Chapter 43: Being Good-Looking Is Impressive!
Yuta received a call from Machida Sonoko and, upon learning that his work had sold over 100,000 copies, he agreed to meet with her.
While waiting for Machida Sonoko to arrive, Yuta calculated how much he might earn.
Authors primarily rely on royalties, which, as the name implies, are the payments received from the publisher when a work is published. This is also the main source of income for many authors.
Royalties are paid only on published works; if a work is serialized in a magazine, the author typically does not receive royalties but rather a fee per submission.
Yuta's work was priced at 850 yen per book, with royalties expected to be between 7% and 10%. If we average it to about 60 yen per book, that's what he could potentially earn.
Because traditional publishing operates on a model of printing first and selling later, royalties are paid upon printing, regardless of whether the books sell. It's similar to buying goods in bulk from a wholesaler; once you purchase them, you have to pay, regardless of whether you sell them later. Authors only care about whether the publisher buys their work; they don't need to worry about the books selling afterward.
The sales of a novel do not entirely depend on reader interest but rather on the publisher's actions. If the publisher prints 20,000 copies, that's the ceiling on how many can be sold.
The more renowned a work is, the more confidence the publisher has in its sales, leading to larger print runs. Consequently, the author receives more royalties, creating a sort of snowball effect.
For lesser-known works, publishers tend to play it safe and print fewer copies, resulting in lower earnings for the authors. Additionally, the limited print runs and the publisher's lack of marketing effort can further negatively impact sales. Poor sales may lead the publisher to think the work is not popular, and they might quickly discontinue it.
This is a challenge faced by new or lesser-known authors, which explains why some works may initially struggle with sales yet earn rave reviews within the industry and ultimately find success.
As a newcomer, Yuta's work was initially underestimated, leading to a smaller print run. Now, however, they were working overtime to print more copies.
Every book printed meant additional earnings for Yuta.
With 100,000 copies, he stands to earn 6,000,000 yen; with 50,000 copies, that's 3,000,000 yen.
This may sound modest, but when converted to usd, it amounts to much more.
100,000 copies equal 40,000 usd! And that's after taxes. If you consider the impact, this single novel has generated 50 million yen in revenue for the publisher!
And this is just within half a month; breaking 100 million yen in a month isn't just a dream!
Yuta immediately pulled out his entire novel. In this place, light novels were sold volume by volume, serialized as they were released, and so far only the first two volumes were out. This was just the beginning!
Over the next few months, his income would steadily increase, and it was estimated that it would only start to decline slowly after a year or two.
"I'm going to be rich…" Yuta sighed as he sat in the café.
This was a café near his home, not the Cat's Eye Café.
With this money, he could pay off the loan for the plastic basin factory and then rent a bigger place; the hard days were finally coming to an end.
[Ding]
[Side Quest Activated: Side quests can be chosen freely and failing them incurs no penalties.]
[Task: Shortage of Staff: Due to the overwhelming success of "KonoSuba: God's Blessing on This Wonderful World," the printing house is short-staffed and hiring temporary workers.]
[Reward: Gain the ability to appear inconspicuous as a handsome guy; you can choose to activate or deactivate this at will.]
Yuta looked at the reward and found it rather unnecessary.
He was already a big boss now; there was no need for him to work part-time.
Besides, Yuta wasn't short on money; having just earned a nice sum, he planned to take it easy for a few days, so he decided to skip the task.
While enjoying his tea, Yuta suddenly sensed that something was off.
This place… was a bit too quiet, wasn't it?
He carefully glanced around. Earlier, he had been lost in thoughts about income and hadn't noticed it before, but now he realized that many girls were staring at him…
They were pretending to drink coffee, yet their eyes were fixed on him.
There was even a female staff member who seemed to be moving around nearby, her gaze constantly on him.
Even more troubling, outside the glass window was a throng of over a dozen high school girls, all excitedly looking at him as if he were a superstar.
Oh my gosh! What the heck!!!
This was overwhelming!
Yuta felt increasingly uneasy under the watchful gaze of a crowd of women, as if he were a rabbit being stared down by a pack of tigers.
A whole mountain range of ferocious tigers, oh no!
A stylishly dressed woman approached, clearly the most beautiful and affluent-looking person in the café.
"Hey, handsome, would you like a drink?"
As she spoke, she placed her hands on the table and gently took hold of Yuta's hand. "I just love cute guys like you~"
What should I do in this situation? I've never faced anything like this before!
The woman gazed at Yuta with an expression that made it seem as if she wanted to pull him into her very being; just one look made her feel flush with excitement.
"Handsome~ where do you live? Why don't you come home with me? My husband isn't home, and I can take very good care of you~"
Just as Yuta was at a loss, an even more beautiful woman walked over.
"Hey lady, why don't you go home and take care of your kids? He's mine!" Aoi said coldly to the woman, then glanced at Yuta before turning to leave. "Come with me."
Yuta sighed with relief as he stood up to follow Aoi out of the café.
The other women watched the scene unfold, glaring at Aoi with envy.
Being beautiful is impressive, huh?!
Can that put food on the table?!
All she does is seduce men!
Just as Yuta was about to leave, he suddenly remembered he hadn't paid the bill, so he turned to the cashier behind the counter and asked, "Could I get the bill? How much do I owe?"
The female cashier's face turned red as she lowered her head, quietly slipping him a piece of paper with some numbers written on it.
"I already took care of it for you. Here's my number… remember to call me… tonight… preferably… tonight…"
Yuta's eyes widened in shock, and his mind went blank in an instant.
Seeing his bewilderment, Aoi couldn't bear it any longer and grabbed the dazed Yuta, dragging him out of the café.
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