Chapter 518: Unfortunate defeat and terrible record (two in one)
When Zhang Zhong fell asleep over there, the bookstore in California had just opened its doors.
It was originally the weekend, and it was supposed to be a day to sleep in a little longer, but Stuckart had already gotten up early in the morning.
Last night her good friend Laura asked her to go to the bar, but she refused because she just wanted to be energetic and read pz's book today.
It is said that this time the first and second parts of "The Three-Body Problem" will be released in North America at the same time, which means she can have a full meal.
When she arrived at Norton Bookstore, many people had already arrived at the bookstore before her. No need to ask, these people should have the same purpose as her, and they all came for PZ's new book.
"Why are the two books tied together?"
Moving closer to the bookshelf, Stuckart heard the distressed voice of a girl.
She also looked at the bookshelf. It turned out that volumes one and two of "The Three-Body Problem" were plastic-sealed together. The girl was hesitant to buy it.
Stuckart didn't have this problem. Plastic-sealing the two books together saved her the trouble, and looking at the price, it was ten dollars cheaper, which was already a huge discount.
However, PZ's books are getting more and more expensive now. She remembers that "Dune", which was about the same thickness as "The Three-Body Problem", only cost 20 US dollars.
Stuckart took a set from the bookshelf and picked it up. Not to mention, the two books were packed together and they were quite heavy. It was very difficult for her to pick them up with one hand.
The situation of the girl just now is very rare. After all, most people who are willing to go to the bookstore early in the morning to buy new pz books are fans of pz. Since they are fans, they basically have the same mentality as Stuckart. Not only are they not disgusted
They may even feel happy about the bundle, after all, it looks like they saved ten bucks.
After paying the bill, Stuckart ordered a cup of coffee and found a seat by the window to sit down. She might have to spend the day at Norton Bookstore, but don’t worry, the bookstore has everything, including lunch and dinner.
Solved here.
She has longed for "The Three-Body Problem" for a long time. When there was a heated discussion about "Don't Answer" in China, readers in North America also saw it, but they could only watch it, because after all, not many people could speak Chinese.
At that time, Stuckart was thinking, what does "don't answer" mean?
Now, she can finally find the answer to her question herself.
…
Because there are two books to read, almost no one in North America finished both books on the first day of the new book’s release. Most people only finished the first one.
But things are slightly different here in Europe. The time difference between European countries and China is only six to eight hours, and it is still daylight saving time, so the time difference between them and China is basically within seven hours.
LeBlanc has locked herself in the office for eight hours. She got the book earlier than the average person. No matter what, rich people always have more privileges than the average person, let alone her family's company.
This part of the cultural industry.
When volumes one and two of "The Three-Body Problem" just came out of the printing factory and into the hands of booksellers, it was equivalent to LeBlanc getting the book.
If it wasn't pz's book, she could have gotten it earlier.
She is a fan of Zhang Zhong, and she is quite crazy.
Although she is the general manager of the group, because it is a family business, she is not busy at ordinary times. More work-related matters are left to her brother, Jack Reed, who serves as the deputy general manager.
Although she is busy, she prefers to work at the grassroots level. She is always involved in the group's exhibition business.
When Jack arrived at his sister's office, LeBlanc's assistant Linda was processing documents.
"Linda, is LeBlanc in there?" Jack asked.
Linda nodded and said, "Yes, but the general manager should be busy now."
"What are you busy with?"
"Busy reading." Linda replied honestly.
Jack curled his lips. His sister was a die-hard fan of pz. He knew this very well, and not only he knew it, but many people in the outside world knew it.
In this regard, Jack felt that his sister was a little too obsessed. Isn't the family business not enough for her to use all her concentration?
Without letting Linda inform him, Jack directly opened the door and entered Leblanc's office.
LeBlanc was so focused on reading that she didn't even notice her brother pushing the door open and entering.
"Ahem." In order to attract his sister's attention, Jack coughed twice.
Fortunately, this trick worked. LeBlanc looked up and saw his brother, and said with a smile, "Jack, you are here."
Jack took two steps closer and asked, "How was your experience at the Amsterdam Building Materials Exhibition today?"
