The Versatile Master Artist

”Is there any more bad news? Just lay it all out.” Sir Brown looked at Hellefi, who seemed hesitant, and spoke slowly.

”Hmm... does sales data count?”

Hellefi opened the cover page of The Little Prince and pulled out a note: ”I just called a friend in the publishing industry and got its first-week sales data.”

”How many books are expected to be sold, 20,000 copies? 30,000 copies?”

The chairperson already had an uneasy feeling and unfolded the note in his hand.

”Hard to say, because the first week isn’t over yet, but I think it should be more than that.”

Sir Brown stared at the data on the note and fell silent.

[Day 1: 12,296 copies]

[Day 2: 7,531 copies]

[Day 3: 6,212 copies]

[Day 4: 6,197 copies]

[Day 5: 5,621 copies]

[Total: 37,857 copies]

”Nearly 40,000 books sold in the first five days, which should already set a new record for the best-selling fairy tale book in history. And this is only the sales performance in the United Kingdom.”

Hellefi’s cheek twitched: ”Why else would I meet you in person to discuss this? We might have gotten the strategy wrong; we should’ve treated it coldly. Many readers are curious, and the various online discussion atmosphere seems to have provided free early publicity for this book before it was launched.”

”It’s meaningless to talk about this now.”

Since the moment Anna took The Little Prince out of her handbag at the shareholders’ meeting, he was given no chance to handle it coldly.

Sir Brown crumpled the note into a ball and tossed it into the tea tray on the other side.

He pondered for a moment: ”We should see the more optimistic side. Our publicity still has an effect; after the initial wave of public interest was released, The Little Prince’s daily sales have now dropped by 60%.”

”The sales being so hot did indeed slightly exceed the original expectations. However, the situation is still under control; at least the mainstream art critic community’s opinions are still within our grasp. Helafi shareholder, you’re right, what we should do now is to extinguish and separate.”

”Separate the connection between the success of sales and the illustrator. Then find a way to separate this matter from the Oil Painting magazine. Don’t let public opinion form a trend that equates the success of this fairy tale book with the magazine’s misjudgment.”

An excellent politician can advance and retreat.

Sir Brown’s mind was already calm.

Since the objective fact of The Little Prince’s successful sales has already appeared.

The urgent task now is not to stubbornly attack those buying the new version of The Little Prince as bumpkins, provoking readers’ rebellious psychology.

He must find a way to remove Detective Cat from the honor of The Little Prince’s sales and simultaneously let the magazine escape from this unfavorable topic battleground.

As long as mainstream public opinion remains under his control, completing this matter is not difficult.

The rhetoric is ready-made.

If the number of sales can easily be equated with artistic value, then the most artistic magazine in the world wouldn’t be Oil Painting, but should be Playboy.

After the storm of this matter has passed.

He, Sir Brown, has ten thousand ways to deal with that Detective Cat.

”I’m afraid it’s not as easy as you think. My friend, you haven’t read the newspapers recently, have you? There have already been some unfavorable voices appearing in the mainstream media.”

The United States shareholder raised his eyebrows slightly and quietly reminded in a small voice.

”Which magazine is opposing us? Trying to use a Detective Cat to compete with the dignified Oil Painting magazine, it’s probably a bit too hasty.” Sir Brown was furious.

Does everyone think this ”Art Pope” is easy to bully, or what?

Oil Painting magazine is the undisputed leader in the field of art criticism.

In terms of value, it can instantly kill the other nine magazines combined in the top ten.

Daring to stab him with a knife at this moment, they clearly don’t know what the word ’death’ means.

”It’s not an art criticism magazine. It’s a financial magazine; have you subscribed to Economic Critic or Economic Critic Business Review? Even the United States’ CNN Cable News Network quoted their articles during this morning’s news segment. You might really need to take a look.”

”This level of heat is already beyond what we can suppress.”

Sir Brown’s face went dark as he picked up the fixed phone on the table and said a few words.

Soon after, a clerk came into his office holding a stack of newspapers.

Reading newspapers is a daily must-do for high officials and dignitaries. To stay in line with high-net-worth reader groups, the employee public lounge at Oil Painting magazine subscribes to various mainstream European newspapers.

Delivering a copy of Economic Critic, a leading financial publication, takes only a few minutes.

The front cover of the newspaper was immediately a huge cartoon occupying the entire page.

It was a golden balance scale with ”Oil Painting” written on it.

On one end of the balance stood a large group of white-bearded old men, whose caption was: ”Miss Elina, you’re wrong!”

On the other end of the scale was a lonely little girl sitting in a wheelchair, and her speech bubble said: ”Look into my eyes and tell me Detective Cat is a terrible artist. Please, you folks, do you really understand art?”

The balance was currently tilting towards the group of white-bearded old men.

But next to the wheelchair-bound girl was a weight that looked heavy, about to fall from the sky.

The weight was inscribed with the title of The Little Prince and the slogan [First-week sales: More than 40K].