British writer

a week later.

Fleet Street, headquarters of The Times.

The editor-in-chief, George Earl Bakker, was in the office, with his feet on the desk, swinging leisurely. The black tea in the teacup on the table also swayed in circles.

He held up a newspaper in both hands,

The newspaper has only half the space of The Times;

In other words, it's tabloid.

On the other side of the desk, a clerk looked at Bakker carefully and asked: "Editor-in-Chief, is it okay this time?"

Bucker's frown slowly relaxed,

"It's barely fair."

It is indeed "reluctantly\

,"Because the coverage of this newspaper is still insufficient compared to that of the "Mirror\

,"Just look at the title and you will know,

The "Mirror" newspaper is "Thames River: Londoners have no time to dive anymore", and my own is "Thames River water quality is tested again!" ? 》

Comparing the two, the gap is really huge!

The article is placed in front of you. Which one the reader will choose? You can think about it on your knees and know the result.

Bakker sighed,

"By the way, has the name of the newspaper been decided? It needs to be clearly separated from The Times, but not too clearly."

This request is outrageous.

The clerk touched his nose in embarrassment and did not dare to say anything.

Bakker also knew it was difficult and said: "Don't be nervous, just think about it slowly."

With that said, he threw the tabloid sample back on the table, then picked up the black tea and sipped it, making a "snoring" sound, which was very pleasant.

The clerk was puzzled;

"Editor-in-Chief, why don't we print it today?"

Soldiers are valuable and quick,

This is especially important in journalism.

Moreover, newspapers all over London are now racing against time to become the second tabloid to be published after the Mirror.

The earlier it is issued, the more likely it is to occupy a favorable market position.

To take a step back, if the path of tabloids does not work, it is not a bad thing to accept the test of the market early. As the saying goes, "die early and be born early"~

Bucker glared at the other party,

"You pig brain!? A new newspaper will be released today? Are you worried that you won't die quickly enough?"

He stood up, pressed the back of the clerk's head and came to the window, pointed to Fleet Street not far away, and said: "Look! You opened your eyes and took a closer look! The door of "Mirror" was so fast. Surrounded!"

The clerk was criticized by his boss and was reluctant to speak out.

Bakker continued: "Do you know why? Lu released a new novel today! Do you dare to go head-to-head with the Mirror at this time?"

The clerk said "Huh".

"Hug...sorry..."

waste!

Bucker shook his head, and then said: "You go and prepare first. Try to make it this week... no..."

Halfway through his words, his eyes darkened slightly, and the corners of his mouth drew a sinister arc.

"Listen, you must settle the tabloid matter within two days! We can also take advantage of Lu's promotion of new books."

The clerk nodded repeatedly on the surface, but cursed in his heart.

I don’t know who just said not to rush.

He bowed and said, "Then I'll leave first."

Bucker waved his hand,

"get out."

The clerk exited the room.

Bakker was holding a tea cup and standing by the window, looking at the crowd at the Mirror newspaper office.

Suddenly, he drank all the black tea in the cup, then put on his windbreaker, put on his dome hat, walked straight out of the office, and walked towards the Mirror newspaper office.

The sky is gloomy,

The drizzle fell and hit the brim of Buckel's hat, making a slight sound.

The leather shoes left shallow traces of water, and the coolness poured in along the gaps in the shoes, making the soles of the feet feel slightly cold.

As for the service industry, there is an old saying: "Half the wind blows, it rains all the way."

Just like opening a cafe,

If there is a strong wind that day, the turnover will be cut in half;

If it rains, you will definitely lose everything.

But this doesn’t seem to apply to the Mirror.

The drizzle couldn't dampen the readers' enthusiasm at all. The more Bakker went to the newspaper office, the louder the discussion about Lu's new book became.

"Did you buy it?"

"No. But I heard that Lu's new book seems to be in the fantasy genre."

"Huh? I thought it would be another story about Detective Poirot~"

…

Fantasy story?

Bakker secretly thought that Lu Shi was confused.

It is true that "The Hobbit" is a wonderful work and even changed the way fantasy novels are written.

But the influence of "Roger Mystery" is much greater than that.

What's more, "The Return of Sherlock Holmes" has just been completed. It's a good time to continue the popularity of detectives with novels of the same type. Writing fantasy novels is purely thankless.

Don’t make any money?

Lu Shi was afraid that he was suffering from Wen Qing's disease.

