishing house, but the illustration of the detective cat at the end.

Illustration.

It's illustration again!

"The guy who bought the pearls. How fresh and innocent Lao Tzu's translation is, this is the real kung fu. If you like pictures, it's better to read comics.,Look at every page full of paintings.,Just a few words......

The old gentleman complained helplessly.

Dean Hawke casually tossed the card aside and picked up the next one.

Then I was stunned again.

The information on the next card is carved out of the same mold as the previous card.

If it weren't for the different contact phone numbers filled in below for the return visit, he would have thought that one person had submitted two questionnaires.

"Strange."

Dean Hawke lined up all the survey cards on the table.

This time he didn't frown.

His eyes widened slightly, his mouth opened slightly, and his whole face was distorted for a moment in shock.

On the table in front of the old gentleman were a total of eleven small survey forms.

Only one mentioned that he had heard his name, and one bought it because he was a fan of The Little Prince.

The remaining ten cards, all of them without exception, were all swiped in the same way as the first survey card.

Everyone's reason for buying is ticked after the option "Beautiful illustrations, exquisite packaging".

This......

Hawke seemed to realize something.

He looked at the readers in the bookstore in front of him who were still crowded until dusk, and swallowed his saliva with extremely complicated feelings.

The poor Oxford dean's state of mind at this time is like that of a dumpling chef in a dumpling shop.

After more than ten years of hard work, the mutton dumplings wrapped out are thin and filling, and the juice is overflowing. On the day of the opening, it was indeed full of people, and everyone was full of praise.

But listening carefully, every diner is praising the vinegar in the dumpling shop for how fragrant it is, and asking if they can pack two taels and go home.

Presumably, the emotions in the chef's heart must be indescribable.

It's not happy, it's not happy.

Don't...... Am I actually stained with the light of that online painter?

Dean Hawke turned his gaze to the fairy tale cover of the new edition of The Little Prince.

[Illustrator: Detective Cat (A)] The name is grandly hung under his signature.

In order to translate this classic fairy tale, the old gentleman has been preparing for it since the beginning of the year.

After ten years of sharpening his sword, when he learned that a newly hired illustrator had the right to authorship in the same position as him, Dean Hawke was a little unspokenly unhappy.

It's just that the person who drew a few pictures, he thinks that adding a small line of notes on the title page will give her a face, and he is not eligible for nomination on the cover of the book.

After the listing, Charlie Hawke did not expect this situation at all.

It's a coincidence that one or two readers bought books because of illustrations, but it's not a coincidence that all the owners of the ten questionnaires paid for books because they liked illustrations.

In fact

Even the only reader who bought the book because he was a fan of "The Little Prince" drew a total of two ticks in his purchase.

In addition to checking that he is a fan of Saint-Exupéry, another tick is also drawn in this small square where he thinks the illustrations are beautiful.

Customers have a 100% chance that they will be impressed by the illustrations.

Then there will be no excuses.

No matter how much he doesn't want to believe, Hawke must also believe.

It seems that it is the awesomeness of the detective cat's illustration that caused such a hot scene in front of me.

Looking at the smiling faces in the store as he flipped through the books, and then thinking of the reaction of the audience when he preached on the podium before.

Charlie Hawke's mind had an idea that he hadn't even thought of before the book went on sale.

"I'll go, I'm a dignified translator, I won't be taken off by the detective cat."

——

"Sir! Mr! Something went wrong. ”

The staff carrying the basket rushed into the manager's office on the second floor in a hurry, panting.

"The Little Prince...... The sale is very hot. This is already the third basket of reader survey cards that have been recovered, and all the prepared intent survey cards have been distributed. ”

"It's all over!"

The manager of Oxford Street, Shuishi Bookstore, who was sitting by the computer drinking black tea and communicating about work, almost choked on the tea, coughed twice and asked.

"Ahem, all 2,000 cards, not even one left?"

The store manager didn't really care about the situation of the "The Little Prince" signing party.

It's just a book signing.

This bookstore has big-name authors holding signings and readers' meetings at both ends of three days.

I've seen a lot of big scenes.

Recently, negotiations were underway at Headquarters for Anne Ernaux to hold a readers' meeting here next month.

Since the other party became the 16th female Nobel laureate in literature last year, Waterstone Bookstore wanted to invite the other party to hold a series of readers' meeting activities.

However, Ernaux was not able to make the trip because of his poor health.

This time, the female writer is coming to London for academic exchanges, which is just in time to make up for it.

