Utterly shameless

Joseph said in a somber tone, "Then she saw the gun, the surroundings were covered in blood, and in the mirror, she saw a gruesome wound on her head with scorched edges! Yes, it was clearly where she had been hit by a bullet."

Barre's eyes widened in disbelief. "My God, this is unbelievable! She's not dead?!"

"Yes," Joseph said, "And she also discovered that she possessed divine powers, the ability to float in an endless gray mist..."

"That's amazing! What's the name of this novel?"

"It's called ' The Lord of the Mysteries '."

After Barre left, Joseph continued to the next Writers: "You are to write a story about a Nobility was Bastille because he suffered from mental illness."

"This young man's name is Phil Lee. He claims that when he closes his eyes, he will enter a magical world."

"There's an evil wizard there who kidnaps many deformed or sickly young boys and girls to concoct elixirs of immortality. Phil Lee was one of those kidnapped..."

When Joseph turned his gaze to Beaumarchais, the most famous old Writers in all of France was already somewhat impatient. "Oh, Your Highness, then what is my story?"

Joseph immediately thought of Tian Hai Shan, his favorite online Writers from his previous life. Every book of his could quickly become a nationwide sensation, and he was only a step away from winning the Nobel Literature Prize. Moreover, he was extremely handsome.

Joseph knew every single one of Tian Hai Shan's books intimately, and immediately blurted out, "This novel is called ' "Ladies, Please Stop" '..."

The day passed quickly. At dusk, Joseph received four manuscripts.

Beaumarchais and others truly deserve their reputation as great France Literary Figure. Their novels are extremely vivid. Whether it is the character portrayal or the plot description, they all exude the style of masters, making the reading experience like drinking fine wine.

However, Joseph discovered that each person's submission was only four pages long, with a maximum of about two thousand words.

He could only tactfully suggest that the great Writers write a little more each day.

Beaumarchais and the others exchanged bewildered glances. They had been so engrossed in writing the story that they hadn't even eaten lunch. This was more than double their usual output.

But the Crown Prince still seemed to think it wasn't enough!

After returning home, the group summoned their disciples or Writers friends for help, not for the extra royalties—these renowned Writers were not short of money—but mainly to speed up the writing so they could hear the Crown Prince recount the rest of the story as soon as possible.

Joseph, meanwhile, sent someone to deliver the manuscript to the Paris Business Daily Newspaper Office overnight, urging Denico to print it as soon as possible.

The next day at dawn, Denico brought a sample copy to the Versailles Palace to report to Joseph on the first publication of the revised edition.

Joseph first skimmed through both newspapers.

One was the Paris Business Daily. It maintained the same "freedom and ideals" theme as before, introducing market trends and business anecdotes. The difference was that the second page was entirely dedicated to a novel called ""Refining the Firmament"." The third page was an explanation of the New Tax Law.

The other is the newly published "News and Pictures"—the publishing license can be processed by noon. Of course, this is a speed reserved for the Crown Prince. Normally, applying for a license takes at least two months.

News and Pictures was less polite, with the front page headline "Exploring the underlying reasons for repeated Registration failures under the New Tax Law." Page two featured "The Lord of the Mysteries the Tax Law." Most of the other pages were related to the Tax Law, interspersed with some hot news from various parts of France.

As for the images, since Lithographic Printing hasn't been implemented yet, we've only included some Paris landscape paintings that were previously engraved on the printing plates. Later, we'll be publishing a large number of news illustrations, but since there are no photographs in this era, we'll have to commission artists to create the illustrations.

Joseph was quite satisfied with Denico's work; he truly lived up to his Aristocratic Family's reputation as a three-generation Newspaper Office publishing family.

Once these two newspapers are in the hands of the Paris people, the Noble Group will no longer be able to monopolize the media.

Upon seeing that the Crown Prince had finished reading the sample copies, Denico immediately reported, "Your Highness, as you instructed, the monthly subscription price for both newspapers is 3 Livre."

"I feel I must remind you that we will suffer significant losses at this price."

Nowadays, most daily newspapers take 6-8 Livre a month, while weekly newspapers take between Livre and 2 Livre.

Both Paris Business Daily and News and Pictures are daily publications, and 3 Livre would be a loss-making price.

Joseph nodded calmly. "It's alright, sell it at this price. Once the Lithographic Printing is done, the cost should be able to drop below 3 Livre per month."

Actually, he didn't care about losing a little money—once the newspaper's sales picked up, the advertising revenue alone would be enough to turn a profit.

Seeing his unwavering confidence, Denico had no choice but to move on to the next matter. "Your Highness, regarding those 'newsboys' you mentioned earlier, I have recruited more than 40 of them."

He hesitated for a moment, then said cautiously, "I don't think there are many people willing to buy newspapers on the streets of Paris."

Newsboys were Joseph's new method of newspaper sales.

Currently, Newspaper Industry in most Europe countries operate on a model where customers subscribe in advance and the newspapers are delivered by "deliverymen".

The newsboy, whom later generations became familiar with, had not yet appeared.

One of the major reasons that previously limited newspaper retail was its high price. On average, a newspaper cost 4 to 6 sulphurs, while an average Craftsman's daily wage was only 5 to 10 sulphurs. Few people would decide to buy a newspaper on a whim.

Now, Joseph has reduced the price of a newspaper to 2 sous, and plans to lower it to 1 sous or even lower in the future. At that price, many people will be able to afford it.

Joseph knew very well that street retail was the best channel for newspaper sales!

Newsboys would call out the highlights of the newspapers, and passersby who showed interest would easily buy a copy. Moreover, the newsboys could also sell other items on the side, using the profits to lower the cost of the newspapers.

As for "employing child labor"...

That concept doesn't even exist in this era.

In any Europe country today, it's common to see children as young as seven or eight working in Workshop. They are important economic pillars for their families.

Selling newspapers is a relatively easy and high-paying job, and I expect there will be a lot of people scrambling to do it soon.

After giving Joseph a few more instructions, Denico Newspaper Office manager took his leave and returned to Paris.

Unbeknownst to them, the two newspapers had already stirred up quite a storm in Paris.

On the streets of Paris, someone heard a child waving a newspaper and shouting:

"I saw the newspaper! Two copies! There's a new novel in it— Alchemy boy's fiancée suddenly breaks off their engagement! Will he be able to get justice three years later?"

The man had just received his salary yesterday and, out of curiosity, bought a newspaper. He was immediately captivated by the exciting story on page two. He walked along, reading, until he bumped into a tree and realized he had gone the wrong way.

Many thanks to the generous donations from "Labalis" and "Book Friend 20230301101521800" for this book! The author is deeply grateful and bows in gratitude!

(End of this chapter)