"'The Little Prince' is the main business of the group this year... Anna, do you know what this means?" Osborne asked.
"I know, this book is very important to Scholastic Publishing Company, and it is also very important to you." Anna said softly.
Making a book is very expensive.
Especially for the hardcover classic style works of "The Little Prince", the paper is made of thick pure paper produced in the Netherlands, which is three to five times more expensive than the light paper commonly used in ordinary publications.
Despite the fact that the entire papermaking and printing industry is experiencing price increases during the epidemic, the minimum printing volume the group has booked with printing plants is still in the order of hundreds of thousands of copies.
This is just printing.
The cost of publicity and distribution is even more staggering.
It’s similar to the movie promotion process. It requires writing book reviews in major newspapers across Europe, buying ads on Amazon and GoodReader (International Douban), dozens of meetings between translators and readers, and hosting events in major physical bookstore chains across Europe. Related activities... blah blah blah.
A large number of beautiful knives were thrown out.
This is a book that has no room for failure and no reason to fail.
To put it bluntly, "The Little Prince", which is about to be newly published, already has all the factors to become a new best-seller of classic translations of famous names.
If Osborne doesn't do well, the loss will be a trivial matter, and the board of directors will really doubt your ability.
"Then you should also know the importance of illustrators for fairy tale books like "The Little Prince." Osborne asked in a calm tone.
Appearance determines sales.
This is especially true for classic works.
You are selling "The Little Prince", and other publishing houses are also selling "The Little Prince".
Why should I buy your version?
The foreign physical book market has high sales volume and strong competition. There may be five or six different versions on a bookshelf.
The first thing that determines a reader’s purchasing choice is the quality of the translation.
Professional readers who are more particular about Eastern Xia should buy Zhu Shenghao's version when buying Shakespeare, choose Feng Zikai's version when reading Turgenev, and choose Fu Lei's translation of Balzac's works...
Next is the illustrations and covers.
The translation quality of a translated work is the “bone” of the book.
Then the illustrations designed by the illustrator are the "surface" of a book.
A beautiful, high-end book with pictures that readers will naturally like.
In a sense, whether illustrations, especially cover illustrations, can attract readers is even more important than content.
Humans are visual creatures.
Whether the content of the book is good or bad, the cover illustration is the first impression you make on the reader.
Big data statistics from the Group Marketing Department,
In front of a row of bookshelves, ordinary readers will often subconsciously choose the version with the most pleasing cover illustration and put it in their shopping cart.
Moreover, Osborne also knew that the publishing house had conducted a professional questionnaire survey in advance.
A large proportion of the annual sales of "The Little Prince" are bought by parents as Christmas gifts for their children or as souvenirs for literary couples. They are bought back and placed on bookshelves at home as stylish display decorations... gifts Properties are even larger than read properties.
If you want the cover to be ugly, it will directly impose a death sentence on this part of the sales volume.
"If it were an ordinary illustration work, Anna, if you came to me, I wouldn't be able to refuse. However, "The Little Prince" is different. The group's plan is to hire a famous first-line illustration studio to protect this work. Even Even the senior illustrators in-house didn’t have the opportunity to write.”
Osborne is candid about his difficulties.
As a large publishing group with a market value of tens of billions of dollars, Scholastic naturally has its own art and design department.
The vast majority of publishing design is done in-house, which keeps costs low.
Only particularly important masterpieces will adopt the outsourcing policy.
This is exactly the same reason as the group also has its own professional translation department, but hired Dean Hawke from Oxford University to write the translation.
In the Scholastic plan, because "The Little Prince" has entered the field of public books, only the two authors share the expenses.
In order to achieve the best final presentation of this book, the conditions given to the translator and illustrator were very generous.
Dean Hawke gets 18% of the royalties from the sales, which is the bulk, and the illustrators make up the rest.
The quote for the main cover illustration is US$25,000, and the remaining small-size illustrations inside the book range from US$3,000 to US$9,000 each, plus a further 5% royalty.
