If you talk about the dark horse books that have been talked about a lot in the book circle recently, "Mr. Toad Goes to the Psychiatrist" has a place. When it was published, no one was too optimistic about it, and the first print was only 6500 copies; The marketing cost is only 1200 yuan; On the day of the listing, 12 copies of the book were sold. Since then, it has exploded, and in this industry that sells 50,000 copies, it can be called a bestseller, and this book has sold 3 million copies in 2 years. What happened behind this magical reversal? Red Star News chatted with Yin Muyun, director of the non-fiction book group of Guomai Culture and supervising producer of the book "Mr. Toad Goes to see a psychiatrist".
The book's author, Robert Debod (1932-2020), who taught at Henry Business School in the UK, is an experienced psychology researcher and clinical practitioner, and this book is his primer on psychology for a general audience. According to Yin Muyun, in fact, the copyright agent did not recommend the book, but from the editor's private book list. There are not many people who are optimistic about this book, and the proposal meeting is passed thrillingly, and it cannot be published with less than one vote.
The book was launched in July 2020, and the sales of 12 volumes on the day of launch seemed to confirm that everyone was not optimistic, but the wonderful turning point occurred on the second day of the listing.
The next day, "Mr. Toad Goes to the Psychiatrist" sold out of 100 copies, and soon 6500 copies sold out, and soon the book continued to be reprinted in 10,000, 100,000, 200,000 or even larger copies at a time. The book is all affixed with anti-counterfeiting labels from the copyright owner Taylor & Francis, and the publishing company uses 95% of the security labels in China.
Two years after its publication, the book has sold more than 3 million copies. It is the book title that looks like a children's book " Mr. Toad Goes to the Psychiatrist " , completing its counterattack; This ordinary "little toad" has become a well-deserved "dark horse in the book world".
The story of "Mr. Toad Goes to the Psychiatrist" is not complicated. In this book, Robert Debod brings the protagonists of the classic British fairy tale "The Wind in the Willows" to the stage again: through the interaction between the toad and the psychological counselor Heron, he explores where the toad's inferiority, weakness, ostentatious personality and depression come from, allowing the reader to see the profound impact of childhood experiences and how to truly grow up psychologically, independent, confident and hopeful.
The story that revolves around a group of small animals is too much like a children's book! No wonder it was initially questioned by book editors. In an interview with a Red Star News reporter, Yin Muyun admitted that at the beginning she felt that the publication of the book was very "dangerous" and was not optimistic about sales: "Many people may not have read the British fairy tale "The Wind of the Willow Forest". "Mr. Toad" is very literary, but it is also about the psychology profession. "Mr. Toad" is a very unfamiliar product to us, so there are many doubts about it. ”
Now that I have reviewed it, Yin Muyun believes that this is a very light and professional psychology book. For example, at first, Toad was forced to see a psychiatrist and the bill was paid by a friend, and the counselor Heron rather unceremoniously asked him not to come next time. He told the toad: "Counseling must be a voluntary process. It's not a matter of money, it's only you who are responsible for the consultation, otherwise we can't cooperate. Psychology doctor Li Songwei commented that this counselor is quite powerful and terminated the possible ineffective counseling. As the heron says, only you can help yourself, and it is crucial to understand this. This is where the counselor's secret to effectively helping clients is this: he selects only those clients who really need help.
Let the reader feel that "this is myself!" It's also one of the most fascinating things about the book. Yin Muyun believes that the book appeared "just in time": "Now everyone has a very good basis for accepting psychology books, each book has its own time rhythm, when it steps on this point, it will win a big opportunity, "Mr. Toad Goes to see a psychologist" is such a book. ”
Those of us who work hard for life every day may suddenly fall into explosive negative emotions on an ordinary and ordinary day: life becomes boring, self-evaluation is reduced, and we feel uncontrollable sadness. It's like at the beginning of the book, when his friends find out that something is "wrong" with the toad, the toad himself is completely confused, and he can only say to his friend: "The family is too messy, sorry." But I'm not very good at all now! When he finished, he cried loudly. As the story progresses, it is Mr. Toad in the book who goes to see the psychological counselor, and it is also the reader who feels the pressure of life.
Can such a dark horse be copied? Yin Muyun believes that if a book has enough professional confidence and at the same time has an easy-to-understand way of writing, then it is completely possible to copy the book's sales success, "First of all, the book content itself needs to win the high affirmation of professionals, and can be rapidly disseminated in professional circles, which makes an endorsement of its gold content." Coupled with the fact that the content needs to be popular and literary enough, readers will have a real love and sharing of it, so it will soon break the circle. The psychology book "Maybe You Should Talk to Someone" published by Guomai Culture copied the promotion experience of this book, and currently ranks second in the sales list of Dangdang psychology books, second only to "Mr. Toad Goes to see a psychologist".
Mao Yuchuan, Chengdu Business Daily reporter Jiang Qing, editor Su Jing
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