Chapter 9 The Publisher's Letter

  After taking nearly a hundred photos, everything finally came to an end.

  "You have a good foundation, maybe you should go into film or something." Hormel praised Catherine.

  "You can let go when you're a model." He said to Ida again.

  "This is my card, if you have the chance, I hope you can come over and take some photos for me, I can pay you a fee, and the photos can also be left to you." Hormann handed a business card to Catherine.

  "Thank you."

  There are many clothes here in Holman, and they look very luxurious and beautiful. Catherine, although a minor, also has many clothes that fit her figure.

  He finished speaking and came to Ada's side, handing her a business card as well.

  "Kate, if you have time, come over together ~" Aida seemed very excited.

  "Uh-huh."

  Looking at his excited appearance, Catherine couldn't refuse either.

  "Alright, you can come pick it up next week...". Holman put down his camera.

  "How's your clothing design company doing? I heard you need an agent, and I thought maybe I could help."

  Several people looked at each other, their faces filled with confusion and uncertainty.

  To be honest, because of the photo shoot, they all forgot about it and didn't think about the issue at all.

  "I'm investing $50,000 here, Lisa and Jenny are temporarily in charge of fashion design, Ada and I can be models, Lily is the photographer."

  Catherine threw out her own plan.

  "Not bad combination." Hormann nodded, lost in thought.

  "Maybe my studio can also invest?"

  Joining a company with several junior high school students seemed absurd, but Holman didn't seem to mind.

  "How will the shares be allocated?"

  "I think it's fine like this..."

  Catherine invested $50,000 and also served as a model for the clothing design company, holding 35% of the shares - after all, $50,000 is now very valuable, equivalent to several times its original purchasing power.

  Hoffman serves as CEO of the company, responsible for daily work, and in exchange, he lets the film studio be used by the company, holding 30% of the shares.

  Lisa is effectively "chief designer", owning 15% of the shares, with Lily holding 10%, and Jenny and Ida each having 5%.

  "What's a good name for our company?"

  This is a very important issue.

  Don't underestimate a company's name, it may decide everything at a critical moment.

  After all, a name that is easy to pronounce and remember is more convenient for dissemination.

  If it's a mediocre or roundabout name, who would remember it?

  What's a good name for the company?

  "Alright, let's first organize all the preliminary matters and then think of a name?"

  "It doesn't matter if it's not urgent for now, Lisa. Take this opportunity to design more clothes, Jenny can help too."

  "Maybe we can gather more fashion designers later?"

  "In short, let's just leave it like this for now. Let's think about the company name, sales channels after the company is established, and how to build our brand..."

  "I think if we just let Ada and Kate walk around on the street, all problems will be gone, that's the best promotion."

  "That... I still have class at SAB, see you all tomorrow..."

  As the saying goes, three women are like 3000 ducks. Catherine finally experienced it, but fortunately, their opinions were somewhat valuable. However, the final proposal could only make Catherine choose to leave early.

  It's just past noon, and there's still a while before class starts, so Catherine didn't choose to go to class. She chose to return home first, maybe her parents would have some good ideas. But as soon as she got home, Emma handed her a letter.

  "Kate, you have a letter, it's from the publisher."

  Kate tore open the letter.

  The letter's contents were that the editors saw Catherine's book as a series and hoped to secure the rights for future works, forming a series. They could even offer Catherine up to 15% royalties.

  Another letter revealing the bottom line?

  Catherine looked at the signature: Robert.

  This young man seems to have had some experience and knows to send a letter instead of coming directly, but he still revealed the company's bottom line.

  The Harry Potter series is indeed a slow burn, but sales have been consistently stable. Including hardcover and paperback editions, it has brought in $10,000 for Catherine so far, adding to her previous income, totaling $60,000 - although after taxes, that's only $50,000.

  But why was society so interested in paperbacks? Catherine began to analyze.

  Initially, The Lord of the Rings did moderately well in the United States market, but the $15 price for a hardcover book was not affordable for the masses - although paperback publishing had become mainstream after World War II, Tolkien seemed uninterested in the format of ten-cent paperbacks and story papers.

  When Ace Books contacted Tolkien about publishing a paperback edition of The Lord of the Rings, they got no response. So Ace proceeded to publish a paperback edition without getting permission from Tolkien or his publishers, and paid him not one penny in royalties - a clear case of copyright infringement.

  Tolkien was furious and quickly authorized Ballantine Books to publish an official paperback edition of The Lord of the Rings in the United States. However, under the circumstances where pirated editions had already occupied the market, the authentic version did not sell as well as the pirated one. Tolkien himself came forward again to defend his legitimate rights, starting to remind American readers in his letters that Ace Books' version was illegal and asking them to spread the word. This move quickly produced a significant effect: American readers not only refused to buy Ace Books' version but also asked bookstores to remove it from their shelves. In the end, Ace Books paid Tolkien a substantial sum of money in royalties and stopped reprinting after selling out its stock. The copyright dispute lasted for a long time, while the sales of The Lord of the Rings paperback continued to soar during the controversy, entering the bestseller list and quickly triggering a craze on campuses.

  It was 1960 and The Lord of the Rings had been pirated in the US until it was published by Ballantine Books in paperback in 1965.

  The Lord of the Rings has a deluxe edition in America but no paperback; Ace Books' piracy is just beginning.

  So Catherine's "Harry Potter" has filled the "blank" of people's fantasy, at least in the eyes of publishers. The sales of her book have now exceeded 5,000 copies, and it's only October 9th, just one week after the publication of "Harry Potter". More importantly, her sales are showing a slow increase, rather than decreasing.

  Catherine chose Paper Skin Book Publishing House, whose strength is unquestionable in terms of scale and business vision.

  They may have targeted Harry Potter in order to counter this pirated version of The Lord of the Rings and expand the influence of Paper Tiger Books.

  After all, who doesn't want to consolidate their position and reach a monopoly status? Multi-faceted development seems to be the strategy of paper tigers.

  They also decided to strike while the iron was hot and planned to release "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" on December 25, 1960.

  As soon as two departments come out, Harry Potter will have more advantages.

  The paper skin book publishing house saw this point, so they gave Catherine such a high copyright fee.

  Of course, Catherine also made some slight modifications to Harry Potter, the location is New York in the United States instead of London in the UK. "Immersion" is very important, especially on this passionate eve.