Chapter 1631 1633【Famous in France】


    Xiang Nan spent a month to complete "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 fairy tale book. It was written by Tolkien after re-editing the stories told to children. So the style is relaxed and the language is humorous.


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


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


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


    This novel was published in 1900 and became very popular among young readers after its release. The author, Franken Baum, got tired of taking a walk and decided to write some serious literature.


    But the children could not resist their enthusiasm and wrote letters to him and the publisher one after another, hoping that he could continue writing. So Franken Baum gave up his serious literary creation and wrote a total of fourteen books.


    This set of books is also known as one of the ten greatest American children''s literature works because of its popularity, and it is still a best-seller today.


    …


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


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


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


    ?However, he thought that the bookseller would not understand, so he nodded, "Yes, but the story is completely different."


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


    Half a month later, Xiang Nan signed a publishing agreement for "The Hobbit" with Visby Publishing Company. Xiang Nan received 12% of the royalties at the expense of giving up advance royalties.


    Because he knew that the novel "The Hobbit" would be a hit. At that time, for every 1% more commission, he will be able to obtain hundreds of thousands or millions of profits.


    So he gave up the advance payment and chose a higher royalty rate.


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


    On the one hand, no matter how high the sales of children''s books are, they are limited because the audience is only so large; on the other hand, Xiang Nan is still a newcomer after all. Although he wrote "The Old Man and the Sea", it did not cause much repercussions after all.


    For this reason, they were willing to sign a royalty-free agreement with Xiang Nan.


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


    …


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


    From this print run, 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 Xiao, and Flaubert, the first edition must be at least 100,000 copies.


    To the publisher’s surprise, the novel was put on the market just in time for students to go on summer vacation. They need to buy some extracurricular reading materials to keep them reading during the long boring summer.


    Xiang Nan''s "The Hobbit", because it is a fairy tale book, was listed by the publisher as France''s "The Adventures of Oz" and "Alice in Wonderland", so it first attracted the attention of young readers.


    Afterward, they flipped through the book and quickly became fascinated by it.


    ??Bilbo Baggins, thirteen dwarf companions, and a magical wizard went to the Lonely Mountain to find the lost gold. Along the way, they fought successively against trolls, goblins, orcs, spider spirits, etc. Finally, together with elves and humans, they worked together to defeat the evil 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 that are so juvenile and the stories are so simple and routine. It is more thrilling, more twists and turns, more terrifying, but also more beautiful.


    As a result, the book quickly spread among children. An initial print run of 5,000 copies was sold out before the end of the month. And major bookstores have received requests from children who want to buy this book.


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


    Unexpectedly, demand still exceeds supply. Because the audience of this book is not just children, even many adults found it interesting after reading this book.


    Therefore, Visby Company had no choice but to continue printing more copies. In the end, "The Hobbit" sold more than one million copies in France alone, ranking third among the best-selling French books in 2028.


    Subsequently, the novel was introduced by booksellers in other countries. It has been sold well in the United Kingdom, Germany, the United States, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Slovakia and many other countries, and has successively appeared on the best-seller list.


    Xiang Nan became famous as a result and received a huge commission of more than one million francs.


    ??Visby Publishing Company saw this scene and regretted why they had signed such a high share contract.


    …


    The huge commercial success of "The Hobbit" has made Xiang Nan extremely famous. However, because of his identity as a Chinese, he only has a great reputation, 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 also compete to interview him.


    But because he is a Chinese, he generally does not receive these treatments. Only Gao Lu, the plenipotentiary ambassador of the Beiyang government in Paris, felt that Xiang Nan was a treasure. He was specially invited to the embassy and presented with a certificate of merit, 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 administration, and unfair governance. It is completely a puppet government supported by foreign forces and will be overthrown sooner or later.


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


    But having said that, he also knew that it was not easy for Gao to make things happen.


    The country is weak and cannot give him much support. It is difficult for him to make a living without rice, and it is difficult for him to achieve anything. Therefore, it is natural to try every means to boost the influence of the Chinese Embassy in France.


    As Xiang Nan is a Chinese and a well-known best-selling author, it is naturally a good opportunity. Therefore, Xiang Nan, for the sake of Ambassador Gao himself, cooperated with him in the hype.


    (End of this chapter)