No matter how successful the signing event is, it will cost tens of thousands of dollars at most. For publishers, what is more important is the public opinion effect caused by the signing event.

Ming Pao Publishing House is backed by Ming Pao Group, and can easily call on a bunch of reporters from TV stations, newspapers, and magazines.

The grand event of the autograph session appeared on Jade Channel’s evening news that night, and was also reported on by many newspapers including Ming Pao the next morning.

"Thousands of people lined up on the streets of Wan Chai just to see the new book by a mainland talent" "The Truman Show is published, and "The Truman" Xu Guanwen appeared at the book signing event"...

Originally, news about the release of a new book like this would hardly cause any big waves even if it appeared in the newspaper.

But the clever part of this publicity campaign by Ming Pao Publishing House is that it links the new book with the movie and invites Xu Guanwen, a popular superstar.

He was dressed in the same way he was filming. When the reporters took pictures of him at that stop, "Truman" appeared so vividly on the media pages, which naturally attracted the attention of many people in Xiangjiang.

Moreover, this linkage has also attracted more people's attention to the film "The Truman Show" that is currently being filmed.

The sales volume of the new book "The Truman Show" has been good since it was released on the shelves. With this wave of publicity, sales in major bookstores in Hong Kong have become even more popular.

In addition to the single-day sales of 1,800 copies on the day of the book signing, the sales of "The Truman Show" also continued to rise in the days after the book signing.

By October 1st, the cumulative sales of the novel had reached 10,000 copies within half a month of its release, breaking the fastest sales record for Lin Chaoyang's previous works.

While the new book "The Truman Show" was selling like hotcakes, Lin Chaoyang and his wife made arrangements for Hong Kong and planned to rush back to the mainland before the Mid-Autumn Festival.

But at this time, Lin Chaoyang suddenly received a letter from Naoko Kondo, saying that the Japanese version of "Into the Kanto" had been translated, and she and Shozo Fujii had contacted several Japanese publishing houses for "Into the Kanto".

At present, it seems that several publishing houses are quite sincere, and I hope Lin Chaoyang can take the time to go to Japan to discuss publishing matters.

After reading the letter, Tao Yushu asked Lin Chaoyang to go to Japan first and then return to the mainland with her after finishing the work.

Three days later, Lin Chaoyang took a flight from Kai Tak Airport at 5:30 pm and arrived at Tokyo International Airport at 9:40 pm.

After exiting the passage, he saw someone waiting there holding a pick-up sign. It was Naoko Kondo.

"Lin Sang, welcome to Japan!"

"Hello, Ms. Kondo, long time no see!" The two greeted each other with a smile.

Naoko Kondo introduced the middle-aged man next to her to Lin Chaoyang, "Lin Sang, this is Associate Professor Fujii I mentioned to you in my letter."

Lin Chaoyang shook hands with Fujii Shozo cordially and said a few words to thank him for his enthusiastic help.

Fujii bowed three times, "It is an honor for me to participate in the translation of Lin Sang's works."

After exchanging greetings with the two of them, Lin Chaoyang looked behind them again. Behind them were a few young people, who must have been together.

Different from the solemn tone used when introducing Fujii Shozo, Kondo Naoko simply said: "These are students of Fujii-kun and I, and I brought them here to meet Lin Sang today."

There was a sense in her tone that a rich man from the countryside was bringing his relatives from the countryside to the city to see the world. The students did not look dissatisfied at all, but looked at Lin Chaoyang eagerly.

One of the short, round-faced girls was holding a bouquet of flowers in her hand. Seeing Lin Chaoyang's eyes looking at them, she quickly stepped forward and gave it to Lin Chaoyang.

"Thank you!"

Lin Chaoyang's thanks made the round-faced girl excited again, and he couldn't help but suspect that this was Naoko Kondo's request to pick her up at the airport.

None of his novels have been published in Japan, and he really couldn't understand the excitement of several students.

After a welcome, the seven of them left the airport and drove all the way to Chiyoda District, Tokyo.

The hotel arranged by Naoko Kondo for Lin Chaoyang is in Kioi-cho, Chiyoda District, called Prince Hotel, and it is a five-star hotel.