The store manager was following up on all aspects of this important work with the head office specialist, and he didn't have much time to stare at the signing downstairs.

In the afternoon, he did hear what seemed to be quite lively outside the window.

But Oxford Street!

There is no time throughout the year when it is not lively, and the store manager does not take it to heart.

So when I heard the news that the survey cards had been distributed, the person in charge of the bookstore really couldn't believe it.

2,000 survey cards means 2,000 readers and customers are in the queue for a few hours. At the capacity of a bookstore, this is close to full capacity.

There were almost no large-scale warm-up activities before the book signing, and so many readers still spontaneously poured into the bookstore.

Thinking of this, the store manager gasped.

"It's all gone, and the number of customers who have entered the venue has exceeded 2,100." The staff nodded like a chick pecking rice.

The store manager couldn't help but pay attention to this number, and he didn't bother to study the details of the Nobel laureate's readers' exchange meeting for the time being, and after talking to the commissioner at the headquarters for another night, he interrupted the conference call.

"What about shipments. How many new books have we sold? ”

The store manager walked to the wall and lifted the curtains, looked at the crowd still queuing under the sign of the bookstore, and sighed twice.

"Have there been six hundred copies, no, this battle should have been ...... Tell me, have there been 800 copies? ”

The store manager asked curiously.

There must be a lot of people who walk into the bookstore at the usual signing meeting, who are just looking at the white prostitutes who don't buy them, or who come with family and friends.

It is impossible for 2,000 people, everyone will consume.

The normal paid conversion rate ranges from 30%~40%, and very popular works can occasionally exceed 50%.

"The computer backend has shipped more than 1,200 copies, 1,236 copies to be exact, and 60 sets of limited collection gift boxes were sold out not long after they went on sale. The 600 hardcover editions have just been sold out. Of the 700 paperback books, 576 were shipped, and the remaining 100 or so are not expected to last long. ”

The staff smiled wryly: "Sir, I know you have an important conference call in the afternoon. I came to you because almost all the inventory in the warehouse was bought and I couldn't replenish it. ”

"I just called the distribution warehouse in the West End of London, and they said that the other two Waterstone bookstores in London have more than 100 books in stock, and they have also been bought out, and they are asking for restocking."

"All ...... Sold out! ”

The store manager was a little confused.

Shops on Oxford Street are rented at a premium.

The area of the backstage warehouse of the Shuishi Bookstore is compressed very small, and there are only 2~5 books in stock on weekdays, and they are replenished after they are sold out.

But today is the first day of the signing.

They've got a lot of extra stock.

On the publishing house side, President Osborne's most optimistic prediction is only to sell 600 books.

Waterstone Bookstore has nearly 1,400 sets of goods, which is two and a half times this number, and such a redundant balance is still sold out.

Wait a minute

The more the store manager smacks the taste of this set of numbers, the faster his heart beats.

2,000 customers queued up to buy almost 1,400 books, which has a paid conversion rate of more than 70%.

Often, the higher the paid conversion rate, the stronger the book's long-term potential.

It can make more than half of the customers who come to the store pay.

It means that either the book has a national topic, or the content of the book itself is very attractive to readers.

In either case, it won't be a three-minute heat, and the shipment data curve for the entire sales cycle is unlikely to be significantly weak.

In addition, more than 1,000 books were sold on the first day.

Hardly any of the bestsellers he'd seen that matched both of those figures stayed for less than 10 weeks on the Moon's weekly book sales list.

There are even some more fierce ones, which can directly reach the top in a row.

If the number of shipments and the paid conversion rate are said to be more fierce than the store manager, then the proportion of shipments in the warehouse makes him really don't know how to evaluate it.

Collector's gift box, all 60 sets are sold out!

Each set costs £100.

London leads the British Isles in terms of per capita wages, and £100 is the remuneration of most people for most of a day's work.

On the outskirts of the city, many people earn a hundred pounds for two days without food or drink.

This is a gift for hardcore readers who are not short of money, and they may not be able to sell a few sets a week in normal times, but now it is the same as not having money.

"Today's sales are almost 50,000 pounds, and even the hardcover version is selling so fast, have you ever heard of such a thing before?" The store manager asked stunned.

"Nope." The staff shook their heads.

After all, the base of the collection gift box is too small, and the atmosphere at the signing meeting is hot, and the people who come to Oxford Street to shop are relatively generous.

