Red Moscow

Chapter 2489 Good wine is also afraid of deep alleys

 When Asiya came home, she saw the sample book on the table and picked it up to look at it curiously.

When she saw the title of the book and Sokov's name clearly on the cover, she couldn't help but exclaimed: "Misha, your book has been published?"

"This is a sample book," Sokov said with a smile, "but wait until tomorrow, and you can buy this copy of "The Dawns Here Are Quiet" in major bookstores in the city."

"Great, this is really great." Although Asiya knew a few days ago that Sokov's book would be on sale in the bookstore tomorrow, she still seemed very happy when she heard Sokov talking about it. She even hugged him. Zumi Sokov kissed him and said with a smile: "Misha, after this book is officially sold, you will be a legitimate writer."

Sokov laughed dryly twice, and then said: "I hope so!"

 “I wonder how many books can be sold in one day tomorrow?”

“Screenwriter Werner who just sent me a sample book said that the sales on the first day were conservatively 3,000 copies.”

"Wow, three thousand copies, this is an amazing number." Asiya began to calculate: "Three thousand a day, ten days is thirty thousand. In one year, your book will sell millions of copies , by then you will be a proper great writer."

 At noon the next day, Sokov personally came to a nearby bookstore to see how the book was selling.

When he walked to the door of the bookstore, he didn't see any promotional slogans. There wasn't even a billboard at the door. He couldn't help frowning, then stepped forward to open the closed door and walked quickly into the bookstore.

The bookshelves in bookstores are filled with all kinds of books, and there is no dedicated display area, which means that newly published books can only be crowded on the shelves together with old books. As for whether readers can see this newly published book, everything can only be left to chance.

"Comrade General," although there are more than a dozen customers in the bookstore, as long as they don't go to check out, the salesperson will turn a blind eye to them and ignore them. But the young general Sokov walked in and immediately attracted the attention of all the salesmen. A bald man walked quickly over, came to Sokov, and said with a smile: "I am the manager of the bookstore. Is there anything I can do for you?”

“The new book published today, where is it?”

“There are five or six new books published today,” the bald manager said, “Which one do you want?”

 Sokov came here just to find out the sales of his books. He was not interested at all in what books were published in the same period. When the manager asked this, he said bluntly: ""The Dawns Here Are Quiet"!"

After the bald manager repeated the title of the book, he called a female salesperson next to him: "Gulia, do you know where this book is?"

"Know!"

“Then hurry up and help Comrade General find a copy!”

The female salesperson known as Gulia quickly walked to a bookshelf in the corner, took out a book from the bookshelf below, and then walked over and handed it to the bald manager.

The bald manager took the book, glanced at the cover quickly, and then held it in both hands and handed it to Sokov: "Comrade General, this is the book you want!"

Sokov took it and saw that it was his own copy of "The Dawns Here Are Quiet".

 Seeing that Sokov was holding the book and not flipping through it, but just looking at the cover over and over again, he asked tentatively: "Comrade General, this book was just put on the shelves today. How do you know about this book?"

Sokov hesitated for a moment and did not identify himself as the author of the book. Instead, he said perfunctorily: "I heard from a friend that this book will be officially sold today, so I came here to take a look. I don't know if it was sold today." How many copies are there?”

The bald manager didn’t know how many copies of this book had been sold. He could only turn his head and look at Gulia, indicating that she would answer Sokov’s question.

"Comrade General, this book has just been put on the shelves, and the author is still an unknown newcomer. In addition, there are few customers in the bookstore in the morning." Gulia replied with some embarrassment: "So far, not one copy has been sold. go."

Sokov almost spit out a mouthful of old blood when he heard what Gulia said. Yesterday, Werner told himself that the first-day sales volume of this book should be more than 3,000 copies, but now it seems that selling 300 copies, let alone 3,000 copies, is probably not enough.

After Sokov chatted with Gulia for a few words, his mood became heavier and heavier. It seemed that he thought about the problem too simply, thinking that if a book was published in this era, a publishing house would publicize it as much as later generations, or even Even bookstores will not only put up billboards at the door, but even put up a bookshelf at the entrance to display newly published books to attract readers' attention and achieve a promotional effect.

