bayedsolid Chapter 147 The Book of Sky-High Price!
Chapter 147 The Book of Sky-High Price!
This first volume only has three chapters!
According to the market conditions, even Master Du's "Flowers and Moonlight" can only be sold for a maximum of five taels of silver for a volume of three chapters.
This is already a huge profit!
The price will gradually decrease as the number of publications increases, but Master Du's reputation is there, so the minimum price per copy will be three taels of silver.
This is still huge profit!
Although Manager Wen had already read the first ten chapters of "A Dream of Red Mansions" and although "A Dream of Red Mansions" had prefaces written by two great scholars, he still did not have much confidence.
It’s not that the book is bad.
But this Mr. Meng Ruan is really not famous!
He thought for a moment and replied:
"I intend to sell... four ounces of silver per copy!"
Bai Shaoqiu put down the book in his hand and grinned:
"No, I'll sell it for ten taels of silver a copy!"
Shopkeeper Wen was stunned. He was dumbfounded. After a moment, he swallowed his saliva and stared at Bai Shaoqiu in disbelief and asked, "Ten taels of silver for a book?"
"Yes, it's ten taels of silver per copy!"
“And never lower the price!”
Bai Shaoqiu poured a cup of tea for Shopkeeper Wen and said:
"This first edition has a total print run of 3,000 copies. This book is aimed at a high-end audience... I'm afraid the largest audience for this book will be the ladies of prominent families."
"These ladies from wealthy families don't really care about the amount of money when buying things."
"Of course, those scholars will buy it, but they need scholars with money in their pockets to buy it."
"I want 'The Story of the Stone' to become a... symbol in Xingguo's literary world."
"You can understand that from now on, whenever someone mentions the book 'A Dream of Red Mansions', their first impression won't be how good it is, but rather how... damn expensive it is!"
This guy overturned the concept of Wen Da, the shopkeeper.
He originally thought that the book would start out at a price of four taels of silver, and after about half a month of sales, the price would be reduced to three taels of silver. When the second volume went on sale, the price of the first volume would be reduced to two taels of silver.
This is already a very good profit.
Four taels of silver satisfied the wealthy man's immediate pursuit of this book.
Two taels of silver were enough for most scholars to own this book to read carefully or show off.
This group of people is the largest!
According to the past experience of Bai's Bookstore, in the end, this group of buyers who pay two taels of silver are the backbone of maintaining the bookstore's profitability.
But the young master not only set a sky-high price for this book, but also didn't allow the price to be reduced...
"Master, this...I'm afraid there will be some problems."
Shopkeeper Wen pondered for three breaths, then said very seriously:
"We can't do a one-time deal!"
"This first sale dealt a heavy blow to those people... I'm really worried that I'll hurt them and ruin the future of Sanwei Bookstore."
"Master once said that in business, honesty and reputation are the most important things... Ten taels of silver... I'm afraid this will give Sanwei Bookstore a reputation as a shady company."
"Once this reputation gets out, it will be harder than climbing to heaven to redeem it!"
What Manager Wen said is correct.
But Bai Shaoqiu did not accept it.
Because there is no such thing as copyright in this world!
Longxing Bookstore sells Master Du’s books, and 30% of the entire Xingguo market is counterfeit!
This is already extremely low.
This is due to the powerful background and strong deterrent power of Longxing Bookstore!
If anyone who was not a partner of Longxing Bookstore pirated their books, once Longxing Bookstore discovered it, they could use the power of the government to arrest the pirates, put them in jail, and even fine them to the point of bankruptcy.
It's not in the name of copyright infringement!
Instead, they are accused of other crimes, even false crimes!
Sanwei Bookstore had just opened, and Bai Shaoqiu was not afraid that anyone would dare to imitate it in Xiling City.
But what about outside Xiling City?
He has no control at all.
Unless he has the ability to break away from his status as a son-in-law and serve as an official in the court... he would have to be a very high-ranking official to do so.
