Chapter 177 Mr. Stephen's Assist
Liu Hongmin's novel sales record was set by Lies, which has sold more than 2800 million copies so far. It is impossible for European and American countries to break this record alone.
Therefore, we still have to rely on the Japanese.
"The Japanese market must also be put on the shelves as soon as possible. If the Japanese market is missing, the sales record will not be broken."
Richard smiled and said, "Mr. Liu, don't worry, leave this to us."
"Okay, I'll contact you for the Chinese version."
The simplified Chinese version was still handed over to Beijing University Press, and Liu Hongmin published it directly after returning to China. He did not submit "Pirates of the Caribbean" to a magazine. Although a purely entertainment magazine like "Story Club" appeared, Liu Hongmin did not want to cooperate with them, because the royalties were not much anyway.
The traditional Chinese version was still handed over to Sanlian Publishing House, and Yang Guiren made a special trip to Beijing. When he heard about the bet between Liu Hongmin and Stephen, he immediately thought it was a promotional selling point, and immediately asked someone to write it into the preface after returning. Sure enough, after the traditional Chinese version was put on the shelves, it was very popular, and sold better in Hong Kong than "Ghost Ship".
This shows how much Hong Kong people love gossip, especially gossip about celebrities and wealthy people, which feeds many tabloids.
Liu Hongmin is not only a celebrity, but also a wealthy man. Because he is not in Hong Kong for many years, there is very little gossip about him.
In the past two years, Liu Hongmin was still not well-known, and Hong Kong people were not very interested in his gossip. In recent years, as Liu Hongmin's fame and wealth have increased, more and more Hong Kong people have become interested in his gossip.
Every time he went to Hong Kong, there would be a lot of paparazzi following him to take pictures. However, Liu Hongmin was very self-disciplined and never touched any woman except for dating Li Lizhen.
When Liu Hongmin was not in Hong Kong, they followed Li Lizhen, hoping to catch her cheating. As a result, Li Lizhen became more self-disciplined, never fooling around, and never getting too close to other men. This made the paparazzi very helpless, and gradually they stopped following Li Lizhen.
Now that there is finally gossip about Liu Hongmin, people in Hong Kong are of course interested. Just for this gossip, they are willing to pay for the book, not to mention that the book is really well written.
The sales in Hong Kong were booming, with 100,000 copies sold within a week.
The sales in the mainland were not satisfactory. At that time, the mainland was not interested in so-called fantasy novels, and even less interested in the so-called pirate culture.
Jingda Press was also worried about this. Why was the book selling well in other countries and regions around the world, but not in mainland China? Soon, they learned about the gossip and discussed it. They felt that they could not be as blatant as Sanlian Publishing House. Finally, they found a young writer from the exchange group and directly wrote the gossip into a celebrity anecdote and published it in the newspaper.
They also used their connections to get many newspapers to reprint the article, allowing most people across the country to see it.
Sure enough, after seeing this celebrity anecdote, people became interested in "The Curse of the Black Pearl" and the sales of "The Curse of the Black Pearl" began to increase.
As more and more people read The Curse of the Black Pearl, they found that the book was actually very interesting. Although they could not understand the world described in the book, the story was indeed wonderful.
The German, French, Spanish, and Japanese versions of The Curse of the Black Pearl were released in various countries and regions within a month, and the sales increased every day, from more than 30 copies to more than 70 copies, and it remained so for seven or eight days.
Because these countries and regions are on the shelves at different times, the best-selling periods come and go. As soon as the best-selling period in one country or region is over, the best-selling period in another country or region comes again. Therefore, even if the best-selling period in English-speaking countries is over, it can still sell 300,000 or 400,000 copies.
Random House's statistical report shows that the highest sales volume was on January 1, with single-day sales reaching 8 copies.
The English version is at the end of its hot-selling period, while several major languages such as German, Spanish, and Japanese Yen have just entered their hot-selling period or are currently hot-selling.
On the 10th day, the cumulative sales reached 17 million copies. On the 23th day, it exceeded million copies. On the rd day, the sales exceeded million copies. Richard called Liu Hongmin to report the good news, "Mr. Liu, in addition to the Chinese version, other copyrights have sold more than million copies in total. According to this trend, in two or three months, the sales may exceed million copies."
Liu Hongmin said: "It's a bit inconsistent with expectations."
"That's right." Richard said, "So we are trying to find some more promotional points."
Liu Hongmin rolled his eyes and said, "Perhaps you can talk to Mr. Stephen."
Richard understood instantly, "Mr. Liu, this is a great idea. I will go find Stephen right away."
The next day, Stephen appeared on television for an interview.
"Dear viewers, welcome to our show. Recently, everyone must have read a best-selling book called "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl". There is a story about the birth of this book... Now we would like to invite one of the protagonists of the story, Mr. Stephen, a famous screenwriter of Disney."
"Mr. Stephen, is the story about The Curse of the Black Pearl true?"
Stephen: “Of course, there are some rumors, but this is roughly what happened.”
"So, the bet is also true?"
Stephen: "Of course! Although there is no bet, the bet does exist."
"You should have seen The Curse of the Black Pearl, right?"
Stephen: “Yes, Liu specially asked someone to send me a copy.”
"So what was the result?"
Stephen showed a reluctant expression. “To be honest, I don’t want to admit it, but I have to say that I lost.”
"Mr. Stephen, who are you? The Curse of the Black Pearl is not part of The Lord of the Rings, is it?"
Stephen: "They are two different types of works and cannot be simply compared in one issue. They each have their own merits and strengths, and are both classic fantasy novels. I have made some comparisons and finally concluded that in terms of classicism, The Curse of the Black Pearl is not inferior to The Lord of the Rings, so I say I lost!"
Random House launched a publicity campaign the next day, publicizing Stephen's words in major media and directly using "The Curse of the Black Pearl" to compare with "The Lord of the Rings".
Many people were attracted to the bookstore and bought a copy of "The Curse of the Black Pearl". They wanted to see what story this fantasy novel, which was no less than "The Lord of the Rings", told.
Many people felt cheated after reading it, but they had to admit that The Curse of the Black Pearl was a good novel, but it was not as classic as The Lord of the Rings.
There is also a group of people who love "The Curse of the Black Pearl" and think it is better than "The Lord of the Rings".
(End of this chapter)
