NOVPUBHow to evaluate how a certain novel is performing is quite tricky since there aren't any electronic devices to make things easier, but still, there are some ways to make it somewhat possible.
A small letter-sized questionnaire is shipped in with the newspaper for the readers to hopefully read the novel and fill it and hopefully post it to the newspaper office, which again, hopefully using the companies premium client privilege, the local post office collects all the questionnaires and brings them to the office in a few hours.
There are a lot of hopefullys in the scenario, but in the end, considering the era, it is a miracle that this is even possible.
The other way is much more straightforward and much more intuitive, which is nothing but calculating the increase in sales of the newspaper due to the novel. But the problem is these measurements are not very accurate, as there could be a number of things in the newspaper that might make it more popular or less popular with the readers, which is quite hard to ascertain. One way to somewhat figure out the pulse of the people is through direct interaction with all the distributors of the newspapers, including the major distributors in each city, minor distributors, and even the newspaper boys. Connecting with them, it usually becomes abundantly clear what in their newspaper worked and what did not.
Two hours passed in the blink of an eye.
Talking with Mr. Subramanian was enough to momentarily take away the restlessness Bhavanth was feeling in his heart, but as time got close to 11, his heart once again began to beat like a drum.
Subramanian felt the change in the boy's demeanour; he noticed he became very tense, so he did not try to talk with him to lighten the mood. Instead, he patiently waited in his office for the review to come back.
Several more minutes later, a shipment was finally sent by the post office. "It's here," Subramanian got up with a smile.
Bhavanth, who heard the words, clung to the chair, unable to move. It was almost as if he suddenly did not want to know what the people felt about his novel.
He was the only person left in the office as he continued to wait for another 30 minutes, in which all the questionnaires were being quickly aggregated by people working at The Observer so as to extract all the useful data and map it out visually.
"Click!"
The door opened with a crisp sound, and Subramanian came in with a large document in his hand.
"I have the data. Would you like to hear it?"
Honestly, Bhavanth was extremely scared and wanted to say no, but he didn't have the right to. To make his voice heard, he had to rely on the favour of the elders back home. Just a few weeks ago, left in the dark with all paths closed, he was nearly ready to abandon the novel completely. It was only after receiving help from the caring elders that a glimmer of hope appeared. Though young, he was mature enough to understand that giving up before the battle was not what a soldier does, especially since the opportunity to even stand on the battlefield was granted by others. No matter how bad the situation got, for the sake of the elders in Suvarnadwipa who had invested so much in him, he had to face everything head-on.
With his mind suddenly becoming clear, he nodded with a determined look.
"Alright, here it goes. In the data aggregated by over 1,950 readers across the city, over 70% did not even read the novel. Thankfully, among the 70%, 90% of them did not read it because they usually do not read novels, while the other 10% were not very interested in your novel. In the remaining 30% who read the novel, an overwhelming majority highly rated your novel. There are some who are not too drawn to your worldview, but they do agree that your novel is a new and refreshing take on the naval adventures genre."
Bhavanth immediately lost all the colour in his face when he heard that the majority of the people didn't even care about his novel. He seemed to have fallen into an ice cellar and had suddenly lost all his life and vitality. "I am sorry, elders, I've let you down." His heart felt like it was being held by pincers, being crushed slowly.
'Not good,' Subramanian immediately noticed the abnormality in the boy and quickly responded, "Hey, in fact, your data is actually very good." He knew the kid was still young, so he did not want him to lose all hope so quickly. Not to mention, the result is not bad to begin with.
"At least among the ones who have read your novel, over 95 percent have liked it. There is a very high chance that they will read the newspaper once again for the novel."
"Not to mention, the data collected is only from the city of Kozhikode, and the newspaper is being published all over the state. Imagine how many more people have read your novel."
Subramanian did not know why he was trying to comfort the young man so much since he had only met him this morning, but for some reason, he felt like holding on to this boy as a client, he would have a bright future.
"I promise, give it a few more days, and the number of people who read your novel will definitely increase, and once the popularity increases, the previous runs of the paper will become popular once again. Plus, people like to have their own collection of novels to read whenever they want, which will further increase the sales of newspapers."
The words of encouragement made Bhavanth feel a little better, but it was only a little. He still went back to the dormitory with a dejected look, as he did not even ride the bicycle. Instead, he chose to push it along so as to give himself a lot more time to process.