There is a small number of people who have their brains pumped up, and each person will take one set and finish sixty sets.

But the fact that the hardcover edition was sold out before the paperback version made the store manager directly unable to understand what kind of fairy road this book was.

On average, the ratio of hardcover and paperback editions of the same book sold is about 1:4.

Occasionally, popular books that have just hit the market can reach 1:3.

Most of the customers who buy books in physical bookstores are book lovers.

The percentage of shipments of this hardcover book is actually quite a lot higher than the number of sales on Amazon's online store.

As a result, today's more expensive hardcover editions have almost reached 1:1 shipments in paperback editions, selling more than a dozen copies of paperback editions.

Outrageous

It's outrageous!

Hardcover and paperback books with a price difference of more than 10 pounds have never happened before.

It's not a question of whether it's fierce or not, but this data completely violates the basic laws of the book industry.

The world is crazy!

Everyone has changed their minds, and they have to buy a book and take it back to collect?

The store manager couldn't read the data, but his heart was beating like a drum.

SUDDENLY, HE PULLED OPEN A DRAWER AND PULLED OUT A COPY OF MONDAY'S ISSUE OF "THE MOON".

Flip directly to the culture section of the ninth page of the newspaper.

Every Monday, the Moon's editorial office updates the UK book sales figures on this page.

This list will be on the radar of all publishers.

At present, the number one is still Prince Harry's autobiography "Spare Tire", which sold 72,321 copies last week, topping the book sales chart for 20 consecutive weeks, and selling more than 50,000 copies per week for 20 consecutive weeks.

Whether it's the book sales ranking of the "Moon" or the "New York Times" bestseller list on the other side of the ocean, it is a cliff-like lead to the second-place sales of tens of thousands of copies.

"Spare Tire" has become the best-selling non-fiction book in human history.

It is also expected to become the second best-selling work in the publishing industry since the end of "Harry Potter" and the end of the millennium.

Numerous book reviewers have predicted that it will have no rivals in the book field this year, and the total annual sales are likely to open up the gap of more than 1 million copies in second place.

The second place is Douyin Internet celebrity writer Hoover's romance "True", which is also an old face that has long dominated the best-selling list, with weekly sales of 39,721 copies. In third place is the highly anticipated work "Campus Endgame", which was released last Monday by a highly anticipated star in the industry, and sold 36,521 copies.

The store manager's gaze only swept to the top 10 of the list and stopped.

Under normal circumstances, squeezing into the top 10 of the weekly best-selling list almost requires about 5-digit sales data.

There is no cold month for the big work to be listed, and there may be hope for seven or eight thousand copies.

This week's number 10 is an old book, which has been revived with the BBC's documentary on the history of the Tudor dynasty.

It sold 10,098 copies last week, which happens to be the last week on the list to sell more than 10,000 copies.

The new edition of "The Little Prince" sold 1,400 copies in three or four hours in this bookstore alone, even if the increase in footfall on Oxford Street is removed.

If you don't add up the bits and pieces, today's first-day sales can exceed 10,000 sets.

And what about a week?

The store manager looked at the sales data of the top three in the table.

He suddenly had a vague premonition that he might have sold an amazing book today.

Perhaps...... The top position on the best-selling list of major newspapers and magazines that has been removed by "Spare Tire" for hundreds of consecutive days may be about to move.

"The Little Prince and Prince Harry's autobiography, what is this? Battle of the Princes? ”

The store manager muttered to himself.

Prince Harry's autobiography did not have a book launch at Waterstone Bookstore, and the store manager certainly hoped that "The Little Prince" would win.

He was very, very anticipating.

The store manager pushed open the window, poked his head out, and looked out the window at the door, which was still guarded by reporters.

Many of these journalists were hired by the Scholastic Group itself.

There are also some London book reporters who heard about the popularity of the Oxford Street "The Little Prince" signing through various connections in the industry, and took the initiative to come to the news.

Now the door looks like a celebrity is about to walk the red carpet, and reporters from more than a dozen media outlets have gathered, and even the NBC's interview car has arrived.

"No, don't adjust the warehouse to replenish the stock, the signing meeting time can be delayed for a limited time. It's all at this point, even if you transfer goods from other districts, you can't sell many books, and you don't care about the extra one or two hundred. ”

Looking at those reporters, the store manager gave the order.

