A coffee shop in Rokubancho, Chiyoda-ku, where Amamiya Shiori and the editor of Dengeki Bunko made an appointment to meet to discuss publishing matters.
It was working time now, and there were not many customers in the cafe, so it looked very quiet.
By the time Amamiya Soi came to the coffee shop, accompanied by Konno Yoshio and Nonaka Sakiko, editor Kazuma Miki and his assistant were already waiting at the reserved window seat.
Originally, Amamiya Sōri wanted to bring only her manager here today, but Yoshio Konno insisted on accompanying him in person, and she could not refuse.
"Good morning! You must be Editor Miki, right?" Still wearing the deep V-neck casual outfit, Yoshio Konno was the first to greet the other party.
"Hi!" A middle-aged man in his thirties, wearing black-rimmed glasses and a black shirt, bowed and responded, "This is Kazuma Miki, deputy editor-in-chief of Dengeki Bunko's editorial department. It's our first time meeting you. Please give me some advice."
Dengeki Bunko is one of the three major libraries for light novels in Japan. It is as famous as Fujimi Fantasia Bunko and Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko. It has published books including "Shakugan no Shana", "Sword Art Online", "Hellless Knight Chronicles", "A Certain Magical Index", etc. many well-known works.
Miki Kazuma himself is the editor of popular works such as "A Certain Magical Index" and "Sword Art Online".
"This is my first meeting. I am Yoshio Konno, the chairman of the operating committee of Nogizaka Contract Club. This is Shiori Amamiya from my club, and her manager Sakiko Nonaka." Yoshio Konno introduced.
"Please give me some advice, Miki-san." Amamiya Shiori bowed slightly.
"Please give me some advice, Amamiya-sensei!" Miki responded quickly.
After the introductions were completed, the two parties took their seats and ordered three cups of black coffee, one latte, and one cappuccino.
"Then, let's get started!" Editor Miki took out his notebook and printed manuscript from his bag.
"Hi!" Amamiya Nodded.
Editor Miki came up and gave a few compliments: "Ms. Amamiya, I have read your novel no less than five times in the past few days. It is very rich in content and interesting."
Amamiya Shiori smiled and nodded.
"The Victorian-style society described in the book has very detailed background details. The modern elements brought by the predecessors of the time traveler to such a society are also very interesting, such as steampunk, tarot cards, Cthulhu Mythos, SCP foundation and other cultural elements. The fusion is very rare in ordinary light novels."
"No, rather than being a light novel, your work is closer to traditional fantasy novels, depicting a lifelike world with rich details and settings, just like "Harry Potter" depicts a wizarding world."
"You're ridiculous." Amamiya Sōri chuckled, "Actually, the current world view has not yet been fully developed, and many foreshadowings and mysteries still need to be explained later."
Although Yoshio Konno was present, the representatives of both parties involved in the discussion were mainly Amamiya Shiori and Miki Kazuma.
"Hi." Miki nodded, "From the description of social customs, it can be seen that you must have researched a lot of information from the Victorian era, and the suspected foreshadowing everywhere also shows that you must have designed a very complete outline. You have spent so much effort. Has Amamiya-sensei ever tried to submit his works?"
"Uh... to be honest, I actually applied to several literary libraries, but unfortunately, I was rejected." Amamiya Sōri said awkwardly.
"Oh? Can you tell me which library?" Miki Kazuma was a little curious.
"It's not convenient to talk about this." Amamiya Sori declined politely.
It’s hard to say why, of course Dengeki Bunko is also included in the list.
"Let's not talk about this first. What I'm more curious about is where did Miki-san learn about my works? Except for a few previous submissions, my novels are all published on Nogizaka's blog." Yu. Gong Zhi asked, "Do you know about idols? Generally speaking, only fans will be interested in reading idols' blogs."
"Of course I do. Morning Musume and AKB48 are two idol groups that are popular all over the country. It's hard not to know." Kazuma Miki replied, "'Todai Idol' Amamiya-sensei is also very famous.
As for how your work is accessed, it’s your fans who have a hand in it. The daughter of one of my colleagues is a fan of yours and recommended your work to her father, who in turn recommended it to me. After discussion with the editorial department, we feel that we can contact you and hope to publish this work. "
Light novels are usually published directly as stand-alone books. Creators can either submit their works to participate in the newcomer awards of major libraries, or choose to serialize them on the website. Only light novels that win awards or are selected by editors are eligible to be published as stand-alone books.
The novel "Sword Art Online" was serialized on the author Reki Kawahara's personal website from the beginning. After his other work "Accel World" won the Dengeki Bunko Grand Prize, editor Kazuma Miki sent him an email saying "I want to see "Sword Art Online"" and spent a week reading "Sword Art Online". After writing the manuscript of the "Sword Art Online" series, I proposed to compile and publish "Sword Art Online" together into a book. Who would have known that "Sword Art Online", which was originally a supplement, would become much more popular than "Accel World". As a result, it became a good story in the industry.
Amamiya Sugawara is now in a similar situation to Kawahara Reki, serializing novels on the Internet and then being picked up by editors.
"I understand." Amamiya Soi nodded. "I understand your attitude very well, but I still have some concerns."
"Please tell me."
"Strictly speaking, the novel I wrote is quite different from light novels in the general sense.
Generally speaking, the style of light novels is mostly written in the spoken language that readers are accustomed to. They are relatively easy to understand and suitable for casual reading. Compared with the setting of the world view, light novels pay more attention to the setting of the characters, with the personality and charm of the characters as the focus of creation.
During the creative process, I spent a lot of pen and ink describing social customs and the setting of the power system. The textual research content and mystical knowledge are not so easy to understand. "
It’s not that Amamiya Sugawara despises light novel readers, it’s just that in the next few years, the quality of many popular light novels will be considered as toilet paper. If you like reading such light novels, you can imagine the level of readers.
"Coupled with the foreshadowing hidden between the lines, the article contains a relatively large amount of information. I'm worried that readers will not have the patience to read on."
"Yes, I understand." Kazuma Miki nodded in understanding.
"The description of the world view in general light novels may only be a short introduction to a certain NPC. Even some fantasy backgrounds that are well-known in the ACG field do not need to be introduced. Many readers can accept it immediately. These are the conveniences of the work. In this way Generally speaking, works lack depth. Of course, for light novels, lack of depth is not necessarily a disadvantage. It is also a good work that is closer to readers' lives and can resonate with readers."
"Have you read "A Certain Magical Index"? It is also one of the works I am responsible for."
Amamiya Shiori nodded. It was a smelly and long movie. I had seen the cartoon back then.
"The settings of Academy City and the magic camp are also very complicated, and the applications and explanations of various abilities, as well as the physics concepts involved, are not so easy to understand."
Amamiya Sugawara smiled softly, Hippo (Kazuma Kamachi, the author of the Demon Ban) knows shit about physics.
"Despite this, "Magic Forbidden" still has many loyal readers, because - as long as it is interesting, that is enough." Miki said confidently.
