Chapter 138: Claiming the Sales Forecast Prize

The first month’s sales for "Harry Potter" fell far short of what many fans had expected, primarily because the word-of-mouth during the first three weeks was lackluster. When fans were making their guesses, they couldn't help but use the reputation and sales records of "The Lord of the Rings" as a benchmark. To many, even if Li Daniu’s new book wasn't quite as good as "The Lord of the Rings," it shouldn't have been significantly less brilliant. Add to that Li Daniu’s current fame, and a monthly sale of one million copies wouldn't have been surprising at all.

However, no one anticipated that the target audience for this new book would be completely different from that of "The Lord of the Rings." This resulted in a very "dismal" performance for the first three weeks after the book's release. Of course, for any other author, these numbers would have been quite impressive, but for someone like Li Daniu—whom readers expected to shatter records—it could only be described as dismal. Even with a late-game sprint in the final week or so, the three wasted weeks proved impossible to overcome, and all those fans who guessed in the range of a million or even seven or eight hundred thousand were wrong.

The final tally for the month was not calculated by Sunshine Publishing, nor by Li Daniu, nor even by the bookstores. It was verified by a highly reputable notary firm in the United States. After all, even a slight deviation in this figure could have multiplied the prize money Li Daniu had to pay out.

589,563 copies—that was the final sales figure announced.

As for the comments on Li Daniu’s previous social media post, the closest guess to this number was 589,362, a figure guessed by 70 fans. Out of millions of comments, having only 37 people guess the exact same number wasn't an outlandish ratio, as no one believed the monthly sales would be under 500,000, and the consensus for the ceiling was around one million. With a range of 500,000 to 1,000,000 and millions of participants, it wasn't strange for 37 people to hit the same winning number. The most common guess was in the 800,000 range, with 3,000 people choosing the same answer.

"That was close, really close," Li Daniu thought, feeling a wave of relief. He hadn't expected that his lack of serious promotion would have such an unexpected benefit. If the first three weeks hadn't been so sluggish, monthly sales might have easily surged to around 800,000—a level where he might have had to pay out to those 3,000 people who guessed the same number. After all, he had promised the prize to the person closest to the answer, not the exact number.

"Your Majesty, should I pay out the rewards now, or wait until the payments from the books start coming in?" Castro asked after verifying the results once more.

"Of course, pay them now. Waiting for the book proceeds will take at least another month. I don't mind, but the fans can't wait." Li Daniu waved his hand, delegating the task to Castro. He didn't have the time or energy to deal with these logistics, and verifying the winners' information was no simple task—a job for a lawyer like Castro. Originally, Li Daniu had only intended to toss out $100,000 for fun, but he ended up having to pay out $3.7 million. It felt a bit like shooting himself in the foot. Still, he maintained his "Ah Q" spirit: $3.7 million was certainly better than paying out $30 million.

Since the money had to be spent, he might as well finish putting on the show. Li Daniu posted an update on Facebook: "The results for the last activity are in. The relevant data was verified by a contracted American notary center. If you have any questions, please contact them. Winners, please keep your phones on for the next few days; someone will contact you to arrange the prize money. Also, @DJ, do you have anything to say? Or perhaps, do you have any thoughts on the talent show I organized and the real singers I discovered?"

Li Daniu’s post received countless likes. Never before had a public figure handed out $3.7 million in cash as a fan benefit; most others at best offered signed merchandise or cheap movie tickets. Although Li Daniu had promised the money, many had remained skeptical until the actual payout. Now that the results were out, he was praised for his generosity—or, in his own words, having money and being capricious.

Though millions didn't win, such activities are inherently based on luck, and few held a grudge. A small group of people who didn't win and grew jealous began shouting about "rigged results," but they were hardly worth worrying about. Millions of people buy lottery tickets every period, and even when someone wins hundreds of millions, the lottery isn't shut down because of a few conspiracy theorists.

Underneath his post, besides the praise, many were concerned about whether this $100,000 prize would be taxed. They tagged a famous lawyer on Facebook, who responded promptly: "First, congratulations to the lucky winners. Second, I must express my regret, as I also guessed the answer but was far off. Finally, regarding the tax issue: according to federal law, while this is an unprecedented fan welfare activity, any prize money is subject to federal and state taxes. Please refer to lottery tax regulations. I hope the winners aren't in New York."

The United States is a federal republic where states have significant autonomy and vastly different laws. New York State, for instance, has a very high state lottery tax—over 8%—while states like California or Florida do not charge state lottery taxes, though federal taxes are unavoidable regardless.

Some of those who hadn't won and were still crying "rigged" tried to change the subject, arguing that Li Daniu should cover the taxes so that each winner could walk away with a clean $100,000. Li Daniu did not respond directly, and the vast majority of netizens scoffed at this logic. When you buy a lottery ticket and win a $100 million jackpot, you still have to pay taxes, right? Getting $100,000 for absolutely nothing and paying a bit of tax—what was there to complain about?

Though he didn't address it directly, Li Daniu used the opportunity to promote his own Tuvalu: "I have decided to amend the laws of Tuvalu. All Tuvaluan citizens are exempt from personal income tax. Everyone is welcome to immigrate; first come, first served. Immigration eligibility won't be as easy to obtain later as it is now."

Beyond reinforcing his reputation for being capricious, this post didn't stir much of a reaction. Many small nations use such methods to attract the wealthy. While the rich might not contribute to tax revenue, they drive consumption. In reality, a while back, many had applied for Tuvaluan residency, mostly eyeing the $3,000 monthly living allowance. Li Daniu had instructed Burns to put those applications on hold, as accepting them at that time would only increase the burden of the monthly subsidies without providing any real help to Tuvalu.

The original territory of Tuvalu could no longer support major infrastructure projects, so the focus was entirely on the Auckland Islands—the "New Tuvalu." But New Tuvalu currently lacked both convenient transportation and basic living necessities, so it had no capacity to absorb many immigrants. Moreover, those who came solely for the subsidy wouldn't stay; they would take their residency and return home, happily collecting their $3,000 a month. However, now that construction on New Tuvalu had begun, Li Daniu needed to consider a policy for accepting immigrants, as Tuvalu was in dire need of people.