Chapter 229 "The Rise of Great Powers" has sold over a million copies!
After resting at home for two days, Li Changhe and Zhu Lin rushed to the city center together.

The difference is that Zhu Lin is going to CCTV Center to see Teacher Yang Jie.

Li Changhe planned to go to the People's Literature Publishing House.

Now that the novel has been published, he has to go and collect his royalties.

Braving the scorching sun, I walked all the way to the office of People's Literature Publishing House and met Liu Hongtu.

"You kid, you finally came to collect your royalties, didn't you?"

Seeing Li Changhe finally appear, Liu Hongtu smiled and joked to him.

"I was filming a movie with the Beijing Film Studio during this period, so I didn't have time to pay attention."

Li Changhe gave a simple explanation.

The main thing is that he is not really in a hurry for this little money.

"Why are you still going to the Beijing Film Studio to make a movie?"

"I said you didn't write an article to refute the controversy surrounding 'The Rise of Great Powers' a while ago."

Liu Hongtu finally understood why there were so many articles criticizing "The Rise of Great Powers" some time ago, but Li Changhe did not show up and co-produced the movie.

"The Beijing Film Studio asked me to write a script and also promised to give my lover an internship opportunity."

"My wife is a student of the directing department of Beijing Film Academy, so I wrote a script and then stayed with her in the mountains of Mentougou for more than half a month."

"I read those critical articles, but they're no big deal."

"It's nothing more than a failure to change their mindset, so they're just using the old tricks to label people. Unfortunately, this method doesn't work anymore."

“I don’t even bother to deal with them.”

Li Changhe said nonchalantly.

Seeing this, Liu Hongtu shook his head.

"You are so careless. During those days, Lao Zhao from Xinhua Bookstore and I were worried every day, fearing that a ban would come down from above and your book would be banned."

I really couldn't eat or sleep well during those days. I was afraid that one day when I opened my eyes, I would receive a notice that "The Rise of Great Powers" was banned and its publication and sale was stopped.

"Don't worry, I know more about auditing than you do!"

Li Changhe said with a smile.

Think about how strict the censorship will be in the future. It would be impossible for him to write something that readers would like to read because there would be people watching and reporting on him all the time.

"That's right. What's more, you have Peking University standing behind you. The teachers from Peking University are really powerful this time. The articles they published are well-reasoned and much better than those articles criticizing you."

Just as Liu Hongtu was talking to Li Changhe, the phone on the table suddenly rang.

"I'll take a call first."

Liu Hongtu then came to the desk and answered the phone.

"Hello? Lao Zhao!"

"What, broken?"

"Is it really broken?"

"I'll be there right away. Li Changhe is right here with me!"

"No problem, I'll take him with me."

After Liu Hongtu finished speaking, he hung up the phone.

"Hahahaha, Changhe, do you know what news I just got?"

"The Rise of Great Powers has sold over a million copies!"

“A million copies!”

Liu Hongtu said with a big laugh at this time.

This time, the People's Literature Publishing House has launched a super-best-selling book.

"So many?"

Li Changhe was indeed a little surprised.

To be honest, it is not uncommon for a bestseller to sell over a million copies, but it is very rare for a bestseller to sell over a million copies so quickly.

This book has only been on sale for about half a month.

Is “The Rise of Great Powers” ​​really that powerful?

"No one thought of that. Let's go to the Xinhua Bookstore first."

After leaving the office building, Liu Hongtu pushed out his bicycle and looked at Li Changhe curiously.

"Where's your bike?"

“I’m not riding a bicycle!”

Li Changhe felt helpless. He came here with Zhu Lin and they didn't ride a bicycle in such hot weather.

"Okay then, let's ride one and you carry me, okay!"

Liu Hongtu wanted a 28-inch bicycle. Nowadays, almost all bicycles people buy are 28-inch bicycles.

Li Changhe heard this and of course there was no problem.

Liu Hongtu is not young and not too big, so Li Changhe feels embarrassed to let others take him with them.

Riding a bicycle with Liu Hongtu, they soon arrived at the Xinhua Bookstore headquarters.

Going upstairs to Director Zhao's office, Director Zhao's eyes immediately fell on Li Changhe.

"This must be Li Changhe, right?"

Director Zhao saw Li Changhe coming in with Liu Hongtu and immediately walked over and asked.

"Yes, I mean Li Changhe, who are you?" "This is Director Zhao from the Xinhua Bookstore Headquarters, in charge of book sales."

Liu Hongtu introduced to Li Changhe at this time.

"Hello, Director Zhao."

"Don't be so polite, take a seat!"

Director Zhao smiled and asked Li Changhe and Liu Hongtu to sit down, then poured them some water.

"Old Zhao, has the sales really exceeded one million?"

