The Versatile Master Artist

From the decorations to the layout, from the design of the shop windows, chandeliers on the ceiling, to the patterns on the oak floors.

Everything is built according to the decoration standards of the largest and most trafficked chain bookstore in the United Kingdom—Waterstones.

This ”bookstore” is not open for business, nor is it a real bookstore.

Everything about it looks like a bookstore, but its true function is a 1:1 model experimental field built by the marketing department.

The ”bookstore” can meet almost any research needs related to the physical book market.

Its main design purpose is to provide channel partners of the group with assessments of sales operations of physical bookstores.

In the West, bookstores are similar to coffee shops and are considered a kind of social venue.

Whether it’s the temperature and flavor of freshly ground coffee sold at the store counter, the impact of the placement of thematic bookshelves targeted at customers of different age groups on sales, the necessity of adding a children’s activity area in physical bookstores, or the background music couples expect to hear when dating in a bookstore...

The marketing department can invite volunteers and design different market research plans according to the needs of the group.

Determining which illustrator’s work is more popular is basically not difficult at all.

Simply print a few different illustrator cover designs, bind them on blank book models, and place them on the shelves.

Then invite a hundred volunteers to browse in the bookstore and tally their choices, and it’s done.

The principle is not complicated, the difficulty of the research is not high, it’s just an afternoon’s work.

”I disagree, since the contract has been issued, how can we easily change the person.” Osborne frowned, ”That’s unreasonable, it’s practically insulting.”

”The level of Villerein Studio’s work is the reason.”

Charlie stiffened his neck, ignoring Osborne, and turned his gaze towards President Hill.

”I think... this idea is feasible. Osborne, I know you want to push Detective Cat, but you still have to prioritize the group’s interests. The sales target set by the board of three hundred thousand copies per year puts a lot of pressure, this is not the ideal situation for a newcomer to gain fame, change the book.”

President Hill’s words seemed fair.

But no one is a fool and could hear the bias in his words. Hill not only believes that market research is imperative but also believes that Detective Cat has no chance of winning.

Not just President Hill.

The internal affairs department personnel present, as well as the assistants and secretaries accompanying the two presidents, mostly shared similar thoughts after hearing this proposal.

They are not necessarily pessimistic about Detective Cat.

But rather that Villerein Studio’s level is far beyond the average illustrator’s level.

It’s human nature to fear comparison.

If the passing line for an average illustrator is 30 points, then those at a 60-point level are considered excellent illustrators.

But a Vellein Painter might score 85 or 90 points.

The gap between 90 points and 60 points is just as evident as the gap between 60 points and 30 points, both are a knockout.

An ordinary excellent illustrator looks subpar when compared to Villerein Studio, potentially even below the passing line.

This disparity will be directly reflected in sales,

If luck is good, the difference might only be a few percentage points, if not, the sales difference might be 50%, or even double, which is not impossible.

Books, especially children’s books ruined by bad illustrations, are far too common.

The situation of poor ”toxic” illustrations in Dongxia textbooks drawing widespread social criticism also happens frequently in the more stringent children’s protection regulations in the Europe and America book market.

A few educational magazines criticize you, and parents dare not buy them for their children.

Charlie appeared full of confidence and triumphant, so he did not notice Vice Director Shubert beside him with a somewhat peculiar expression.

Shubert lowered his head, pondering over Detective Cat’s submitted sample illustrations and recalling the works he had seen from Villerein Studio...

He straightened his back quietly a bit.

This can be done, indeed!

As long as Detective Cat can maintain this level, Shubert doesn’t feel that Villerein Studio’s level is necessarily higher than Detective Cat’s.

He has great confidence in Detective Cat’s artistic level.

Charlie wants to rely on market research, using the heavy punch of Villerein Studio in his hand, to crush the group’s confidence in Detective Cat.

Conversely.

This is also a good opportunity for Detective Cat and Shubert, isn’t it?

Not to mention beating such an old-school studio, the fame it could bring to Detective Cat, and Shubert could establish his footing in the art department with it.

Shubert’s heart skipped a beat, realizing that President Osborne was watching him quietly, and he immediately nodded subtly.

Osborne felt assured internally, but didn’t relent verbally.

”I disagree. Director Charlie’s proposal breaks the rules. Even if Villerein Studio is indeed better than Detective Cat, it’s reasonable, but this is not a precedent for replacing an illustrator. The contract is already signed, and Detective Cat’s agent will not agree to more market research.”

”Give Detective Cat some extra compensation. Offer her a long-term contract, add some bonuses, or give an additional two-point share or something,” Hill casually remarked, ”If she can defeat Villerein Studio, rewarding her a bit more is not a problem. If not, at worst pay the penalty and terminate the contract... if she lacks ability, she can’t blame others.”

Paying penalties or giving an extra one or two percentage points of share, the president doesn’t care much.

Frankly, this is small money.

The group has at least over a billion dollars in revenue annually, and considering IP adaptations, a super bestseller can account for 5% of it, which is extraordinary.

A monster like ”Harry Potter”, you might encounter once in decades.

The original ”Little Prince” also counts in this monster category, but having sold over a hundred million copies today, its halo has faded quite a bit.

One or two percentage points of profit from a million copies may be huge for the illustrator individually, but for the group, it’s a drop in the bucket.

Never mind a few hundred thousand or a million-dollar share, even considering the total sales of several tens of millions of Euros from the ”Little Prince” during its estimated sales cycle, is not a big deal for Scholastic either.

What truly makes President Hill and Osborne so serious is the enormous prestige a super bestseller can bring.

For instance, Scholastic’s work topping the bestseller list in ”New York Times” for many weeks in the North American market.

And whether the new edition of ”Little Prince” can be included in various educational committees or private schools’ recommended extracurricular reading lists.

Or even simply become a literature course textbook.

Not only will it provide abundant stable income year after year, but the intangible channel benefits and collaboration bridges gained make Scholastic very attentive.

Selling textbooks is a huge business in Europe and America.

It’s normal for a student to spend over a thousand dollars on textbooks per semester; if buying all new books, the cost of finishing high school textbooks might even buy a used vintage Mustang.

Meanwhile, from a personal perspective, creating a super bestseller is also an opportunity to showcase one’s ability to the board.

”Let’s do this, previously colleagues in the marketing department discussed whether to launch a collector’s edition book gift box for ’Little Prince’.”

President Hill decisively concluded this matter. ”Regardless of whether it’s Detective Cat or Villerein Studio, whoever leads in the market research, the group will specially release a set of Little Prince illustration postcards as a reward for their work.”

The illustration postcard peripherals refer to the themed sets of postcards or illustration collections released specifically around the book’s illustrations when publishing children’s or cartoon books.

Works under Disney, or light novels and animations like ”Sword Art Online” and ”Attack on Titan”, have such peripherals for sale.

A single volume of a ”Sword Art Online” light novel can sell for ten dollars or so in North America, whereas a collector’s edition commemorative gift box containing an Asuna’s illustration book might sell for 60 dollars, or even over 100 dollars.

These peripherals can be included in book gift boxes or sold separately.

If the book itself is popular, the sales are generally strong, the profit margins are very high, and they are entirely built around the illustrator.

This reward is indeed very tempting.