The Shadow of Great Britain

Chapter 1253: Chapter 153: Empire Publishing_3

”The Economist,” although it was just an inconspicuous new publication that year, quickly carved out a niche from ”Westminster Review” and ”Edinburgh Review,” with contributions from economists like Mil from the University of London.

And ”The British,” sitting on piles of academic reports from the electromagnetic conference all over Europe, not only could boast the honor of announcing the concept of resistance first to all of Europe but also leverage the fame of Gauss, Faraday, Ampere, and Oersted to open up the market for scientific journals.

Correspondingly, Eld’s anonymous vulgar novels should also be published separately in a new magazine for serialization. This would ensure that ”The British’s” reputation remains intact and any issues arising in the future could be quickly separated, just like the shell bank used to handle the Foreign Office’s subsidies.

Moreover, such vertical management strategies could endow the new publication with different purposes.

”The British” mainly caters to the middle class, whereas ”The Economist” targets London Financial City and Whitehall Street. Vulgar novels are quite popular and can make money, while scientific journals are even more remarkable.

At least for the German scientific community, holding an authoritative scientific journal means holding the path for countless scholars to rise and prosper, as a crucial measure of academic reputation in the German educational field is to see how many papers you’ve published in authoritative journals. As for Britain and France, even though there’s no strict rule about paper publication for scholars, people privately still regard it as an essential indicator.

Royal Society scholars demanding reform are simply because they’ve found that many society members have never published natural philosophy papers in the ”Natural Yearbook.”

Arthur, with a turn of his eyes, amicably interrupted the verbal skirmish between Heine and Disraeli.

”Benjamin, I’ve thought about it; your words do make some sense. We even discussed this issue earlier. ’The British’ is positioned within British society, focusing on publishing trendy fashionable novels. Works like ’On Romanticism’ are clearly more suited for serialization in dedicated literary review magazines or newspapers’ art critique sections.”

Heine was startled by Arthur’s remarks, thinking this fellow was trying to backtrack: ”Arthur, you can’t just listen to this guy’s one-sided talk. I believe Britain’s middle class possesses enough appreciation ability to read ’On Romanticism.’”

Upon seeing Arthur agree with his viewpoint, Disraeli immediately laughed: ”That’s right, Arthur, you’re correct; we ’The British’ should have changed long ago! We’re a novel magazine, not a refugee camp. Although I do sympathize with some people and am willing to donate to them, I don’t think our pages should casually squeeze in a bunch of Polish soldiers, French emperors, Italian sailors, or German petty citizens.”

”Of course.” Arthur chuckled: ”That’s because we have better places for them, like our supplement ’The Economist.’

”Hmm?” Disraeli caught the undertone in Arthur’s words: ”Are you planning to publish ’On Romanticism’ in ’The Economist’? ”

”Actually, that’s not suitable either. As I mentioned earlier, if possible, it’s best to start a comprehensive newspaper.”

”A newspaper?” Disraeli pondered: ”You want to expand our business? This...isn’t entirely impossible. But if we’re to start a newspaper, we’ll need to expand our staff by at least three or four times, hire seven or eight reporters, add a few new editors, and update our printing equipment. Arthur, you should remember, right? My previous failed investment was in newspaper publishing; the complexity of running a newspaper isn’t at the same level as magazines.”

”I’ve considered this point as well.” Arthur nodded slightly: ”So, I think at this stage, it’s best we start by adding new magazines to broaden our business scope.”

Arthur tapped his finger on the mountainous pile of papers on the table: ”For instance, starting with publishing a scientific journal to test the waters. The University of Gottingen has ready academic resources; we can easily find reviewers and editors here. The only thing missing is experienced publishing personnel and distribution knowledge.”

”Scientific journal?” Disraeli calculated a bit mentally, then shook his head slightly: ”I don’t think this is necessarily a profitable venture.”

Arthur didn’t speak directly but subtly hinted at him: ”But this might solve the Duke of Sussex’s urgent need, Benjamin. Sometimes publications shouldn’t solely consider financial issues. As you said, this pertains to social progress and the ancient traditions of England.”

Upon hearing the Duke of Sussex, Disraeli’s sharp political instincts immediately made him realize there might be political opportunism involved here.

”I...I seem to have heard that the Duke of Sussex is passionate about sponsoring art and science. Does he also want to publish natural philosophy papers?”

”Not just him.” Arthur hinted: ”In Britain, many people are interested in natural philosophy. Otherwise, why are nobles, army and Royal Navy generals, bankers, and factory owners all vying to join the Royal Society?”

Heine also sensed something amiss, sarcastically remarking: ”So what do you plan to call this new magazine? ’Electoral Fraud’?”

”No.” Arthur smiled: ”Heinrich, you can call it ’Nature’ or ’Science’; choose one, please.”

”Let’s call it ’Nature’ then.” Heine shook his head: ”Because this is not ’Scientific’ at all.”