The corners of Buckle's mouth curved up, and he muttered to himself: "Oh, writer~"

He pushed his way into the crowd.

As a result, someone next to me said dissatisfiedly: "Hey! Pay attention!"

Bucker lowered his head and saw that the person next to him had been stepped on, so he raised his head and subconsciously prepared to apologize.

But when he saw the other person's face, he was stunned.

"Dr. Doyle?"

Doyle:! ! !

He quickly pulled down the hood of his raincoat and hid his face in the shadows.

An eerie silence lay between the two of them.

Bakker tried hard to suppress his laughter and said, "Dr. Doyle, you also like Lu's novels? What? Didn't you buy today's Mirror?"

Doyle tilted his head and pretended not to hear.

Bakker continued: "You and Lu...haha, writers really feel sympathy for each other..."

There was a strange air of yin and yang in these words.

Doyle's face was dark, and he sneered and retorted: "Mr. Bakker, it seems that you and Professor Lu also have sympathy for each other. After all, the Mirror and The Times are both best-selling newspapers, with average daily sales exceeding 100,000 copies."

Bucker followed suit with a dark face.

In fact, the daily sales of "Mirror" may have exceeded 100,000 copies.

The emergence of tabloids completely changed the newspaper industry.

People have never thought that newspapers can be read without sitting down, but rolled up into a roll and held under the arm. As long as they have free time, they can read them wherever they go.

Moreover, the content of "Mirror" is very friendly to the people, and the style is also eye-catching, making people want to put it down.

On the streets of London, it was even called "the people's newspaper."

Almost all newspapers were affected.

Buckle said: "Dr Doyle, I don't think the Mirror's daily sales are as high as a hundred thousand copies as advertised."

Doyle's lips curled up.

"Don't believe it? Well, that's right. After all, The Times cheats when it advertises sales, including those sold overseas and overstocked, and then lies on the ground and says it's awesome."

Doyle was acquainted with Herbert Greenhoff Smith, editor-in-chief of "Seaside Magazine" and knew the unspoken rules of the industry.

He said that just to complain about Bakr's villainous attitude towards Lu Shi, who was a gentleman.

Bucker was speechless.

At this time, a group of horse-drawn carriages came slowly and stopped at the door of the "Mirror" newspaper office.

A person jumped out of the front carriage, it was Scott.

he shouted and waved,

"Give way, everyone! Stop blocking the door!"

Of course no one listened to him.

Readers in front of the newspaper office surrounded the carriage convoy, holding coins or banknotes in their hands, shouting that they wanted to buy newspapers.

Scott had no choice but to nod to the coachman.

The driver understood and brought down a box with the newly printed "Mirror" inside.

There is no way, the newspaper is selling so well, we have to keep printing more copies, and as many as we print will be shipped to the newspaper office, and then they will be sold out within two to three hours.

Then print and buy again.

The cycle goes back and forth.

Lu Shi also wanted to expand the scale of printing, but the purchase, transportation, and debugging of printing machines all took time.

The Manchester Guardian, The Scotsman, and the Royal Publishing House have their own printing tasks, and there are not enough printing presses available, so they can only make this strategy and sell as much as they print.

Therefore, the daily average of 100,000 is not the sales ceiling of "Mirror", but the printing ceiling.

Scott shouted to maintain order;

"Don't grab it!"

These words actually became a reminder,

Many readers took the newspapers, dropped their money and ran away.

There was a small mountain of coins, with the occasional note, even a shilling among them.

The newsboys were much more ruthless than ordinary readers. They opened the messenger bags they carried with them, emptied the rest of the newspapers inside, and then desperately stuffed as many Mirror newspapers into the bags as they could.

Barker and Doyle also pushed their way into the crowd.

After a while, they grabbed the newspaper and ran to a nearby roof.

Doyle took out the newspaper from his arms, turned to the novel page, and read greedily.

Bucker looked at the drizzle outside and said, "Dr. Doyle, aren't you afraid of the newspaper getting wet? It's not easy for us..."

Before the words fell,

"Don't talk!"

Doyle interrupted Barker sternly.

As if under a spell cast by the newspaper, Doyle's attention was fixed on the novel.

Bucker looked around and found that there were many people like Doyle around him.

Some even threw their bodies in the rain curtains and placed the newspapers under the eaves. They also had to pick up their raincoats to cover the newspapers with double layers of insurance to ensure they would not get wet.

Is this novel really that amazing?

Bucker couldn't help but be curious and moved closer to Doyle.