Lin Chaoyang stayed in the hotel's annex, which was built in 1960.

When checking in, Lin Chaoyang proposed to pay by himself, but Naoko Kondo firmly disagreed, and even Shozo Fujii tried to persuade him.

"Lin Sang, there is an old Chinese saying that guests should do as they please. When you come to Japan, we should be responsible for these things."

The three of them argued for a while. Seeing that Kondo Naoko and Fujii Shozo were always resolute, Lin Chaoyang could no longer insist.

By the time we finished checking in, it was already past 11pm.

Kondo Naoko asked Lin Chaoyang what he thought about the itinerary. This time Lin Chaoyang came to Tokyo to discuss novel publishing. In addition to going to the publishing house to discuss business, Kondo Naoko also arranged some party and sightseeing trips for Lin Chaoyang.

For example, she and Fujii Shozo convened some Japanese literary figures to hold a welcome banquet for Lin Chaoyang tomorrow, such as visiting the University of Tokyo where Fujii Shozo teaches, going to Kyoto to appreciate the maple leaves, visiting the National Folklore Exhibition Hall, etc.

Lin Chaoyang thought for a moment. The welcome banquet was already arranged and it was inconvenient to refuse, so he declined the visit.

He also explained Tao Yushu's pregnancy and expressed that he would return to China as soon as possible.

After listening to his words, Kondo Naoko and others left with a little regret.

Early the next morning, Lin Chaoyang got up and went to the hotel restaurant for breakfast. As soon as he returned to the room after eating, he received a call from the front desk downstairs, saying that someone was waiting for him. When he went downstairs, he saw Kondo Naoko and Fujii.

The third provincial level is waiting there.

"You two have been waiting for a long time."

Lin Chaoyang said politely and followed the two of them into the car.

Today they are going to the Sakuramon Kaikan of Nihon University in Gobancho, Chiyoda-ku, where the Sakuramon Kaikan, the alumni association of Nihon University, is located.

Together with the Mita Kai of Keio University, the Inado Kai of Waseda University, and the Nishui Kai of Hitotsubashi University, they are known as the four major alumni associations in Japan.

In the morning, Naoko Kondo and Shozo Fujii arranged an exchange meeting here, which was attended by their students. In the afternoon, they met with the writers, and in the evening, they had a welcome dinner.

I don’t know how Kondo Naoko and Fujii Shozo described it to the students. When attending the exchange meeting in the morning, Lin Chaoyang noticed that the students looked at him in the same way as the students who picked up the plane last night, as if they were looking at some big star.

After communicating for a while, he discovered that Naoko Kondo and Shozo Fujii had indeed praised him in front of the students, and quite a few of these students had Chinese proficiency and had read his novels.

The doubts in my heart were answered, and the morning exchange meeting ended in a joyful atmosphere.

At noon, the guests invited to the welcome party came to the hall one after another. Masako Toyoda, Tsutomu Minakami, Daisaku Ikeda... all of them were pro-Z writers.

Almost all of these writers are in their sixties and have close ties with the Chinese literary world, so they agreed to the invitation of Naoko Kondo and Shozo Fujii to attend the welcome banquet.

Sitting among a group of old writers, Lin Chaoyang, who was not yet thirty years old, was made to look even younger. Several old writers were surprised to see this. They could not have imagined that a writer with a good reputation in China could be so young.

Lin Chaoyang did not speak Japanese, and several old writers did not speak Chinese either. All communication was with Naoko Fujii and Shozo Fujii, two China experts.

While everyone was chatting, another person came into the club.

Seeing the arrival of these two people, everyone who was chatting animatedly stood up. Lin Chaoyang didn't know why, but he knew that these must be heavyweights.

"Lin Sang, please allow me to introduce you to you. This is Mr. Shigeki Kaizuka, a historian and a professor at Kyoto University."

When Lin Chaoyang heard this name, he immediately thought of a book "Confucius" he had seen in the Yan'an University Library. The author seemed to be Shigeki Kaizuka.

After saying hello, he asked something, and Kondo Naoko helped translate it. Kaizuka Shigeki looked happy, but he didn't expect that Lin Chaoyang had read his works.

