Zongman: A Second Dimension Girl Comes to Me

Duanmu Che's answer was beyond Kasumigaoka Utaha's expectations.

She didn't expect that Duanmu Che would attribute the poor sales of "Love Metronome" to publicity and selling points.

The publicity and promotion resources for a light novel are jointly decided by the editorial department and the marketing department of the publishing house. For a new writer like her, there are not many publicity and promotion resources. If it weren't for the gimmick of being a high school beauty writer, the editorial department might not have approved the book signing event held last weekend.

As for the selling point...

With a hint of doubt in her eyes, Kasumigaoka Utaha asked, "What do you mean by 'the selling point is not clear enough'?"

When she first entered the light novel industry, she devoted all her attention to writing and was not very clear about the concept of selling points.

"How should I put this?"

Duanmu Che pondered for a moment, took out his mobile phone, searched the Oricon rankings for light novel sales rankings for that month on the Internet, and showed it to Kasumigaoka Utaha.

"Kasumigaoka-senpai, do you think there is any difference between these light novels and your works based on the titles?"

"the difference?"

Kasumigaoka Utaha approached Duanmu Che and looked at the phone screen.

The distance between the two of them was less than ten centimeters. A pleasant, light fragrance came from her hair, which was the smell of shampoo.

Oricon ranking top ten sales:

"I got the cheating ability from another world and I am invincible in the real world"

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime

《Although I'm a receptionist at the union, I hate working overtime, so I went to fight the boss alone.》

"About the fact that the angel next door spoiled me into a useless person"

"Aliya, who occasionally mumbles in Russian to hide her shyness"

My Stepmother's Burden is My Ex-Girlfriend

《The vtuber forgot to turn off the live broadcast and became a legend》

.........

Looking at these book titles, Kasumigaoka Utaha seemed to understand: "Is this a brief introduction to the book titles?"

"That's right." Duanmu Che snapped his fingers crisply.

"As the pace of life in modern society is getting faster and faster, the current light novel market environment is much more impetuous than it was ten years ago. A large number of readers will decide whether to read the light novel just by glancing at the title.

Therefore, light novel writers have had to change their creative guidelines and directly point out the selling points when writing book titles, making the titles tend to be lengthy and replacing the role of introductions.

Take "Aliya-san who occasionally mumbles in Russian to hide her shyness" as an example. The selling point is the campus love comedy between the male protagonist and a silver-haired mixed-race beautiful girl who can speak Russian. Readers who are only interested in this selling point will naturally pick up the book and read it after seeing the title.

In my opinion, there is no difference in quality between "Love Metronome" and these light novels. On the contrary, its plot and writing style are better than many of the light novels on the list. However, without a clear selling point and a title that can arouse readers' interest, the audience is bound to be narrow.

Unless the author is a well-known light novel writer with his own popularity or the publicity and promotion can overcome the disadvantages brought by the title and break through the circle, otherwise, poor sales are inevitable. "

Duanmu Che's words made Kasumigaoka Utaha fall into silence.

She insisted on using the title "Love Metronome". Before the physical publication, editor Sonoko Machida advised her to change the title, but she refused.

Thinking about it now, she still underestimated the unspoken rules of novel writing.

I thought that as long as it was well written, it was enough. However, I didn’t realize that if readers didn’t even have the interest to open the book and take a look, then no matter how good the content was, it would be difficult to have an effect.

"However, Kasumigaoka-senpai, you don't have to worry about this. Love Metronome is an excellent light novel. Although its sales are not high now, it will definitely become popular in the future."

Seeing that Kasumigaoka Utaha looked gloomy, Duanmu Che comforted her.

With the quality of "Love Metronome", as long as the subsequent plot and writing style maintain the same level, it will be difficult to be buried even if the selling point is not clear enough. It only needs an opportunity to become popular.

"Thank you for your good wishes, Mr. Duanmu, and thank you for telling me this." Kasumigaoka Utaha expressed her gratitude to Duanmu Toru.

In any case, the first volume of "Love Metronome" has been released and the title cannot be changed.

As a new writer, the only thing she can do now is to create seriously. In order to prevent the work from being cut short, she must do her best to write the second and third volumes.

Afterwards, Duanmu Che exchanged his thoughts and opinions on the subsequent plot of "Love Metronome" with Kasumigaoka Utaha.

I hope to know from Kasumigaoka Utaha when the energetic heroine Sayuka, who has been rejected many times but never gives up, and the hero Isumi, who was originally cold and aloof but gradually becomes sunny, will become real lovers.

But unfortunately, Kasumigaoka Utaha did not tell him, because this was the core plot and could not be spoiled.

More than twenty minutes later, Duanmu Che left the rooftop.

He hummed a tuneless spy animation and walked down the stairs in a good mood.

It is indeed interesting to exchange thoughts with light novel writers as a reader. This is equivalent to understanding the setting of the work from another level. No wonder so many readers like to read relevant interviews with the author.

He also learned about Kasumigaoka Utaha's troubles from the conversation.

"Are you afraid that your work will be cancelled due to poor sales? You need to solve her problem..."

Duanmu Che was thinking, and suddenly the image of his deskmate Sawamura Eriri flashed through his mind.

Eriri also likes "Love Metronome" and last weekend at Fuzugawa Bookstore, she asked him and Kasumigaoka Utaha to get their autographs.

If there is anyone who can help Kasumigaoka Utaha, among the people he knows, probably only Eriri can do it.

Eriri has the hidden identity of 18x doujinshi artist Kashiwagi Eri.

He once searched for information about Kashiwagi Eri on the Internet out of curiosity.

In this world, Eri Kashiwagi is a big-name artist who has participated in three consecutive comic markets. She has 27.6 followers on Twitter and is quite active in tweeting. Every time she posts a picture of a beautiful girl, she can get to hearts and reposts. Not only has she drawn character illustrations for well-known two-dimensional mobile games, she has also contributed to many comic magazines.

If she was willing to promote "Love Metronome" and send a tweet strongly recommending it, then "Love Metronome" would very likely have a chance to become popular like the original work.

But how can I tell Eriri about this and ask her for help?

Kasumigaoka Utaha and Eriri don’t know each other.

Duanmu Che walked into the classroom and looked at Ying Lili, who was sitting on the right side of his seat, reading quietly and pretending to be an elegant lady. After thinking for a moment, he came up with an idea.

Maybe he has to act as a middleman for once.

As a loyal reader of Kasumigaoka Utaha, he still hopes that Love Metronome can be serialized smoothly to completion.

It would be a shame if the story was cut short or ended hastily.

Thinking of this, Duanmu Che returned to his seat and spoke to Ying Lili.

"Um, Sawamura-san?"