Doyle's head is full of black lines,

￣□￣｜｜

"Didn't you grab it just now? It's up to you!"

Bucker chuckled and said in a shameless spirit: "Let's just take a look."

Doyle wanted to curse;

"You!* @￥ # %..."

Bucker waved his hand,

"Okay~"

Then he focused his attention on the novel,

"Lord of the Rings?"

Just by looking at the name, you can tell that it is a fantasy novel.

The novel begins with a poem:

The spirits of the world cast three rings,

The underground dwarves receive seven precepts;

Mortals who live a long life uphold the nine precepts,

Shadows lurk in the demonic realm of Mordor,

The Dark King sits on the Supreme Ring.

The supreme ring, the ring to control others;

The supreme precept, seek all the precepts,

The Supreme Lord of the Rings leads everyone to ring,

Confining all the commandments in darkness,

Shadow of Mordor.

…

Bucker raised his eyebrows and said, "What is this?"

Doyle said solemnly: "Have you not read "None Survived"? Using nursery rhymes and poems at the beginning of the novel can set up suspense very well. Maybe this poem is similar to a prophecy in "The Lord of the Rings" exist."

Bakker thought of "No Survivors";

In the novel, all the characters who appear die according to the descriptions in the nursery rhymes.

This technique is the so-called "nursery rhyme killing".

Buckle said: "You mean this Lord of the Rings is going to be like 'None Survived', where the plot follows poetry?"

Doyle sighed,

"stupid!"

Bakker:? ? ?

"What did you say!?"

Doyle replied: "In "Roger's Mystery", Lu used a narrative trick. To put it bluntly, he used people's thinking inertia, because readers will subconsciously think that the 'I' in the novel is not the murderer. This "The Devil" The same may be true of "Precepts", using the inertia of thinking to make people think that the poem at the beginning is the same as the nursery rhyme "There Will Be No Survivors". But the two may be completely different."

Bucker couldn't help but rolled his eyes at Doyle.

"I think you're overthinking it."

Doyle looked up.

"how?"

"This is a fantasy novel, not a mystery novel," Bakker said.

After finishing speaking, I didn’t forget to add one word:

"stupid!"

Dalton was speechless.

Buckel chuckled and continued to look back. He immediately discovered the name "Bilbo Baggins" and knew that "The Lord of the Rings" is a story after "The Hobbit".

The novel is serialized in three chapters.

Bilbo Baggins left the Shire during his 111th birthday party, and his cousin Frodo Baggins inherited the Ring.

Gandalf thought that this ring might be the One Ring, so he went to Minas Tirith to check the scroll of Isildur. After returning to the Shire, he asked Frodo to take the Ring to Rivendell and listen to the Lord Elrond of the place. Germany's suggestion.

So, Frodo and his three friends Sam, Merry, and Pippin began their journey.

Doyle was the writer, Buckle the editor,

The two read very quickly.

But even so, because the novel is so exciting, there are many parts worth chewing and digesting over and over again, so the two of them read it for a long time.

When they put down the newspaper, it was already dark,

The rain is no longer drizzle,

Big raindrops fell and hit the water on the ground, making a crackling sound.

Bucker showed a disappointed expression,

"This novel...this novel...ah sneeze!"

He sneezed.

Doyle, who was beside him, also felt cold all over. He quickly stamped his feet, trying to warm up his body through exercise.

As a result, as soon as his feet landed, he discovered that water had entered the shoes at some point, causing his socks to become clammy and sticky, which made him very uncomfortable.

Doyle looked around.

I didn't expect that there were still people reading newspapers in the rain. They were so absorbed in reading that they didn't even notice that it was raining heavily.

Doyle sighed,

"It's over...Is this the end?"

Bucker nodded and said: "I feel that this novel is much more exciting than "The Hobbit". Moreover, from the beginning, it seems to be a real fantasy epic. The world view of the story is extremely grand, as if it has created a real world." fantasy world."

The two looked at each other,

"You think so too?"

"you also?"

They all felt that Lu Shi did not write a serial novel, but wrote the novel in a traditional way and then cut it into parts and serialized it.

Doyle counted the hours;

"How long has it been since the end of The Hobbit?"

Bakker said: "About three months? Probably less than that."

Three months...

The two people's eyes moved to the "Mirror" with expressions of disbelief at the same time.

Can anyone really write like this?

"Fxxk!"

They couldn't help but curse in unison.