Kaizuka Shigeki is a leading figure in the field of Japanese history. Together with Yoshikawa Kojiro and Kuwazono Takeo, he is also known as the three outstanding figures of Kyoto University.

He has written many books such as "The Spirit of Ancient Times", "Confucius", "Ancient Chinese Country", "Memories of China", "Old China and New China", etc., and is widely welcomed by Japanese intellectual circles.

Counting the arrival of Shigeki Kaizuka, there are a total of nine people invited to attend the welcome banquet today. Their professions include writers, critics, and historians, and they all have a certain status in Japan's cultural and intellectual circles.

It can be said that Naoko Kondo and Shozo Fujii worked very hard for Lin Chaoyang’s visit to Japan.

The day after the welcome dinner, Lin Chaoyang, led by Naoko Kondo, came to the headquarters of Shirasuisha, which is also located in Chiyoda District.

Baishuishe is a well-known publishing house in Japan, focusing on publishing books related to linguistics and translation. The word Baishui in the name of the company is taken from the sentence "I will help you with Baishui Xi, climb the wind and ride the horse" in Qu Yuan's "Li Sao"

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White Water Publishing House is not well-known in the Japanese publishing industry, but its influence is considerable.

The reason for his low reputation is that his main publishing direction is philosophy, history, literature, drama and language books. When the style is high, the audience is small.

The reason for its influence is that since 1955, White Water Society has established the Kishida Kunushi Script Award in the name of Kishida Kunushi, a pioneer of Japan’s modern drama movement.

Over the past thirty years, the Kishida Kunushi Script Award has gradually become an authoritative award in the Japanese theater industry. Many of the most influential figures in the Japanese theater industry have been crowned with this award.

Because of the existence of the Kishida Kunushi Script Award, Shirasuisha has a unique influence in the Japanese drama literary world.

Of course, this information was told by Naoko Kondo to Lin Chaoyang. According to her, in terms of publishing literary works, White Water Society is a good partner.

However, due to its strength, Baishui Publishing House is far inferior to those large publishing houses in terms of book distribution and promotion.

When they arrived at White Water Club, the person who received them was the editor-in-chief, Okamura Tatsuya, who is equivalent to the chief editor in China.

Okamura Tatsuya is a middle-aged man in his forties with a thin face. When he doesn't smile, his face is full of seriousness, as if someone owes him two hundred dollars.

The quality of "Into the Guandong" itself is excellent, and it was translated by two professors, Naoko Kondo and Shozo Fujii, who are proficient in Chinese. The quality of the translation is equally good.

After some communication, Okamura Tatsuya expressed Baishui Society's attitude. They recognized the content of the novel and were willing to provide Lin Chaoyang with a publishing contract with an 8% stamp duty.

The so-called stamp duty is what royalties are called in Japan.

Lin Chaoyang is not well-known in Japan. It is the first time that his work is published in Japan, so it is already a good treatment to get this royalty rate.

Then Lin Chaoyang asked about the translator's royalties, and Okamura Tatsuya said that White Water Society could provide the translator with a fee as a buyout fee for the translator's labor, and the price was around 2.2 million yen.

After listening to Okamura Tatsuya's conditions, Lin Chaoyang calculated in his mind that the current exchange rate between RMB and Japanese yen is almost 1:80, and 2.2 million yen is more than 20,000 yuan.

Lin Chaoyang said goodbye to Okamura Tatsuya on the grounds that he had to think about it.

After coming out of the Baishui Society headquarters, Naoko Kondo thought that Lin Chaoyang was dissatisfied with the conditions of the Baishui Society, and said to Lin Chaoyang:

"Lin Sang, we can go to Hede Study Room and have a look. Their conditions are better than those of Baishui Society, and their strength is much stronger than that of Baishui Society."

Lin Chaoyang nodded, "Okay, then let's go and have a look."

Kawaide Shobo was the first to publish textbooks and study reference books, as well as its own Seimeido Bookstore. In the Japanese publishing industry, it is greater than Shirakuisha in terms of strength and reputation, and has a longer history than Shirakuisha. It was founded in 1886.

The headquarters is located in Sumiyoshi-cho, Shinjuku City, and its main magazine "Bungai" is one of the five major national pure literature magazines in the Japanese literary world.
To be continued...