Going back, he knew that he had to write a letter to sister Preethi to inform her about the result, but felt heartbroken that his first novel was most probably a complete failure. So, not having the face to contact sister Preethi and with the mentality of making up for his disappointing performance, he decided to write another story in a much more traditional template so as to make up for the elders' and the sisters' efforts as well as for himself, to earn a quick buck, making preparations for the university.
---
Days passed, and the novel *Pirates of the Southeast: The Curse of the Black Pearl* slowly began to ferment. Since the novel was released in an extremely unpopular Observer newspaper, the people who did read the novel and liked it started to feel like they had discovered a hidden gem that no one else knew of, and suddenly, a feeling of superiority arose in their hearts.
With the mentality of showcasing their higher taste, they began to recommend the novel to their friends or colleagues.
In such a way, similar to how the movie *Fight club* spread in the video market in Vijay's last life, *The Pirates of the Southeast* spread in universities and colleges among young people like wildfire, especially considering the adventurous spirit showcased in the novel, which was unlike anything of the era. For the first time, a work of fiction showcased the freedom of exploring the oceans and seas, and the coastal regions of Cheranadu, which already had a blooming maritime culture, quickly took a liking to this work of an amateur writer.
Not only that, as the word of mouth, like a virus without the obstruction of an antivirus, spread very quickly among niche novel rating groups, it eventually somehow made it to the mainstream readers.
Vamika Devi took over the newspaper that her husband brought back from his workplace, and when she saw that it was the Observer newspaper, she couldn't help but grumble unhappily, as there was almost nothing in it that was interesting.
But since her son was still throwing a tantrum, not willing to go to sleep without hearing a story, she reluctantly turned over to the novel section of the newspaper and started to read it to him.
"This is a story originating in the sun-soaked southeastern archipelago. The tides are strong, the wind is salty, and the Black Pearl, a marvellous feat of engineering, sailed across the ocean at high speeds..."
The mother continued to read, but as she did so, she realised that this novel was not for kids, especially since there were several scenarios of Janardan Sparrow, the protagonist of the novel, cheating the authorities, being an absolute drunkard, and a menace to society.
But for some reason, she did not hate him; instead, she was drawn to his charismatic personality that was almost infectious. Not to mention, she felt that the character was so well written that she could almost picture him in her mind wearing dishevelled clothes, a dark eye, a messy red scarf, a sassy temperament, and a presence no one can ignore.
When the part came up in the novel where a British authority told him that he was the worst pirate that someone has ever heard of, Janardan responded with a witty remark of, "But you have heard of me," which made her chuckle quite a bit.
Vamika Devi looked to her side and, to her relief, her son was fast asleep, but she did not get up; instead, she completed the first chapter of the novel in one sitting, in the end leaving her wanting more.
Vamika Devi was not the only one who was mesmerised by the novel; there were hundreds all over the state, similar to her. Eventually, the novel unexpectedly became highly popular with the European community in Thiruvananthapuram.
A group of merchants even formed a reading group of four to five members to talk about *Pirates of the Southeast*.
Even from the first run of the newspaper, which had gone pretty under the radar in the whole state, the positive reviews, particularly in Thiruvananthapuram, for the novel were overwhelming. People who did not care much about the novel, upon hearing the positive reviews, read it and were left mesmerised.
As Europeans, the fearless spirit and the adventurous tales described in *Pirates of the Southeast* were extremely relatable to them.
One of the most amazing lines in the first chapter—"But you have heard of me"—stuck in their minds, becoming a catchphrase of some European merchants, as the character of Jonathan Sparrow came out of the novel and charmed them completely, attracting their attention.
Over the week, as the story continued to unfold slowly, the sales of the newspaper continued to increase, and the number of people who read the novel had also gone from 30% to over 40%—an increase of 10% within the same week, which is a very impressive number for *The Observer*.
Bhavanth, who had already forgotten about his novel and had already moved on, suddenly received a letter from *The Observer* asking him to contribute more chapters of the novel in order to continue serialising it in the paper. Also, it was mentioned that they could renegotiate the contract, as they were willing to give better terms for him to permanently serialise the *Pirates of the Southeast* series in *The Observer*.
What shocked him was that he received several offers from other large newspaper companies as well, like *The Times of Bharat*, *Bharatham Daily*, *Malayali Weekly*, and other regional and national newspapers.
However, given that the first opportunity for him was given by *The Observer*, he would not sign the contract with someone else as long as the conditions provided were not too worse. For the same reason, he contacted his sister Preethi and had her negotiate on his behalf, as he had no idea how to negotiate. He did not know how to evaluate himself monetarily; he did not know how much he would be useful to *The Observer*.