The only thing he could do was to ensure that the books sold from Sanwei Bookstore had special meaning—
For example, the title page of this book is not a preface, but a seal of Mr. Meng Ruan that he asked Mr. Si to carve personally!
The seal is not printed on the title page.
Instead, Bai Shaoqiu asked Xiao Xi to cover them one by one!
This ensures that the copies of "A Dream of Red Mansions" sold from Sanwei Bookstore are unique.
He hoped that this book with the seal would have collection value, so that he could sell more genuine copies of Sanwei Bookstore's books.
Bai Shaoqiu nodded slightly, but said:
"I have great confidence in this book, and besides..."
"Since people are divided into different classes, it's not surprising that this book divides people into different levels."
"Remember, no matter how good The Story of the Stone is, it won't suit everyone's taste. There will definitely be negative comments coming from people."
“It’s like a chef’s cooking.”
"Even if he's the royal chef, not everyone will like the dishes he makes."
"But because it's expensive, and because its story is filled with profound meaning, there will be people who like this book and defend it..."
"This will be of great benefit to the subsequent release of The Story of the Stone."
"Don't worry, I guarantee that the vast majority of people won't regret buying it. This group of people is our target group."
"After writing The Story of the Stone, there were about forty chapters... I wrote slowly, Sanwei Bookstore sold slowly, and they bought slowly..."
“Not lowering the price, in my opinion, will extend the life cycle of this book.”
Shopkeeper Wen still felt something was wrong. He was about to persuade Bai Shaoqiu again, but unexpectedly, Bai Shaoqiu waved his hand:
"Just do as I say... Tell those buyers that this is a book with Mr. Meng Ruan's personal seal, a collector's item!"
What else can Manager Wen say?
He felt that the young master had been poor for too long and was too anxious.
But the book was written by the young master, and Sanwei Bookstore was opened by the young master. At this moment, the young master has made up his mind, and he knows that it is useless to say anything more.
then,
He stood up without saluting.
"I will do as the young master wishes..."
The next words were not spoken.
Manager Wen turned and left.
Uncle Fu, who was sitting nearby, watched the figure of Shopkeeper Wen disappear outside the door. He then took a puff of his cigarette, looked at Bai Shaoqiu, and asked:
“Is it too expensive?”
Bai Shaoqiu grinned: "It's expensive for a reason!"
……
……
Sanwei Book House.
Dongfang Meng stood in front of the bookshelf holding a long iron stick and suppressed the impatience of those who had been queuing in the room for a long time.
They didn't even dare to say a word of dissatisfaction!
Just standing there boringly.
You all look at each other like fools.
But when they looked back at the long line and heard that only a thousand copies were sold today, they were unwilling to leave just like that.
I would feel bad if I didn't buy this book which is advertised as so good and read it myself.
Especially if you buy it first and get a sneak peek at the story in the book, it's enough to make you show off in front of your classmates and best friends for a while.
Among scholars, there are few who are not hypocritical.
Few of those girls don't like to show off.
Showing off your clothes and jewelry makes you look superficial.
If you want to show off your book,
Especially good books,
Especially good books that you can name by heart... that's elegance!
So, these talented men and beautiful women waited calmly, without any impatience on their faces.
Standing at the front of the team is Chang Sanchuan!
He didn't come here for "The Story of the Stone"!
He was ordered by Chang Fugui to gather intelligence!
He is in a hurry.
But looking at the cold iron scythe in the hands of the fourth young master of the palace, he could only feel anxious in his heart.
What he was most concerned about was how much Bai Shaoqiu would price this book for.
It certainly won’t be as expensive as the “Flower Moon Song” currently being sold at Chang’s Bookstore.
Bai Shaoqiu's move was clearly aimed at Chang's Bookstore. He wanted Sanwei Bookstore to become famous overnight, so the selling price of this first volume... would probably be just one or two taels of silver!
Ok,
It will not exceed two taels of silver at most.