"Didn't I leave it to James to follow this exhibition? You should ask James about this," LeBlanc said.
"Of course I know that James is in charge, but you are the general manager and the scale of this exhibition is not small. Why don't you just ask?"
"Isn't it you?"
Jack's expression froze and he said helplessly, "You are the general manager."
LeBlanc curled her lips and said, "I asked you to be the general manager and you didn't want to do it."
LeBlanc did not blame Jack for this. As the eldest son, Jack should have taken over the position of general manager a long time ago. However, he believed that he should start from the grassroots level, so ten years ago he worked as an ordinary salesman in the company.
It took several years to reach the position of deputy general manager.
Seeing that her brother was silent, LeBlanc continued, "You have been the deputy general manager for more than a year. How about we take this opportunity to change positions. You will be the general manager and I will be the vice president.
Manager, if it really doesn't work, I can find a department to be a director or supervisor."
She really has no ambition at all, Jack looked at his sister and sighed helplessly to himself. In fact, he should be happy. As another heir in the family and his only competitor, LeBlanc's performance is tantamount to giving way to him.
However, he still hopes that his sister can pay more attention to work matters instead of being confused all day long.
But then he saw his sister rubbing her eyes, and he said with some distress, "It's almost lunch time. Do you have time to have lunch with your brother?"
"It's been a long time since we had a proper meal together," Jack added.
LeBlanc, who originally wanted to reject her brother, heard what Jack said and nodded in agreement, "Okay, but let me choose what to eat."
"Of course." Jack said happily, but then he had an unknown premonition, "You're not going to eat Chinese food again, are you?"
LeBlanc snapped her fingers, "Bingo, congratulations, you got the answer right. There happens to be a new Chinese restaurant opened on the corner of our street. I heard it's Sichuan cuisine. I wanted to go there yesterday."
After speaking, LeBlanc held "The Three-Body Problem 2" in her arms again, "I've been in the office for too long, it's time to change the environment and read a book."
…
After all, there are only a few people like LeBlanc who got the book in advance. Most of them only saw the book after running to the bookstore early in the morning.
However, due to the time difference, when the Chinese morning came, some European readers had already finished reading volumes one and two of "The Three-Body Problem".
Discussions about "The Three-Body Problem" on major external websites have gradually increased.
[I finally saw Don’t Answer, and I felt a little scared after reading it.]
[This is the most tiring I have ever been. I stayed up for more than ten hours and finally finished reading both volumes. However, the excitement of this book made me feel it was well worth the money.]
[What do you think of the Dark Forest Law?]
[A very interesting theory. Of course, we cannot understand it as a scientific theory. As a science fiction concept, it is very interesting and worthy of our discussion. 】
[I would like to say that there may be aliens paying attention to us, but fortunately, the civilization or civilizations paying attention to us are friendly, so we can escape the fate of being wiped out. 】
[Maybe the aliens who pay attention to us do not care about our life and death, or they just want to study us.]
[Well, it is true that according to the laws of the dark forest, some civilizations will choose to explore other civilizations before making a decision. But no matter what, we should be lucky that at least we have not been discovered by the kind of hunter who shoots at sight of civilization.
.]
[How come so many people have finished reading the book? I just finished reading The Three-Body Problem not long ago. Are you all robots? 】
[Brother, do you know that there is such a thing as time difference? 】
【Are you all Chinese?】
[Don’t you know there is a time difference between the United States and Europe? 】
【Oh, I don’t know much about this yet.】
【……】
[It is recommended that Americans exit the forum first, otherwise they will definitely see a lot of spoilers. It’s okay now, but maybe in a few hours, when more people have finished reading the book, spoilers will be everywhere.]
[Why, don’t Americans have any cards? 】
[Aren’t you from China upstairs? What are you complaining about?]
[Why, can’t the Chinese people fight against Big Brother Haixing? 】
【...Do Chinese people have such a good relationship with Americans?】
[Of course, we have always felt that Americans are our big brothers and our role models. Flower growers will always serve as our big brothers!]