Seeing Sokov returning the book to Gulia, saying thank you and preparing to walk out, the strange bald manager quickly stopped Sokov: "Comrade General, don't you plan to buy this book? "

"Thank you, Comrade Manager, I won't buy it." Sokov was worried that the other party would misunderstand, so he decided to reveal his identity: "I wrote this book, and I just came here today to see how the book was selling. It's really useless. Come to think of it, not a single copy of this book has been sold.”

After Sokov left, the other salesmen gathered around and said to the manager curiously: "Manager, I didn't expect that this young general is also a writer."

Hearing what the salesmen said, the manager couldn't help laughing twice, and said with some contempt: "Is it so easy to be a writer? Maybe as a general, he is very good at commanding and fighting, but when it comes to writing books, he is probably just... I no longer have this ability.”

Gulia suggested to the bald manager: "Manager, how about we take a look at this book and see how well it is written?"

But the bald manager shook his head after hearing this and said: "If there is anything to read in a book written by a layman, please go back to your respective jobs."

Although the bald manager didn’t want to read the book written by Sokov, Gulia was full of curiosity about the book. She returned to her seat, opened the book and read it.

 At the beginning, she was a little absent-minded, but as the plot progressed, she couldn't help but cheer. Her voice alerted the nearby salespersons, who came over to her and asked: "Gulia, what good book did you read? Why are you so excited?"

"This is "The Dawns Here Are Quiet"," Gulia raised the book in her hand and said to her colleagues: "I really didn't expect that the young general just now could write such a wonderful book." Other salespersons were skeptical about Gulia's statement: "Is it true?"

"Of course it's true." Gulia said in a positive tone: "If you don't believe it, you can take a copy and read it for yourself."

Although most of the salesmen were still dubious about what Gulia said, some salesmen took a copy of "The Dawns Here Are Quiet", returned to their seats, and began to read quietly.

 The conversation between the salesmen also attracted the attention of several nearby customers. They came over one after another, picked up "The Dawns Here Are Quiet" on the bookshelf, and browsed to see if it was as wonderfully written as Gulia said.

At this sight, the customers could not help but fall in. They felt that this was indeed a good book. They bought the book without waiting to finish it, and then hurriedly left the bookstore, preparing to read it carefully when they went home.

Sokov was unaware of what happened in the bookstore. At this moment, he was walking home in a depressed mood. I originally planned to make money by writing a book, but judging from the current situation, this best-selling book in future generations may encounter Waterloo in this era. Since this is the case, it is better to agree to Xie Keluo and let him pay the royalties to himself in one lump sum. As for whether the book can be sold after it is published, let the people at the publishing house have the headache.

Back home, Sokov was in no mood to continue writing a book, because even the book "The Dawns Here Are Quiet" had been sold out. What would happen to the much less influential "Ordinary Soldier"? You can imagine. As soon as he lay down on the bed, he pulled the quilt over his head and fell asleep.

He didn't know how long he had slept when he suddenly felt someone touching his forehead. He waved his hand impatiently and tried to push the hand away, but he heard Asiya's anxious voice: "Misha, Misha, what's wrong with you? "

 Hearing Asiya's voice, Sokov immediately woke up. He opened his eyes suddenly, looked at Asiya who was standing in front of him with an anxious look on his face, and said, "Asiya, you're back!"

"Well, I'm back!" Asiya put her hand on his forehead again and said to herself: "Why are you sleeping at home in broad daylight? Are you feeling uncomfortable somewhere?"

"No, no, I'm not sick." Sokov quickly sat up and explained to Asiya: "I just felt a little tired, so I lay down for a while. You are hungry, I will cook for you."

"No, Misha, I think there's something wrong with your expression." Asiya was keenly aware that Sokov was very unusual today, and quickly asked with concern: "Is there something wrong? If so, tell me Let me listen, maybe I can give you some advice."

“Hey,” Sokov sighed and said weakly, “I went to the bookstore today and looked at my new book.”

