As the comic industry in the United States was embroiled in turmoil, Wang Jian had just escorted Lily back to her apartnt.
The nature of their ambiguous relationship was understood by both, yet unspoken.
Of course, no one discussed what the future might hold.
By the ti Wang Jian arrived at the office, it was already afternoon.
Employees were busy with their work while amiably greeting their boss.
Wang Jian responded to each with a smile.
Soon, Tom approached him with a suggestive grin.
"Wang, here are the data for the online physical book pre-orders," Tom followed him into the office.
Wang Jian picked up the data and scrutinized it, noting that the pre-orders for "Arcane Throne" were still skyrocketing.
On the other hand, other completed works had stagnated.
"Here is the sales data for the comic version from Dark Horse Comics," Tom handed him another docunt.
"In the first sales peak within three hours, ’Arcane Throne’ outsold both ’Superman’ and ’Spiderman’."
"However, ’Spiderman’ later surpassed it."
"What about the revenue?" Wang Jian took the docunt, "Did it et the expectations?"
"Of course, it far exceeded Dark Horse Comics’ expectations," Tom replied with a jubilant smile.
Over a cup of expensive green tea purchased from Chinatown, Wang Jian chuckled, "As long as ’Arcane Throne’ is profitable in all respects, we shouldn’t focus solely on comics."
"But, this also shows that a work needs exposure on multiple fronts."
He pointed to the physical book pre-order data on the table, "From the look of it, there seems to be a synergistic effect."
"Yes," Tom nodded, "So, can we accept Random House’s terms to increase the exposure of the works in physical books?"
Wang Jian tapped his fingers lightly on the desk and then replied, "We can agree, but we should first test it with a work."
"Using ’Arcane Throne’, which is still growing, might not be appropriate."
"How about we try it with the second-ranked book in the physical pre-orders?" Tom suggested.
"Sure," Wang Jian responded, "We don’t know the outco of the collaboration, and neither does Random House."
"This should be easy to negotiate."
He looked at the number two in the physical book pre-orders, was it "Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone"?
"Let’s go with this one," he pointed to the docunt, "You contact the author and ask if they are willing to do a physical release."
"Better yet, invite the author to New York and have a press conference with Random House."
"Okay."
Wang Jian watched Tom leave the office and then picked up the phone to inform EA about the comic’s release.
After all, they contributed financially, didn’t they?
Happy voices congratulated him as he sipped his tea, preparing to continue working on "Extre Heavenly Demon."
But Tom unexpectedly returned, saying, "That writer called J.K. Rowling is absolutely thrilled."
"I just got through to her, and she agreed imdiately."
"What about Random House?" Wang Jian asked.
"They also agree to hold a press conference to promote the website, the author, and the publishing house’s signing event."
"Notify Dorsey and have this news posted on the hopage of the website," Wang Jian instructed.
This should significantly increase the intent of authors to publish their work on the website.
He placed himself in their shoes.
If he were a struggling author, apart from having a chance for a physical publication, what else could comfort them?
"Right, how is the tax exemption certification for the Literature Lovers’ Charity Fund coming along?" Wang Jian asked.
"That’s proving to be more difficult than expected," Tom replied with a pained expression, "many foundations apply for tax-exempt status each year, and it requires substantial political resources to get it done."
Wang Jian watched as Tom looked expectantly at him and sighed helplessly.
In the United States, connections were needed to get things done...
But the highest-ranking politician he was acquainted with was rely of police chief calibre in a new community.
Equivalent to a station chief back in his ho country.
What use was that?
"Should we contact a political PR firm?"
Tom, naive as ever, hardly suggested anything substantial.
Wang Jian massaged his temples and said, "You first find out what’s going on."
"Then, report back to ."
At that mont, in Silicon Valley,
a young man nad Musk was breathing deeply with a solemn expression.
He had just sold his startup ZIP for startup capital.
Musk intended to invest this money into building an online paynt platform.
But though his ambitions were grand, reality was harsh.
In a sense, building this online paynt platform was like establishing a large-scale financial guarantee company.
It needed acceptance from rchants and support from major banks, akin to VISA and Mastercard online.
With his limited ans, it was clearly difficult to achieve such a feat.
Therefore, Musk thought of Sequoia Capital and Goldman Sachs Investnt, the investors from his ZIP company era.
Alright... the next two minor characters.
But Musk was never one to easily give up.
He believed that if he could persuade these two, it might be possible to propose this to the higher echelons of these two capitals.
For these giants, liaising with banks was a breeze.
By then, his PayPal would be halfway to success.
As he was envisioning the future, an employee woke him and led him to a conference room.
Musk looked at the Silicon Valley incubator’s capital representatives and smiled radiantly.
"Although most online services are currently free, this business model is unsustainable,"
Musk spoke confidently on stage, "In the future, there will be a variety of paid internet services."
"In this regard, eBay, Amazon, and wangwen are already leading."
Pausing, he then detailed the paynt statuses of these three websites via a slide presentation.
"This online paynt service, using VISA and Mastercard, is neither convenient nor secure,"
"So, my vision is to provide a completely web-based paynt platform, PayPal. This will be very promising."
Musk concluded, contentedly observing the contemplative crowd below.
However, what he didn’t realize was that, apart from his proposal, they were also discussing the website wangwen.
What was this website, and why was its paynt rate so high?
"Are you guys investing in it?" soone asked an investor from Morgan.
"No, we have invested in Amazon."
"And you?" soone turned to ask Sequoia Capital.
"We’ve invested in eBay."
The representative from Goldman Sachs Investnt glanced at the discussing crowd and slipped out of the conference room.
"Manager, there’s a website called wangwen that’s worth keeping an eye on."
Reviews
All reviews (0)