Chapter 48

After lunch, it was another tranquil afternoon. Recently, Jin Xiantai had developed a habit of going to the back garden in the afternoon, lying on the recliner under the eaves, and staring blankly at the beach outside the garden. Unfortunately, he wouldn't be able to enjoy this anymore starting tomorrow, as he had to report to Monica High School to begin his high school life in this parallel universe.

After tidying up the plates, washing them, and putting them in the dryer, Jin Xiantai wiped his hands and returned to the living room. "You should rest for a bit. You must be tired from taking care of the little one all morning. I can take care of the child; I have nothing to do this afternoon anyway."

Jin Xiantai said this to Annie when he returned to the living room. Annie shook her head repeatedly. "I'm not tired, I'm not tired, really. You don't need to worry about me. I can take care of Coco. You can go about your business, and I'll take care of the child."

Unexpectedly, Jin Xiantai's good intentions to let Annie rest were not appreciated. Well, since Annie wanted to take care of her daughter, and he himself wanted some quiet time, he decided to go along with it. He looked at Annie and her daughter, who were playing with building blocks on the sofa, and nodded. "Alright, if that's the case, I won't insist. I also need some time alone, so I'll leave the child to you."

With that, Jin Xiantai went upstairs to his bedroom, sat at his desk, and turned on his laptop. After the laptop booted up, Jin Xiantai opened the browser and connected to the internet to check if there were any recent articles criticizing him.

[California Cultural Publishing announces that its contracted author William Jin has been successfully admitted to Santa Monica Public High School as an 11th grader...]

Hmm, this was an announcement posted by California Cultural Publishing on an electronic news media. It was posted an hour ago, so it was likely that Dave had it posted as soon as he returned to the publishing house after parting ways with Jin Xiantai.

The main purpose was clear: to inform everyone that he had resumed his studies and was going back to school. This way, the person who had been attacking him would no longer have a reason to continue.

After some thought, Jin Xiantai did another search. Indeed, the person who had been constantly publishing articles criticizing and mocking him had, just half an hour after the publishing house's announcement, posted another article. However, this time, the article was not mocking or criticizing him but praising him for being able to listen to good advice and choose the right path.

It was evident that after Dave had him resume his studies and get accepted into Santa Monica High School, the person could no longer continue to attack him. Jin Xiantai was pleased by this change in attitude.

After all, even though Jin Xiantai was a broad-minded person, being mocked and criticized still made him feel uncomfortable. Now, all the troubles were resolved, and he no longer had to worry about this issue.

In fact, Jin Xiantai didn't know that the reason the person stopped criticizing and mocking him wasn't because he resumed his studies, but because Annie had the butler Nord tell the person to stop. Otherwise, even if Jin Xiantai had resumed his studies, the person could still find many excuses to continue the attacks.

Writers can always find excuses, can't they?

But Jin Xiantai didn't know the details, and for him, it was enough that the person had stopped.

Next, Jin Xiantai continued to search for various information about his novel online, such as reader reviews and book evaluations. "A Song of Ice and Fire" had only been published in one volume by the publishing house, and the story was just beginning. The high points of the story had not yet unfolded, and what was currently shown was only the world of the book, some related characters, and the main storyline.

Even so, "A Song of Ice and Fire" had attracted many readers, who were eager to continue exploring the story and see how it developed.

Unfortunately, only the first volume of "A Song of Ice and Fire" was available on the market, and there was no news about the second and third volumes from the publishing house.

Although Jin Xiantai had given Dave three volumes of the manuscript, it was clear that Dave did not want to publish all three volumes quickly but rather release them one by one.

This was Dave's business strategy, and Jin Xiantai did not want to interfere. After all, from the current situation, Dave was doing a good job and bringing him a lot of income.

This led to many readers discussing online that the progress of the novel was too slow. A month had passed, and there was still no news about the second volume. This was too frustrating... Some even hoped to use online signatures to urge California Publishing to publish the second volume as soon as possible so that everyone could see the subsequent story.

Pfft, what's the big deal?

Seeing some readers' comments, Jin Xiantai thought to himself that in his original world, the original author of "A Song of Ice and Fire" wrote the six volumes over several years.

If he did the same, the readers would go crazy.

From this, Jin Xiantai knew that as the story of "A Song of Ice and Fire" unfolded, when it reached the third volume, the sales would likely explode.

