oh, I was wondering if last post meant an update was incoming!
John seemed rather sour about the ending (though he still refused to share any details to avoid spoiling you). He argued passionately about how even the best writers needed time to work, pointing out many successful series that had ended up suffering in quality after becoming popular because the writers faced increasing pressure to publish their work quickly.
some series, on the other hand, actually get better. Medaka Box is much BETTER later on than at the beginning, for example.
...I still rage a bit inside at the thought Psyren got treated so badly though...
"Morning, Maeda!" he called, ignoring your flinch at the loud volume as he pointed to the covered dish on the counter. "There's your breakfast. Wasn't sure what you normally have, so I just made the usual: toast, eggs, beans and bacon. It ain't fancy, but it'll fill you up."
Muttering your thanks, you grabbed your plate and sat down across from John. Instead of using your knife and fork as intended, you simply piled up all the other ingredients on top of the toast as an impromptu sandwich that was as messy as it was delicious.
Normally you'd try to be neater about it, but with your current headache you aren't really in the mood to care about table manners. Besides, you doubted that John would be the kind of person who'd care about eating "properly".
...John is succesfully removing the Jap out of us!
"'Homecoming Isekai: I Hate Being On Earth, So Let Me Return to the Dungeon'," he said, not even missing a beat at the ridiculous name. The sad part was that even you had begun to grow desensitized to bad titles at this point. "I did warn the mangaka that he needed to actually progress the plot this week, but apparently the Assistant Editor in Chief wanted him to add a tsundere to the protagonist's harem first, so here we are."
Groaning, you covered your eyes. Goddammit, shit like this is why nobody wanted to talk to Daisuke unless they absolutely had to. It's embarrassing enough to be a lonely, socially maladjusted NEET, but did he really have to act like one at every opportunity?
...you know, not only I actually kind of like the premise, but as for a decent number of mentioned title, I'm pretty sure I've seen something like this at some point. Something about an isekai hero going back to his world and having to adapt to normal life again.
Also damn it Daisuke, wasn't the fanservice advice enough?!
We really need to talk to this guy, he's giving bad (or at least unsuited) advice!
About our series:
it's not a lost cause yet.
Our extra points should help next turn. Subaru in particular can still recover, and the other two are actually slightly better.
"Ah, Hiroshi. Right on time, as usual," said the man sitting at the desk.
His name was Maeda Taishi. Vice Chairman of the Board, Executive Managing Director of the company, former
shogi professional player (you could see a few of his old trophies hung up on a shelf just behind him), loving father and husband (usually), and most importantly, your doting uncle.
I have problems connecting "doting uncle" to that face... but then again I've
seen similar faces turn to cooing dads in other anime...
"Suzuki-san is still too idealistic. He wishes to cut down our running series to the bare minimum and focus on quality instead, but with the current state of the company that's simply not feasible," your uncle shook his head. "Most of the good mangaka have already jumped ship, and we can't afford to put all our hopes on a handful of new mangaka, no matter how talented they might seem."
...it seems like he actually
agrees with us (the editor, I mean). and, as I suspected, the problem is not with him, but with the board.
"At this point, I simply want to get this issue resolved at last," he said bluntly. "You're the editor on the ground, so I'll support you on whichever option you choose."
Well, wasn't that convenient. Having Uncle Taishi around to back you up would definitely make this proposal a lot easier, but you suspected that he wouldn't always be this helpful in the future.
this is VERY convenient. And supporting Suzuki's plan might actually gain us some goodwill from him.
Quantity: How many series will the Sunday Star publish each week? Determines the total number of series being published.
[ ][Quantity] 15: The bare minimum that the board will accept at this point in time. (-15 Favor)
[ ][Quantity] 20: A slight reduction, allowing you to cut off some of the worst performing series. (-10 Favor)
[ ][Quantity] 25: Let's just keep things the same for now. (-5 Favor)
[ ][Quantity] 30: Increasing the number of series will allow us to spread out a bit more. (-10 Favor)
[ ][Quantity] 35: Your team can handle this, right? (-15 Favor)
Quality: How good will the Sunday Star's standards be? Determines the minimum stat needed for a chapter to be accepted.
