"How can it be released as a tankobon?"
Tsushima Kagami was stunned when he heard Editor Watanabe say they were releasing a tankobon.
It was common for doujinshi sold at conventions to be thin booklets of just a dozen pages or so. However, commercial tankobon generally required at least around 150 to 200 pages to be compiled into a single volume.
Although Tsushima Kagami had indeed seen popular short stories from monthly magazines being sold separately—or even cases where short stories were sold directly without ever being in a magazine—those were usually digital versions for online distribution.
As for whether there had ever been a print version of a short story commercial tankobon, Tsushima Kagami honestly didn't know. He hadn't paid special attention to it before, and he didn't know what the situation was in this world.
Apart from that, there was another possibility: the type of compilation volume Tsushima Kagami and the others had just been reading. That is, selecting one short story from multiple famous artists and compiling them into a single volume. This is also known as an anthology, and the price is usually much more expensive than a regular tankobon.
After thinking it over, Tsushima Kagami felt there was a high probability that he would be releasing an anthology with others, so he asked again.
"Excuse me, Watanabe-san, are you planning to release an anthology with other authors?"
"An anthology? Of course not," Editor Watanabe denied immediately after hearing Tsushima Kagami's question.
"It will be your Hiiragi-senpai published independently."
"But my work is only twenty-five pages long. That's nowhere near enough for a standalone tankobon, right?" Tsushima Kagami asked again.
"Eh, theoretically, that is the case." Editor Watanabe smiled, picked up the freshly brewed hot tea, and took a sip.
"Oh come on, Uncle, just say it all in one go! Stop keeping us in suspense!" Machida Sonoko, frantic with impatience, stepped forward and shook Editor Watanabe's arm incessantly.
"Hot, hot, hot! Stop shaking me, Sonoko." Editor Watanabe hurriedly put down the teacup and continued.
"Although independent releases of short stories aren't common, they do exist. However, these are usually for established, famous artists who have a massive fanbase."
"As for you, Kagami-kun..."
Tsushima Kagami didn't interrupt this time, but continued to wait for Editor Watanabe's explanation.
"You don't know this, Kagami-kun, but the phones at our WANI Magazine editorial department have been ringing off the hook these past few days."
"Oh, right, there's also this." After speaking, Editor Watanabe walked over to a large cardboard box that had been placed to the side beforehand and carried it over.
"Take a look."
Tsushima Kagami, Sayuri, and the others all leaned their heads in to look inside the box. They saw it was filled with all kinds of envelopes.
Machida Sonoko picked one out at random and saw that the recipient on the envelope was [Xuanyayi-sama].
Sayuri and Kosaka Akane also curiously picked up an envelope each. The front of every envelope bore Tsushima Kagami's manga pen name.
"They're all mailed to you, Kagami-kun," Sayuri said in astonishment.
Tsushima Kagami also picked up an envelope and tore it open. The content inside was basically praise and exclamation regarding his art skills and style, along with a hope that the editorial department would publish this short story separately because the sender wanted to collect it individually.
Subsequently, the group opened a few more letters together. The content was roughly the same: hoping that Hiiragi-senpai could be released as a tankobon immediately because they couldn't wait to add it to their collection.
At this point, Editor Watanabe smiled and said, "This is just a part of it. Our mailroom is running out of space. We had to store some in the reception room for now."
"From the phones that paralyzed the editorial department with busy signals to the endless stream of letters... Although there have been similar situations in the past, none have been as exaggerated as this time."
"Based on past experience, colleagues in the editorial department curiously ran some statistics. The rough estimate is that if Hiiragi-senpai is released as a short story volume, the monthly sales alone will be at least 100,000 copies. And that is already the most conservative estimate."
"One... one hundred thousand copies?" Sayuri spread out both her hands, waving her ten fingers incessantly.
Kosaka Akane and Machida Sonoko were also incredibly shocked.
What kind of concept is one hundred thousand copies? Generally, for novels or manga, if they can reach 50,000 copies, the publisher considers it breaking even. If it can hit 100,000 copies, it's excellent. Over 200,000 copies is considered high popularity.
But that applies to general-audience novels and manga.
WANI Magazine's Kairakuten actually only has a monthly circulation of two to three hundred thousand.
For a single short story to sell over 100,000 copies a month... its explosive earning power would be considered extremely strong.
Tsushima Kagami was also surprised when he heard this. It reminded him of the miraculous legend of Naruko Hanaharu-sensei's first tankobon selling a million copies before his transmigration.
He wasn't greedy; if it really sold 100,000 copies, the royalties would be enough for him to live a pretty good life.
"So, the Editor-in-Chief and the other editors finally passed the resolution for the Hiiragi-senpai short story tankobon in the meeting," Editor Watanabe said with a smile, looking at their expressions.
"Won't that look a bit too greedy?"
It felt like a cash grab—a sense of déjà vu, like harvesting leeks and then running away.
Hearing Tsushima Kagami's words, Editor Watanabe's expression turned serious. "Kagami-kun, you must understand. It's not that we want to take money from the readers' wallets, but that the readers are actively bringing their wallets to us, begging us to sell to them."
"So don't have any psychological burden. On the contrary, they'll have to thank you!" After saying this, Editor Watanabe happily drained the remaining tea in his cup.
"If you really feel uneasy inside, you can express your 'sincerity' to the reader fans a little."
"Sincerity?"
"Yes. Didn't you say that twenty-five pages is too few?"
"Then we'll just add a little 'sincerity' to it."
"What kind of sincerity?"
Editor Watanabe tapped the long table beside him with his finger.
"I heard from Sonoko that you also drew storyboards and character design sheets beforehand?"
Tsushima Kagami was stunned. "Yes. Don't tell me...?"
Seeing that Tsushima Kagami already understood from his expression, Editor Watanabe spoke again. "Add your storyboards and character design sheets in as well. One shot per page. Then draw a color illustration for the cover page, and write an afterword for the back page."
"That way, we can scrape together a quantity of nearly fifty pages. That's not a small amount."
"When readers buy your Hiiragi-senpai and finish reading it, only to find that it actually contains Xuanyayi-sensei's original storyboards, character designs, and an afterword... with such sincerity, I'm sure the reader fans will be moved to tears and support Xuanyayi-sensei even more devotedly in the future~"
"As expected of Watanabe-san. Watanabe-san has great insight!"
Truly a veteran editor; he really has a knack for maintaining and managing reader fans.
Editor Watanabe clearly enjoyed Tsushima Kagami's flattery very much. Then, pulling them from who knows where, he took out several pages of paper.
"I almost forgot. This is the royalty contract. Take a look at it. If there are no problems, stamp it."
Hearing that it was time to sign the royalty contract, Sayuri, Kosaka Akane, and Machida Sonoko put down the letters they were still reading and came over to Tsushima Kagami's side to look at the contract together.
"A royalty share of 15%?!"
The cries of astonishment from Sayuri, Kosaka Akane, and Machida Sonoko echoed through the reception room for quite a while.
____
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