Learning that Sokov had been to the bookstore, Asiya couldn't help but perked up, and then asked: "How is the sales volume? Has it reached the sales volume that Werner's screenwriter said?"

"The quantity Werner mentioned cannot be achieved even in a month, let alone a day." Sokov sighed and said to Asya: "It was already noon when I went to the bookstore, but I heard the salesperson of the bookstore said , not a single one of my books was sold.”

"What, not a single copy has been sold." Asiya originally thought that even if the book's sales were poor, it would be able to sell at least dozens or hundreds of copies. But now that she heard that not a single copy had been sold, she was completely distraught. They were all shocked: "How is this possible? How come no one buys such a good book? I think there must be something wrong with it."

"There are many problems." Since Asiya was very interested in this matter, Sokov analyzed it to her: "First of all, there was no necessary publicity. The majority of readers did not know that there was such a book. Today, they are sold on the shelves in bookstores; secondly, there is no special display area in the bookstore so that readers can see the new books on the bookshelf as soon as they enter the door. Instead, they are placed directly on the bookshelf with the old books. There is no publicity in advance. After the book was put on the shelf, it was placed directly next to the old books. If you didn't look for it specifically, you would never know that this book was there."

 After listening to Sokov’s story, Asiya’s face became serious: “Misha, what should we do?”

"I would like to contact Editor-in-Chief Xie Keluo to discuss the promotion of this book." Sokov thought that good wine is also afraid of deep alleys. Although "The Dawns Here Are Quiet" is an excellent novel, if Without necessary publicity to let readers know about the book, it would be a fool's errand to obtain sufficient sales: "If Xie Keluo is willing to help with publicity, I think the sales of the book will gradually increase. "

"Then when are you going to go to the publishing house?" Asiya raised her hand to check the time and reminded Sokov: "The publishing house is off duty now. Even if you rush there, you can't find anyone, so you might as well go tomorrow. "

"I'll call Werner first to see if he can contact Editor-in-Chief Shekolo." Sokov said: "As long as the necessary publicity is carried out, I believe that the sales situation will be greatly improved tomorrow."

 After Sokov found Werner's home phone number, he picked up the phone and called him.

After the bell rang a few times, Werner's lazy voice came from the receiver: "I am Werner, who are you?"

 “Hello, fellow screenwriter, I’m Sokov!”

"It turns out to be General Sokov." When Werner heard that the person looking for him was Sokov, he said with a smile: "Congratulations, your book is officially on sale in bookstores today! Please call me, yes Isn’t it to know the sales on the first day?”

Without waiting for Sokov to speak, he said to himself: "Comrade General, how is the sales situation? We can't figure it out until we compile it at night. The specific data won't be available until noon tomorrow at the earliest. You have to be patient." , don’t be too anxious.”

“Comrade screenwriter, I went to the bookstore today.”

"Oh, have you been to the bookstore?" Werner did not hear the disappointment in Sokov's tone, but said excitedly: "Have the customers queued up in front of the cashier to pay after taking your book? General? Comrade, I congratulate you, your book will soon become a best-seller."

After Sokov waited for Werner to finish speaking, he sighed, and then said: "Comrade screenwriter, the situation is not as optimistic as you said. I went to a bookstore at noon and asked the salesperson about the sales situation, and the other party told me that one None of them were sold.”

"Impossible, this is absolutely impossible." Werner said in shock after hearing this: "How can such a good book not be sold at all? Comrade General, you must have made a mistake somewhere, otherwise you will not get it." Such misinformation.”

"That's right, comrade screenwriter." Sokov said with a wry smile: "I personally verified it with the bookstore salesperson. I did not indicate my author's identity at the time, so she would not deliberately tell lies to deceive me."

 After listening to Sokov’s words, Werner fell silent. After a while, he said: "Comrade General, there must be something wrong, otherwise your book cannot be sold. To be honest, based on my experience, this book will not only become a bestseller, but also It will be a classic book, but sales are so bad now, and we need to find out why."

 (End of this chapter)