[Yes, you will be beaten if you fall behind, but besides being beaten, you can also make a living with your big brother.]
[It turns out that Chinese people are so friendly to the United States.]
[Don’t be fooled by those upstairs. I heard that there is a large organization in China called the War and Ignorance Bureau, which specializes in making such remarks to confuse foreigners. ]
【Real or fake?】
[Of course it’s true. I personally saw it revealed by an insider. If you don’t believe it, I’ll send you a link. 】
[The wind is blowing, comrades, our bureau has been exposed.]
[Comrade, don’t leave, we can still save you.]
[I doubt that what is written in the book is true, especially the Red Bank Project. China is not really engaged in these. 】
…
At 10:30 in the morning, Chen Qing called. Zhang Zhong was writing at that time, because Xu Yuhan's studio would have a calligraphy class in a while, and he had to write a few words to support her.
"Boss, I'm a little sorry that I still couldn't break the first-day sales record of "Dead Soul 8" this time," Chen Qing said.
"Well, it doesn't matter. Your voice sounds a little hoarse. It's not because you stayed up all night last night."
Chen Qing cleared her throat, "No, it's just that it's been a little cold at night recently and I wasn't prepared, so I caught a cold."
"Pay attention to your health and don't worry too much about recording. What are the specific sales data?" Zhang Zhong asked.
"The Three-Body Problem sold a total of 26 million copies within 24 hours, which is still three million copies behind "The Dead 8"."
Chen Qing said with some regret that the gap was already very small.
He read the data all night last night, and originally had the idea of paying money from the company to buy millions more copies to upload the data. He calculated that "The Three-Body Problem 2" only sold 50 copies in China.
For one copy with more Huaxia coins, three million copies will only cost a total of more than 100 million, and part of the money will eventually be recovered.
Spending 100 million to buy a global first-day sales record is a good deal no matter how you look at it, and he believes that with this data, the money can be earned back quickly.
In addition, the books I bought are not useless. The company has many activities and usually gives away books. The three million copies will be given away slowly and sooner or later, all of them will be given away.
Or they could do it more thoroughly and send the books back to Lin Lin so that they could be sold. What they lost was the money given to the bookseller and part of the tax.
Writers' taxes are already low, and many people also use this method to launder money.
But he finally gave up the idea because he knew that his boss would be unhappy if he knew about it.
"But there is still good news." Chen Qing cheered up, "Although the sales volume of "Three-Body Problem 2" has not reached the top, because one or two volumes of "Three-Body Problem" are sold in a bundle, the sales volume of "Three-Body Problem 1" this time
Sales have reached 17 million copies."
Zhang Chong said with a smile: "So, the first-day sales volume of "The Three-Body Problem" in China was about eight million copies?"
"How did you..." Chen Qinggang wanted to ask Zhang Zhong how he knew, but then he realized that except for China, other countries sold two volumes together. The sales volume of "Three-Body Problem 2" was subtracted from the sales volume of "Three-Body Problem 1".
A rough figure that can be drawn from the sales volume is the first-day sales volume of "The Three-Body Problem" in China.
"Well, that's right. The first-day sales of "The Three-Body Problem" in China were 6.97 million copies, breaking the previous record of 5.8 million copies of "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?". In addition,
Within twenty-four hours, boss, all your books sold a total of 64 million copies, breaking your previous record of 41 million copies."
The last time Zhang Zhong set a record of 41 million copies, many people were still thinking about how long it would take for Zhang Zhong to break the record again, but they did not expect that it would only be more than two months later.
It was refreshed again, and the number of copies increased to 23 million in one fell swoop, leaving others with no hope at all.
Of course, the record this time is also a bit tricky. After all, "The Three-Body Problem" and "The Three-Body Problem" are sold in a bundle, and the sales volume is calculated as two books.
However, even excluding the sales of "The Three-Body Problem", it still broke the record, but it was not so exaggerated.
And as soon as this record came out, Zhang Zhong himself felt that he would never break it again, at least not in a short period of time.
Of course, if he insists on breaking the record, it is not difficult. As long as he puts the books in his hand on sale in one day, maybe the number can exceed 100 million.