Since "A Song of Ice and Fire" had a good reputation and was gradually gaining a readership, Jin Xiantai didn't need to worry or be anxious about it.

So, he closed the current webpage, opened and logged into the publishing house's official website, and used his author privileges to enter the backend to check the sales data of "The Lord of the Rings" and "William's Fairy Tales," which were the new novels he had recently given to Dave for California Publishing to publish.

Dave's actions were indeed quick. In just a few days, both books had been printed and were on the market.

Perhaps because the time was too short, the sales of "The Lord of the Rings" were not very high. After all, it was unrealistic to expect a new book to sell millions of copies in just two days.

Therefore, when Jin Xiantai saw that "The Lord of the Rings" had sold only 13,000 copies, he was not surprised at all. After all, "The Lord of the Rings" had only been on the market for two days, and selling 13,000 copies in two days was already quite good.

After understanding the sales data, Jin Xiantai looked at the price of "The Lord of the Rings," which was 20 yuan, similar to "A Song of Ice and Fire."

The 20 yuan price was neither too high nor too low. According to the new royalty agreement, for each copy of "The Lord of the Rings" sold, he would receive a 20% royalty, which was 4 yuan (pre-tax).

With 13,000 copies sold, this meant an additional 52,000 yuan in income for him.

This was just the sales data for two days. By the end of the month, it would be much more, so Jin Xiantai was cautiously optimistic about the future sales of "The Lord of the Rings."

Based on the current data, it was likely that "The Lord of the Rings" would sell several hundred thousand copies in a month, bringing him over a million yuan in post-tax income.

Great! Great!

Jin Xiantai was very satisfied with the final data he had estimated in his mind.

When he saw the sales data for "William's Fairy Tales," he was even more surprised. In just two days, the sales had reached an astonishing 938,467 copies!

Jin Xiantai almost couldn't believe it and thought the publishing house might have made a mistake.

Finally, after contacting the publishing house's customer service through the backend of the website and asking a few questions, Jin Xiantai confirmed that the data was correct.

While he was asking the customer service, the sales data for "William's Fairy Tales" had already exceeded 940,000 copies.

Wow!

Is it really that good? It's only been two days!

Although it was hard to believe, it was the truth, and Jin Xiantai couldn't deny it.

He couldn't understand why a children's story book would sell so well, even beyond his expectations.

Moreover, the price of "William's Fairy Tales" was not low. Compared to other children's story books priced at 10 to 15 yuan, his book was priced at 20 yuan, yet this did not deter people from buying it.

This was just the sales data for two days. With 28 days left until the next royalty payment, how many more copies would the book sell... Jin Xiantai himself couldn't estimate.

But from the current sales trend, it was clear that the sales would not be low.

Jin Xiantai sat at his desk, looking at the backend sales data of the fairy tale book, with a look of surprise and amusement on his face.

"A children's story book can sell so well, even surpassing 'A Song of Ice and Fire' and 'The Lord of the Rings.' Am I crazy?" Jin Xiantai thought to himself.

Finally, unable to figure it out, Jin Xiantai suddenly remembered something he had overlooked. He quickly closed the publishing house's backend page, typed a URL on the keyboard, and opened the official website of the "North American Screenwriters Association." He then entered his account and password to log in.

While logging in, Jin Xiantai muttered to himself, "I overlooked it, I overlooked it. Animated films are very profitable. Disney made a fortune from animated films. How could I forget this? This was my mistake."

He entered the names "The Lion King," "The Prince of Egypt," "Snow White," and "Mickey and Donald" (Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck) into the script search bar of the Screenwriters Association. After searching, there were no results.

Phew!

That's great!

Jin Xiantai waved his right hand, feeling very excited.

He then took out his phone from his pocket, dialed a number, and called Dave. Dave answered quickly with a "Hello!" Jin Xiantai didn't wait for Dave to say anything else and quickly asked, "Mr. Dave, do you know where I can buy a toy manufacturing factory and an animation production company?"

Just then, Annie, who was carrying Coco upstairs, walked to the door of Jin Xiantai's bedroom and heard his words, pausing for a moment.

"He wants to buy a toy factory and an animation production company?"

At the same time, both Annie outside the room and Dave on the other end of the phone had the same thought.