Chapter 1631 1633【Famous in France】

   It took Xiang Nan a month to complete the creation of "The Hobbit", and then handed it over to a French publishing company.

   "Is this a fairy tale book?" The bookseller flipped through it, and then asked Xiang Nandao.

   "Yes." Xiang Nan nodded.

   "The Hobbit" is indeed a book of fairy tales, written by Tolkien after re-editing the stories he told children. Therefore, the style is relaxed and the language is humorous.

  The "Lord of the Rings" behind is the serious fantasy literature, full of dark colors such as betrayal, killing, depravity, cunning, and cruelty.

   "Similar to "The Adventures of Oz"?" the bookseller asked again.

"The Adventures of Oz" has been translated as "The Wizard of Oz". It tells the story of the little girl Dorothy who was blown away by a typhoon to a mysterious place. In order to find her way home, she went to the country of Oz to seek the help of a magician. Meet the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman and the Lion, and experience many adventures together.

  This novel was published in 1900, and it became very popular with young readers after it was released. The author, Franken Baum, was bored while taking a walk to the bottom and was ready to write some serious literature.

  But the children couldn’t stand it because they were too enthusiastic, and they wrote letters to him and the publishing house one after another, hoping that he could continue to write. So Franken Baum gave up his own serious literary creation and wrote a total of fourteen books.

   This set of books is also known as one of the ten greatest children's literature works in the United States because of its popularity, and it is still selling well.

  …

  Xiang Nan has also read "The Adventures of Oz", and he feels that in essence, "The Hobbit" is quite different from it.

  The age-appropriate readers of The Adventures of Oz, that is, elementary school students. But the right-age readers of "The Hobbit" should be middle school students.

  Because it has more fight scenes, political disputes, and horror elements.

  But he thought the bookseller would not understand, so he nodded, "That's right, but the story is completely different."

   "Well, okay. I'll give you an answer after reading it." The bookseller nodded.

   Half a month later, Xiang Nan and Visby Publishing Company signed a publishing agreement for The Hobbit. Xiang Nan got a 12% royalties commission at the cost of giving up the upfront remuneration.

  Because he knew that the novel "The Hobbit" would definitely become popular. At that time, for every one percent more commission, he will be able to earn hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars.

  So he gave up the upfront remuneration and chose a higher royalty rate.

  Compared to his confidence, the publisher is not too optimistic about this novel.

  On the one hand, no matter how high the sales volume of children's books is, there is a limit, after all, the audience is so big;

   Because of this, they are willing to sign a royalty commission with Xiang Nan.

   In this way, if the sales volume is not high, then they can save a lot of money.

  …

  In June, the first edition of "The Hobbit", with a total of 5,000 copies, was officially launched.

  From the number of prints, it can be seen that the publisher does not have much confidence in this novel.

  If it is a well-known writer such as Maupassant, Dumas fils, and Flaubert, the first edition must be at least 100,000 copies.

  It was beyond the publisher's expectation that after the novel was put on the market, it just caught up with the students' summer vacation. They need to buy extracurricular books to get through the long boring summer.

  The "The Hobbit" by Xiang Nan, because it is a fairy tale book, was published as the French "The Adventures of Oz" and "Alice in Wonderland", which first attracted the attention of young readers.

   Afterwards, they flipped through the book and were quickly hooked.

  Bilbo Baggins and thirteen dwarf companions, and a magical wizard, went to the Lonely Mountain to find the lost gold. Along the way, they successively fought against ogres, goblins, orcs, spider spirits, etc., and finally, together with elves and humans, they worked together to defeat the dragon Smaug, and gained rich gold and friendship.

  This story brings an unprecedented experience to young readers. It is different from ordinary fairy tale books, which are so childish, and the story is so simple and routine. It is more thrilling, more tortuous, more terrifying, but also more beautiful.

   Therefore, the book quickly spread among the children. At the beginning, 5,000 copies were printed, and it was sold out before the end of the month. Moreover, all major bookstores have received requests from children who want to buy books.

  Visby Publishing Company naturally did not dare to neglect when they received this news, after all, the customer is God. Because they quickly printed 50,000 copies and put them on the market.

  Unexpectedly, the supply is still in short supply. Because the audience of this book is not just as simple as children, even many adults find it very interesting after reading this book.

   Because of this, Visby Company had to continue printing. In the end, "The Hobbit" sold more than one million copies in France alone, ranking third in the best-selling edition of French books in 2008.

   Subsequently, the novel was introduced by booksellers in other countries. And it has been sold well in Britain, Germany, the United States, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Slovakia and many other countries, and has been on the bestseller list one after another.

  Xiang Nan also became popular because of this, and received a huge remuneration of more than one million francs.

  After seeing this scene, Visby Publishing Company regretted why they signed such a high sharing contract.

  …

  The huge commercial success of "The Hobbit" has given Xiang Nan a very high reputation. However, because of his status as a native of another country, he is only famous, but his honor is not very high.

  If he were a French writer, he would definitely win a series of literary awards, and newspapers, magazines, and radio stations would rush to interview him.

  But because he is a Chinese, these treatments are generally not available. Only Gao Lu, the plenipotentiary ambassador sent by the Beiyang government to Paris, thinks that Xiang Nan is a treasure. He was specially invited to the embassy and presented him with a certificate, praising him for bringing glory to the motherland.

  Xiang Nan didn't care much about this.

  After all, the Beiyang government itself is extremely corrupt, with rampant corruption, chaotic officials, and dishonesty in the country. It is completely a puppet government supported by foreign forces, and it will be overthrown sooner or later.

   In addition, Xu Wenqiang was imprisoned before because of it, so he naturally didn't like it.

   But having said that, he also knows that Ambassador Gao is not easy.

  The country is weak and cannot give him much support, making it difficult for a clever woman to cook without rice, and it is difficult to make some achievements. So it is natural to try every means to boost the influence of the Chinese embassy in France.

  As a native of China, Xiang Nan is also a well-known best-selling author, so it is naturally a good opportunity. Therefore, for the sake of Ambassador Gao's face, Xiang Nan cooperated with him in making a hype.

  (end of this chapter)