"From now on, you guys are ready to hang all the windows as soon as they are sold out, [all 1,400 copies of Scholastic's new edition of The Little Prince have been sold out, please come back tomorrow!] Try to hang it as eye-catching as possible, with our largest propaganda board. The kind that people all over Oxford Street can see. ”

The promotion of the book also focuses on topicality.

In journalism, frenzied readers are emptiling the entire Oxford bookstore with books, but it's a better media selling point than selling 1,400 books or 1,500 books.

The store manager, who has been tested in the book market for a long time, is a smart man.

He is ready to give journalists an opportunity to create a hype for the news.

——

March 26, 2023, 1:30 a.m.

The 41st floor of the Scholastic Group's European headquarters building is still brightly lit on London's Financial Street.

“Country roads，take me home……”

The sound of a gong-like voice singing John Denver's famous ballad in the office reached the ears of the clerk lady at the desk in the secretary's room through the soundproof office door.

She inadvertently secretly pressed her earlobe and smiled bitterly.

Leaders always have all sorts of quirks.

President Osborne's quirk is that he inexplicably likes to hum this old 70s song "Country Road Take Me Home".

The happier I am, the more I want to sing, and I always run away.

The secretary was the old man who followed President Osborne, his most trusted subordinate.

The last time the secretary heard Osborne hum the song loudly, he had just finished a meeting with the board. At that meeting, he was promoted from Regional Manager to Vice President of Europe.

On the way back, I sang like this.

Today is the first day of the release of "The Little Prince", which President Osborne is responsible for.

After eating takeout supper at ten o'clock, the out-of-tune singing of "Country road" came from the president's office, and it never stopped.

Judging by the loudness and duration of the sound and the extent to which President Osborne let himself go.

Looking at this situation, "The Little Prince" is not selling well in general.

At this time, in the president's luxurious office, Osborne has turned into a happy middle-aged British uncle.

Except for the fact that the hair is a little bald.

Osborne was twenty years younger, and he was as excited as he was when he first went on a date with his sister when he was in middle school.

He hummed a song and played office golf, glancing at the screen around him.

ON THE TABLE, ON THE WINDOWSILL, AND ON THE CABINET, THERE ARE SEVERAL LAPTOPS AND IPADS THAT ARE USED TO READ THE NEWS.

Even the large TV hanging on the wall to keep track of the group's share price was frozen in a frame on the BBC's evening news channel.

All news screens almost invariably display the same theme - [SOLD OUT(sold out)!! 】

In the picture of the BBC's evening news camera studio,

In the window under the sign of the black Oxford Street Waterstone Shop, a staff member is hanging a huge promotional plaque that reads "SOLD OUT".

The number 1,360 is written in Arabic numerals the size of a human head, with three bright red underlines on it.

The level of eye-catching can be seen at a glance from across the road.

This picture has become the heaviest news photo in the entire field of English books today.

[On the first day of the release of the new version of "The Little Prince", a long queue was raised in front of the Waterstone Bookstore, and the leader in the field of children's literature, Scholastic Group, played a new fairy tale trump card! 】

[SOLD OUT - The avid rush to buy the new version of "The Little Prince" has undoubtedly surpassed the number of first-day sales of the original work on April 6, 1943. Maybe you should also buy a copy and check it out]

[All 1,360 copies of the stock were sold out in four hours, setting a new record for similar fairy tale books sold in a single day at Waterstone Bookstore in 2023!] 】

[Confrontation between giants, Townsensmann Publishing vs. Scholastic Group, who can monopolize the exclusive ownership of the gold medal IP of "The Little Prince" in the English-speaking world? 】

[The illustrated fairy tale book at the center of public opinion - under many doubts, the new version of "The Little Prince" is expected to sell more than 10,000 copies on the first day. 】

Nowadays, the mass media has eliminated the time of paper typesetting and printing.

In some highly effective electronic media, the time from the time the reporter submits the article to the time it is updated on the website APP can be controlled within 30 minutes.

The Little Prince is the biggest publication of the Easter holidays.

Over the past few hours, almost all of the British book media have reported on the rush on Oxford Street.

Even the evening culture section of the Moon newspaper had to make a sour remark: "The success of the first day of sales may not be attributed to the level of illustration, the text content is the focus." ”

President Osborne doesn't care.

Sales take-off is take-off, and no matter how weird the yin and yang are, they can't hide the fact that the sales of "The Little Prince" exploded on the first day.

Even he didn't expect it.

This new edition of the book project was able to deliver such a perfect answer sheet on the first day.

Osborne is now waiting for another call.

(End of chapter)