Michael Lauer Book Company is indeed a small publishing house with a serious lack of distribution capabilities.
The first printing of "The Rise of Great Powers" is only 5,000 copies, which can only be seen in major cities in the eastern United States. On average, the circulation in each city is less than 1,000 copies.
As we said before, the 1920s was a prosperous period for the American publishing industry, with sales of best-selling works often reaching hundreds of thousands. The first printing of 5,000 copies of "The Rise of Great Powers" seemed very pitiful. However, this situation belongs to the mainstream of the publishing industry.
, newcomers and second- and third-rate authors, publishers dare not print too many copies.
A new work by a newcomer like "Gone with the Wind" has an initial printing price of 100,000, with a peak daily sales of more than 50,000, a million copies sold in half a year, and 2 million copies in a year. It is really rare to come by but not to ask for.
The golden-haired catwoman secretary hurriedly knocked on the office door, and her joy was beyond words: "Boss, dealers in several cities have sent telegrams to inform them that they are out of stock and that "The Rise of the Great Powers" needs to be reprinted."
"Give me the list." Mike Howard said.
There is no way. For a small publishing house like this, the boss has to do everything personally.
Mike studied the list carefully and found that the out-of-stock items were all in cities with developed education, such as Ivy League universities and famous high schools nearby. It seemed that "The Rise of Great Powers" was very popular among intellectuals.
Especially in a big city like New York, where there are many educational institutions and many high-level intellectuals within its jurisdiction, the distribution volume of 1,500 copies was almost sold out in less than a week.
Mike Howard thought about it and finally gritted his teeth and said: "Printing another 20,000 copies!"
"Twenty thousand copies?" the female secretary said in surprise, "That's too many. What if we can't sell them all?"
Mike smiled and said: "Judging from the current situation, it will definitely be sold out. In addition, you can help contact booksellers in the western region and send them the sales status of "The Rise of Great Powers" in the east. They should be interested."
In this way, the 20,000 additional printed copies of "The Rise of the Great Powers" were quickly replenished, and most of the buyers were senior intellectuals, school students and history buffs.
As for ordinary Americans, haha, they can’t even figure out where Asia is, so how can they be interested in this kind of academic work? Although "The Rise of Great Powers" is already written in a popular way.
"The Rise of the Great Powers" caused a sensation precisely because it followed the elite line. Many members of the U.S. federal and state governments, as well as various politicians and scholars, bought and read this book.
What goes up is good, and what goes down is effective.
Seeing that officials love to read "The Rise of Great Powers", employees in government departments also read it, almost forming a trend.
Sales in the eastern region of the United States were good, and booksellers in the western region quickly followed suit. However, at this time, the western region was still lagging behind, and the literacy rate of the people was not as high as in the eastern region. Sales were barely half of those in the eastern region.
When February of the new year came, another 10,000 copies of "The Rise of Great Powers" were printed, and the previous 25,000 copies were almost sold out.
It's a pity that there is no "best-seller list" in this era, otherwise "The Rise of Great Powers" would definitely be ranked among the top 20 monthly best-sellers in the United States.
The New York Times is the benchmark for high-end serious newspapers in the United States. It also wrote a recommended book review in the cultural section: "This is a magical historical book. It uses easy-to-understand language to analyze and describe the rise and rise of the world's major powers.
Decline. Ordinary people can read it and even use it as recreational reading to increase knowledge while passing free time. Professional scholars are even more fascinated by it. It analyzes history from a very comprehensive and objective perspective, and the data is extremely detailed.
It has a very high status in the modern history circle and is almost becoming a must-read reference book for history majors... Of course, this book is not perfect. For example, it predicts an imminent economic crisis in the United States. This view is very ridiculous and naive. It is also
It is predicted that the Soviet Union will rise in the 1930s. Although the book contains rigorous arguments, it does not rule out that the author is sensationalizing. The author's various speculations about the future have seriously reduced the academic quality of "The Rise of the Great Powers". I feel very sorry for this.
.”
After "The Rise of the Great Powers" sold 40,000 copies in the United States, its daily sales dropped significantly and it was almost unsaleable. However, as an academic work, it has a long lifespan. There is no need to compare it with those commercial works. Every year, students and scholars will write for it.
It pays for it.
The real sales of "The Rise of the Great Powers" began after the economic crisis broke out in 1929. Americans recalled the prophecies in the book and immediately praised and worshiped it. Even economists began to study the book.
Even though it has only sold tens of thousands of copies and cannot be called a "best-seller" at all, "The Rise of a Great Power" has still caused a sensation in Chinese circles in the United States. Because this book is highly respected by the American elite, it is said that even U.S. President Coolidge
Everyone is reading.
Hoover, who was running for president and had a huge advantage, also mentioned "The Rise of the Great Powers" many times in his speech. He highly praised the academic nature of "The Rise of the Great Powers", but refuted Zhou Hexuan's views on the economic crisis.
Voters say that as long as he is president of the United States for a day, there will be no economic crisis in the United States and the U.S. stock market will not collapse. He wants all Americans to be able to afford turkey for dinner and drive a car when going out!
Voters shouted in their hearts: Long live President Hoover!
Shi Zhaoji, former Zhang Zhidong's staff and current Chinese Minister to the United States, mentioned in a private message to Gu Weijun: "Recently, the book "The Rise of Great Powers" has aroused heated discussion among American elites. Mr. Roosevelt is running for governor of New York State.
, although his legs are disabled, he is very knowledgeable and especially loves reading history and biographies. When he met with me, he heard that I was Chinese, so we talked about "The Rise of the Great Powers". Mr. Roosevelt praised this book greatly
, in his original words, after reading "The Rise of the Great Powers", you no longer need to study history. American political officials highly praise the author of this book, Zhou Hexuan, and now the United States is trying to negotiate with China to return its tariff autonomy.
I suggest inviting Mr. Zhou to join the negotiation team. His presence should be of great benefit to the negotiations..."
Gu Weijun had resigned at this time and retired to Tianjin to live in an apartment. After reading the letter, he laughed at himself and said: "Who else can I recommend? I would rather recommend myself. It's a pity that the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to recover the tariffs will be given up by the war in China.
Buried."
The Americans are indeed determined to return China's tariff autonomy, not only for political reasons, but also because the supply of American goods exceeds demand in their own country and they are eager to open up the Chinese market. China's market share is firmly held by Japan and the United Kingdom.
It is difficult for the United States to intervene in China's control. Returning tariffs can win the support of the Chinese government and people, which is a great thing for the United States.
It's a pity that China can't take care of this at this time.