Liu Hongtu didn't have time to drink water at this time, but asked anxiously.

"Yes, it's broken!"

Director Zhao nodded and said affirmatively.

"How come so many copies are sold so quickly?"

Li Changhe was a little confused.

He could guess that "The Rise of Great Powers" would be popular. After all, this book was quite advanced in that era.

But it’s so unfair that it’s so popular!
"This is also a coincidence!"

"It starts with our branch under Xinhua Bookstore."

"Because our Xinhua Bookstores are under a dual management system, for example, Xinhua Bookstores in major cities in various provinces are managed by us, but they are also managed by the propaganda departments of the province."

"But we don't really have much control over the bookstores that have been delegated to different places. They are basically under the jurisdiction of the head offices in each province."

"So we usually distribute our products to major bookstores in each province, and then to Xinhua Bookstores in local committees and counties. We have no control over what works they purchase."

"But this time, your book, The Rise of Great Powers, has been called 'the first book to open your eyes to the world' because of the controversy in the newspapers some time ago. It has become famous all of a sudden."

"Then lower-level bookstores in various provinces began to stock the book, which broadened the sales channels for the book."

"In addition, there is another very important point, that is, many government agencies are purchasing in bulk."

"As far as I know, it started with many foreign-related hotels in Beijing. They purchased the book in bulk and showed it to their employees to familiarize them with Western countries."

"Then it gradually extended to government agencies, factory-run agencies, university agencies and other major agencies."

"And it's not just the capital. Government agencies in coastal provinces including Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangdong, and Shandong have all started purchasing."

"Obviously, in the context of the country's reform and opening up, they want to understand the West, and your book is timely."

"Their purchases are usually in the hundreds or thousands. If you count the purchases from these government agencies alone, you will have hundreds of thousands of copies sold."

"Combined with previous readership and word-of-mouth publicity, the total sales volume reported yesterday has officially exceeded one million copies."

Director Zhao explained to Li Changhe and Liu Hongtu.

After hearing the other party's explanation, Li Changhe finally understood.

He asked how the book could have sold over one million copies so quickly, and it turned out that it had been included in the list of books to be purchased by many government agencies.

However, it would be good if the cadres of these units could read it. At least it would broaden their horizons and they would not have to have such a mysterious admiration for the West as before and then put themselves in a weak position during business negotiations.

"Lao Liu, I called you over this time for another matter, which is that we should continue to print more."

"I think this trend will continue to grow. Judging from the current sales trend, I'm afraid there will be many readers who want to buy it in the future."

"How much do you think we should print?"

Although the second reprint of one million copies has not been completed and is still being rapidly distributed to the market, Director Zhao has to think about the third reprint.

"I'm not sure about this third reprint."

“There’s no need to print too many more.”

Li Changhe spoke at this time.

"Hmm? Changhe, why do you say that?"

Liu Hongtu and Director Zhao were both a little surprised when they heard Li Changhe's words.

Judging from the current sales situation, it feels like this book will continue to be popular.

"Editor-in-Chief Liu told me on the way here that you printed 500,000 copies for the first time, and then printed another million copies. This means that there will be 1.5 million copies of The Rise of Great Powers on the market soon."

"According to the urban population data of our country last year, the total urban population in the country is about 1.7 million."

"This is almost a 100 to 1 ratio, which means that almost one in a hundred people owns the book The Rise of Great Powers."

“Although we cannot completely apply the proportion of data to the distribution of this book, there is no doubt that this number has reached the limit of the book’s dissemination.”

"The rest of the readers can learn about the content of this book through borrowing and dissemination."

“Even if there are still buyers, I don’t think it’s likely to be a huge upsurge.”

"The subsequent sales will inevitably be a long-term process, and will be gradually increased along with the recovery of the national education system and the growth of young intellectuals."

When it comes to book sales, it's impossible for everyone to buy a copy of a book. Most people actually just borrow a book to read.

Even a cheap magazine like People's Literature only had a sales volume of over one million. Li Changhe estimated that sales of over one million for The Rise of Great Powers was already the market limit.

Even if shipments continue in the future, there will not be explosive growth. After all, to put it bluntly, the country's urban population and the number of people with reading ability are there.

It’s not that there are rural people who would read this kind of book in this era, but the number is very small.

The distance from Xinhua Bookstore, the cost of purchase, and the channels for obtaining information about books are all important factors that limit rural people's purchases.

Therefore, Li Changhe actually did not recommend Director Zhao and others to continue printing on a large scale.

If the number of reprints increases, there is a high probability that they will pile up in the warehouse and become inventory, which can only be digested as the reading market expands.

As expected, after hearing Li Changhe's analysis, Director Zhao and Liu Hongtu became thoughtful.

Before this, they had never considered the market capacity of books from this perspective.

(End of this chapter)