The Versatile Master Artist

The clock on the wall was almost pointing to midnight at 2:00 AM when the phone in the office finally rang.

The occasional humming instantly stopped.

Osborne had already set the ball on the 10-foot long indoor golf green, preparing to swing his putter when he abruptly stopped.

This movement almost strained the president’s old back.

”Oooh.”

Uncle Osborne held his back with one hand and turned to look at the black, ringing landline phone on the desk.

It was an internal line from Scholastic Corporation.

These days, only government agencies and large enterprises still use such fixed phones to link various functional departments together.

Osborne had been waiting for this internal company report.

The headquarters building was still lit up at midnight tonight.

Besides his presidential office, the entire floor of the marketing department below was also illuminated.

The marketing department would compile the first-day sales data of the ”Little Prince” fairy tale book across the British Isles and report it to the president himself instantly.

Osborne didn’t even set down his club, he took two quick steps and unceremoniously sat on the desk.

He glanced at the phone number displayed on the LCD screen.

After taking a deep breath, the president answered the phone with a demeanor like a father waiting outside the delivery room.

”Hello, this is the president’s office, I’m Osborne.”

The moment the call connected, Osborne’s tone returned to calm.

”Yes... I’m listening...hold on, let me take down some notes.”

The president held the golf club under his arm, picked up the pen and notepad from the desk, and started writing quickly.

”Is this number confirmed, is the information reliable...okay, I understand...first-day sales results don’t explain everything, to outrun the entire sales cycle is the real win, it requires everyone’s continuous effort...yes, the colleagues in the marketing department should keep up the good work.”

”Communicate more with Ofsted. If the book can be included in next year’s recommended reading list for public schools, I’ll secure you an additional bonus...that’s it, everyone go home and rest early.”

President Osborne maintained his noble and calm tone until he hung up the phone.

He set down the handset.

He slowly raised the note in front of his eyes.

”Ha.”

The president’s lips twitched slightly.

Then a second time, a third time... until the smile spread across his cheeks like persimmons turning red overnight in autumn, breaking into an uncontrollable hearty laugh.

”Ha... hahaha...”

Osborne jumped off the desk, walked over to grab the golf club, and swung it as if he were playing baseball.

He let the golf ball fly and crash into a decoration tree adorned like a Christmas tree with million-sales milestones, then rebound and smash the screen of a Dell laptop.

The president, unaware, just laughed to the sky.

He tossed the note and golf club into the air, spreading his arms wide.

Amidst the jingling of the medals on the decoration tree, he opened his mouth and shouted like a tenor.

”~Country road!”

The massive sound almost made the secretary outside the suite think a wolf was howling in the president’s office.

If his office wasn’t a hundred meters up with smooth glass curtain walls all around.

This Pavlovian shout might have startled all the sparrows in London City to take flight.

”What a thrill.”

Osborne continued to laugh silly.

On the falling note, three different sets of numbers were marked, representing today’s top three sales statistics of books.

[”Truth” Author: Colin Hoover (Today’s Sales 6,537)]

[”Back-up” Author: Prince Harry (Today’s Sales 12,256)]

[”The Little Prince” Author: Saint-Exupéry (Today’s Sales 12,296)]

With a slim margin of just 40 books.

The ”Little Prince” project he led topped the sales list across England today!

It’s a damn victory!

This certainly wasn’t the first time in Osborne’s career that a project he handled achieved the day’s best sales.

Last year, the biography of Federer, ”Green Grass, Red Clay, Grand Slam,” also clinched the day sales champion.

Even before Colin Hoover’s romance novel was hyped up on TIKTOK, it briefly took the Moonlight News’s weekly sales champion for two weeks.

Of course.

It was later overshadowed by others.

But this surely is Osborne’s most satisfying moment of clinching the daily sales champion.

Publishing Federer’s biography cost so much on media hype, production budget, channel promotions! How little is the total cost of ”The Little Prince”!

Such celebrity biographies always have high sales.

But since everyone knows the sales will not be low, the publisher gains only fame and cost recovery. Losing money is unlikely, but the bulk of the profits goes to the celebrity.

After all, if you don’t publish it, other publishing companies are willing to rush to publish it.

Books entering the public domain are public resources; the sales are pure profit, with not a penny to the original author.

Only translators and painters get a small percentage.

The revenue from sales is almost entirely the income of the Group’s European Region, with even the propaganda expenses covered by headquarters at no cost.

How could Osborne not be happy?

Moreover, these celebrity biographies only make a splash at the beginning; after two years, readers lose interest.