This treatment is very tempting,
It’s almost enough to hire any famous first-line illustrator.
According to industry practice, the illustrator of a hardcover book can receive a royalty share of 3% to 4%, and the royalty share for children's fairy tales may be slightly higher.
Five percent treatment doesn't seem too high.
But that’s not how the account is calculated.
Generally speaking, the sales volume of many unpopular works in the European and American book markets ranges from a few thousand to 10,000 copies.
A physical book that can sell tens of thousands of copies is considered a normal level, neither high nor low. The sales of most well-known popular publications in the industry hover around this range.
According to the standards of the Scholastic Group, a work that sells about 100,000 copies is considered a best-seller.
As long as they are not extravagant, basically anyone with a best-selling book to their name can live a leisurely life of skiing in the Alps in the summer and sunbathing on the Mediterranean beaches in the winter and applying sunscreen to girls in bikinis.
The annual sales volume of "The Little Prince" is expected to reach a terrifying level of about one million copies. Every additional percentage point will be a huge salary.
Any painter who is lucky enough to write for The Little Prince will gain huge benefits, whether in terms of fame or financial income.
"If it were an ordinary work, I wouldn't bother Uncle Osborne with a call... I believe that if you are willing, there is still a way, right?"
Anna's sincere request.
Facing Ms. Detective Cat's request for a manuscript, she thought for a long time.
Drawing swords and drawings is too unpopular.
It is almost impossible to find many good opportunities in the industry in a short period of time.
certainly,
She can still find some low-end contracts.
But she thought it would be better not to accept this small appointment of several hundred euros.
In particular, this will be the first serious illustration of Detective Cat.
A painter's starting point is very important, just like an actor's first acting role in an online drama. Or as the heroine in Cameron's A-level commercial film, the future development prospects will be completely different.
The African female painter was originally an online illustrator.
Being from a poor background, one needs a higher platform.
"The Little Prince" - Faced with Detective Cat's demand for drawings and drawings, this was the most suitable choice Anna could think of.
The painting style of children's fairy tales is very suitable for the temperament of Hua Dao Hua.
Magnificent and varied, the colors are rich, the paint is thick, dreamy and layered.
If Ms. Detective Cat is really good at drawing and painting, Anna can't think of a more fitting scene.
"It seems that painter is really important to you."
Osborne sighed: "Let me tell you which painter it is first. If it's not too bad, I'll think of a way -"
"It's Detective Cat."
There was silence on the other end of the phone for a few seconds.
"That detective cat?"
"That detective cat." Anna nodded.
"Fuck, you actually became Detective Cat's agent. Anna, this damn Detective Cat has caused you enough trouble."
Osborne's voice became angry on the phone, "Do you know what you are doing? Even if you really like this shitty Internet painter. Being her agent will do you and her no good." "
"So...I'm not her agent."
Anna said calmly.
"Then what the hell are you planning?"
The incomprehensible absurdity of Anna's choice is revealed in Osborne's voice.
"She's a very good painter, that's all. And I trust you, Uncle Osborne, to keep the matter of recommending the Detective Cat a secret for my sake, won't you?"
Ana’s tone remained calm.
"Auntie left your phone number with me. If I want to ask Uncle Osborne for anything, then this is it."
"Are you blackmailing me? Miss Anna Elena."
Osborne's tone became colder.
"No, this is a formal request. I need Uncle Osborne's help with this, and I'm personally very grateful."
Anna's tone was extremely serious.
Osborne does owe a favor to the elders of the Elena family, but he is not a subordinate of the Elena family, and now he is the European vice president of the Ten Billion Publishing Group.
Things like favor will always fade away the more you use them.
If you spend a favor on this matter, it will be difficult for you to open your mouth next time.
There are also some people with low emotional intelligence who naturally feel that others will always owe you, and they feel comfortable ordering others to do things. In the end, such benefactors may turn into enemies.
