fleet street,
Manchester Guardian offices, editor's office.
"What did you say!? All sold!? All 20,000 copies sold!?"
Scott's face was filled with disbelief.
It's easy to see from his expression that Doyle wasn't the only one shocked by The Scotsman's sales.
Cooper raised his hand,
"Dude, calm down."
Even though Cooper is calm now,
Last night, when he got the sales statistics, he was even more excited than Scott and even broke a beautiful porcelain cup.
After "No Survival" began to be serialized, "The Scotsman" gradually increased its circulation in the London area, from 8,000 to 15,000, and then to 20,000.
I thought I was going to finally encounter Waterloo yesterday, but I didn't expect the result to be exactly the opposite.
How could this not be exciting?
Scott sat back in the armchair and rubbed his temples with his hands.
According to plan, the book review of "Manchester Guardian" will give a lot of space to "The Hound of the Baskervilles", but now it seems that it will be changed.
Scott couldn't help but mutter: "Fxxk! I have to work overtime again..."
Despite saying this, he had a bright smile on his face.
Lu Shi on the side took the opportunity to say: "Um...Mr. Scott, can you give me an approval letter regarding the retraction of the manuscript?"
Scott then remembered Lu Shi's purpose for looking for him, and couldn't help but look at Lu Shi with a strange look, as if he was studying alien creatures.
Lu Shi was stared at all over and felt awkward.
"Mr. Scott?"
"Huh~"
Scott took a deep breath and said, "Mr. Lu, retraction is rare. Of course, based on our friendship, it's okay for you to withdraw the editorial that hasn't been published yet, but at least give me a reason." Bar?"
The reason is of course Queen Victoria's gaze,
Although Lu Shi wanted to have the capital to go to the table, he could avoid directly provoking the queen if he could.
But this cannot be said clearly.
Lu Shi was silent.
Scott said helplessly: "Then I can only say sorry to you. As the editor-in-chief, I must consider the issue based on the interests of the newspaper."
As he spoke, Scott raised the Scotsman in his hand.
The meaning is very clear,
Under attack from multiple parties, Lu Shi still has the ability to challenge Holmes head-on. As long as the editor-in-chief is a normal person, it is impossible to let go of this cash cow and traffic password.
You can let it go if you want, as long as there is a reasonable reason.
Lu Shi had already guessed that there was no hope in this matter, and Scott would not agree.
To take a step back, even if Scott agreed, Sage would not agree, and "Guns, Germs and Steel" would still be seen by Queen Victoria.
If that's the case, then there's no need to force it.
Anyway, there is nothing deeply political and sensitive in that book, so it probably won’t anger the Queen. The only possibility is to be hired as a staff member.
This is good, not only to gain fame and fortune, but also to find a place to live in the UK.
Lu Shi said goodbye: "Then I'll leave first."
He turned and grasped the door handle.
But Scott stopped him and said, "Dear Lu, wait a minute!"
The sentence "Dear" was so disgusting that Lu Shi was so frightened that he got goosebumps all over his body, and the cold hairs on the back of his neck stood up like a wild cat with fried fur.
He warned: "Mr. Scott, we have something to say."
Scott is embarrassed,
"Mr. Lu, what do you think is going on with the sales volume of The Scotsman?"
Yesterday, both he and Cooper thought sales would not be good;
But reality slapped them hard in the face.
Cooper said with a wry smile: "Well, even I, the editor-in-chief, was very unfavorable. Who would have thought... After all, yesterday's streets were all discussing Sherlock Holmes, as if "No One Survived" had never existed."
The two of them were puzzled.
Lu Shi pondered: "Probably because of the silent majority."
He took a piece of newspaper and wrote big Arabic numerals on it——
20000.
"This is the silent majority."
This is a bit difficult to understand.
Cooper scratched his head, not understanding what it meant.
Lu Shi said: "It's very simple. The silent majority is the sales volume of The Scotsman. It is a 'majority' because it directly determines the life and death of the newspaper; it is 'silent' because it is just a string of cold words." The numbers only tell the facts.”
Cooper and Scott looked at each other,
Vaguely, they felt that what Lu Shi was talking about was very important, but to what extent it was difficult to explain clearly.
Two chief editors, one has been working for 21 years and the other has been working for 29 years.
At this moment, they felt that their level was far from enough.
Lu Shi continued: "Mr. Cooper, outside of this series of numbers, there are several people scolding, crying, and dying for Holmes. Does it mean anything?"
Shocking and enlightening!
suddenly see the light!
Cooper stared at the "20,000" and nodded: "That's right. We don't need to care about some people, but this series of numbers. If it decreases by three to five thousand, then something really big will happen."
Scott also figured it out, and said with a sinister smile: "I was walking on the road, and if a passerby suddenly shouted, 'I want to eat shit,' I would definitely ignore it instead of trying to dissuade him or debate with him whether he should Eat shit.”
Cooper was stunned and laughed.
"No! You should immediately take off your pants and poop in the street for him to eat!"
"piss off!"
Scott punched Cooper in the shoulder.
Lu Shi felt emotional,
These two guys are so cruel, they even compared "The Hound of the Baskervilles" to shit...
(The views expressed by the characters in the book have nothing to do with the author.)
It is true that "The Hound of the Baskervilles" is an outlier in the entire Sherlock Holmes series, but it is not that bad.
Lu Shi interrupted the two people's play: "Don't talk nonsense, you two, or you will be hacked to death by fanatical readers."
The joke brought Cooper and Scott back to work.
Cooper asked: "What should we do? Although the sales of "The Scotsman" are now rising and the silent majority is on the side of "No One Survived", I always feel unsafe."
Of course it’s not safe!
If Holmes is allowed to dominate public opinion, "No One Survived" will be affected sooner or later.
Lu Shi smiled and asked: "Mr. Cooper, if more than 99% of British citizens are conservatives, do you still dare to speak out about liberalism?"
Cooper nodded,
"meeting."
Lu Shi shook his head,
"Editor Cooper would do that, but Citizen Cooper wouldn't."
This sentence alone was enough to wake up Cooper and Scott.
People have a desire to protect themselves.
If a person holds an opinion contrary to the mainstream view, he is most likely to remain silent for fear of being ostracized.
The result is that, amid the silence of non-mainstream views and the loud voice of mainstream views, the mainstream views expand and strengthen in a spiral form, eventually becoming a public opinion covering the entire society.
This is the relationship between "None Survived" and "The Hound of the Baskervilles."
Scott said seriously: "What should we do?"
The first thing Lu Shi thought of was public opinion polls.
Opinion polls can let minorities know that they are not such a minority, and they are very marketable in countries with voting systems.
However, Gallup, Pew Research Center, and Public Opinion were only formally established in the 21st century. Before that, major media basically had to rely on their own polling departments, or publish polling results by universities and other scientific research institutions. .
Lu Shi looked at Scott and then at Cooper.
There is no doubt that the current "Manchester Guardian" and "The Scotsman" do not have the concept of polls.
To be precise, no organization has the concept of polling.
Lu Shi pondered, thinking that this might be a good business. If he could find an authoritative endorsement, it would be worth nothing.
Scott was a little anxious when he saw Lu Shi and didn't speak.
"Mr. Lu?"
Only then did Lu Shi come back to his senses and replied: "In fact, it's not difficult, as long as the silent ones know that they are not alone. Can't the Manchester Guardian do this?"