[ ][Quality] 20: At this point, you'll take just about anything that you can get. (-15 Favor)
[ ][Quality] 30: Lowering your standards slightly in order to attract more potential mangaka. (-10 Favor)
[ ][Quality] 40: Let's just keep things the same for now. (-5 Favor)
[ ][Quality] 50: We should raise our quality to "average" at least. (-10 Favor)
[ ][Quality] 60: Only the best accepted here. (-15 Favor)
Personal Work: How much Maeda will be personally doing. Determines the minimum number of series that Maeda will be handling each week.
[ ][Personal] 3: You're happy to stick with your current series, thanks. (-5 Favor)
[ ][Personal] 4: Okay, maybe you can do a little more. (-4 Favor)
[ ][Personal] 5: You can handle this, right? (-3 Favor)
[ ][Personal] 6: Double the work, double the fun. (-2 Favor)
[ ][Personal] 7: What, are you a masochist or something? (-1 Favor)
[ ][Personal] 8: Didn't you come here to reduce the number of series that you'd need to handle?
...I'm somewhat unsatisfied. We spend 10 favour even without changing anything, only for having come here...
Ok, so... let's be pragmatic about this
People will mostly skip over shit series. I think we can afford to reduce the number a bit, and that might actually gain us some gratitude from other editors.
...actually... if they wanted us to get 8 series each, and we're three editors + our senpai Masaru... this means they wanted 8*3 = 24 series from only us.
And we're currently publishing 25 series.
...that's crazy.
...ok, going back to the changes.
We want to reduce the number of series, to also reduce the burden on our coworkers. so from 25 to either 20 or 15.
We probably can't afford 15, so that's probably 20. a slight reduction, but it should gain us some goodwill from other editors AND the editor-in-chief.
for quality... I'd leave it the same. we don't have the favour to change more, and in the end the series will compete against each other anyway.
for OUR series... I'd go with eithr 4 or 5.
so, my plan:
[ ][Quantity] 20: A slight reduction, allowing you to cut off some of the worst performing series. (-10 Favor)
[ ][Quality] 40: Let's just keep things the same for now. (-5 Favor)
and one of
[ ][Personal] 4: Okay, maybe you can do a little more. (-4 Favor)
[ ][Personal] 5: You can handle this, right? (-3 Favor)
for a total of 18 or 19 favour spent. I'm fine getting a new series with our improved editor points, and staying at 3 would likely annoy our coworkers.
If we get 5 series, that means 15 series left to the other ones. 5 series each for Maeda, John, Masaru and Shion is actually reasonable I think, and MUCH better than 8 each.
Though I imagine they'll actually get MORE than 5 series, but still, we can point out as we're more inexperienced and need time to adapt, AND the fact we lowered the number of series for everyone anyway.
hey
@zamin just how many editors are in this office, and how many series does each have? because the fact the three main ones were supposed to get 24 series among them implies that there's either no other editor, or that they were preparing for an expansion.
or maybe they wanted to give Masaru a vacation?
...
yeah, I don't believe that either.
...uh... actually...
@zamin if
@QueenPally accepts the 4 favour can we use them here?
In that case, we could afford
[ ][Quantity] 15: The bare minimum that the board will accept at this point in time. (-15 Favor)
[ ][Quality] 40: Let's just keep things the same for now. (-5 Favor)
and one of
[ ][Personal] 4: Okay, maybe you can do a little more. (-4 Favor)
[ ][Personal] 5: You can handle this, right? (-3 Favor)
We'd burn nearly all our favour, but I imagine this would considerably reduce the stress in the office, help Masaru and our coworkers AND ourselves, and likely gain the gratitude of the editor-in-chief, who was, from what I read here, pushing to reduce the workload.