Anna's emotional intelligence is not low.
Why did Uncle Osborne only offer to help Anna deal with Sir Brown and the artist Van Dorn when he called the other party?
Is it because Osborne just learned about Anna's situation at this moment?
of course not.
He was waiting for Anna to ask him for help.
"I can help you with this, but please remember, this is what you asked me to do."
After helping you, I won’t owe anything to the Elena family.
Anna did not agree immediately because she preferred to use her precious favor on this matter.
"Well, since you are so stubborn... I can only say that I will find a way." Osborne sighed.
"By the way, regarding this invitation, let me tell you in advance that Detective Cat thinks she is better at drawing, drawing, and drawing." Anna said softly.
"What? Drawing...knife drawing? Shit, where did this liar come from? Nonsense, are you sure you are really sober now? You are not on drugs, right? I want to talk to your housekeeper."
"I'm an adult, Uncle Osborne, and I know for sure what I'm talking about. If you're not sure how serious I am right now, I'm in the Royal Prayer Hall of Melk Abbey."
There was another moment of silence.
"Can I give you a suggestion? Anna."
Osborne knew how solemn the decision made in the Royal Prayer Hall was for members of the Irina family.
"You say."
"If you are in the monastery now, I suggest that you should ask Abbot Melk to perform an exorcism ceremony for you instead of calling me. Anna, you seem to be possessed..."
beep...
The other person hung up the phone.
Ana put the phone in her pocket expressionlessly.
She looked up at Athena above her again and left the royal prayer hall.
She did not retrace her steps.
Anna maneuvered the wheelchair through the door inside the royal prayer hall and headed deeper into the monastery.
The accessibility facilities here are well done.
After passing through several turns, she finally came to a quiet courtyard alone.
This is the cemetery of the monastery and where the ancestors of the Elena family rest after their deaths.
It was raining slightly in the sky, and there was a unique melancholy in the atmosphere of the cemetery.
She took a flower from the side of the flower bed for mourners and placed it in front of her aunt's grave.
Then,
Anna turned the wheelchair again and walked towards the depths of the cemetery according to the vague impression in her memory.
The wheelchair rolled over wet leaves and slight water on the road, and finally stopped in front of a stone monument. She took out a tissue from her pocket and wiped off the dust on the tombstone.
A name that she had seen countless times in the family tree appeared before her eyes.
【Kara von Jelena】
[The courage to pursue beauty is my motivation to fight against life - Malerin Coral]
【1849.5.3——1882.3.1】
"Grandma Kara, I found what I was looking for."
Anna looked at the epitaph on the tombstone and asked softly: "If it were you, you would make the same decision as me, right?"
Among the history recorded in Elena’s family genealogy, the story of Grandma Karazu moved and impressed Anna the most.
Grandma Carla's mother was a noble from Greece.
She is half Greek and has rare long golden-red hair.
The elders in the family like to call her Carol after the Greek goddess Coral.
As a noble girl born in the long 19th century.
Grandma Carla's normal life track should be like that of other aristocratic ladies, keeping her waist thin and her chest high, attending various high-society salons, tea parties and dances every day.
The Elena family has always been famous in old Austria for producing beautiful girls, and is in good financial condition, unlike some down-and-out European nobles who need to sell their daughters to rude American rubber plantation owners or oil tycoons in exchange for money to maintain the family's dignity. .
Theoretically,
As long as Grandma Carla works hard on the two promising paths of seducing men and showing off her coquettishness, it is not impossible to hang a Habsburg prince in her bed as her husband.
However, when she should be most famous at social dances, she ran to France to study at the Paris Academy of Fine Arts.
It was a rare thing in those days for girls to go to college.
At first, the elders of Elena’s family recognized her.
Anyway, there is a strong artistic atmosphere in the family, and for girls, learning art is also a way to gild the marriage market in the future.
But soon, Carla wrote from Paris announcing her intention to become a professional painter.
This is very non-mainstream.
(End of chapter)
