Chapter 12 #2
Kaelee had to get her control back so she could manage this meeting. Following Greta’s lead to talk about books seemed like a wise plan. “Any luck on getting Toni to sell you a new book yet?”
“She’ll send it when she’s ready.” Greta nodded her head once, as if emphasizing her own declaration. After an extended minute, she said, “Speaking of, how are you progressing on your sequel?”
“Finished it before I sold book one. Revised it.” Kaelee shrugged like it was no big deal. “Emily’s been reading it. I think she’s almost ready to send it to you.”
“Really?” Greta paused mid-step and glanced over at her.
“I had it in my backpack yesterday.” Kaelee shook her head, as if the gesture could stop the flood of images that were roiling in her mind.
Her voice came out wobbly as she added, “Sent a partial of a new book to Emily already, too. I want this career. Toni may still waffle on it, but I have no doubts. I want to write, preferably commercial, popular fiction.”
Greta met her gaze. “I won’t let what happened derail that, Kaelee. I promise.”
They reached the conference room again. Greta opened the door and motioned her inside.
With a resolve she hated to call up, Kaelee smiled and stepped forward.
Now instead of a stack of glossy cardstock, the pile of oversized cover mock-ups were spread out in a row along the table. Six concepts. Each one had her name and her title. Seeing the row of covers with her name on them made her forget everything else for a moment.
“I’d buy this one if I saw it.” Kaelee tapped the corner of the fourth cover. The blue background jumped out in a way that made her think of books in the genre that were on her shelf. “I don’t love that font, though.”
Emily’s smug smile was unmissable as she looked around the room at the assembled group.
Kaelee asked, “What?”
“That was my exact opinion. It’s always refreshing when an author thinks marketing-wise, not just ‘Oh! Pretty!’” Emily gestured expansively. “Look at the others, too. Obviously, something about that cover resonates. Are there others that jump out at you?”
It felt like a quiz, one she really wanted to ace as Greta watched and waited. The desire to impress her was awkward, but it was undeniable.
Kaelee paused and looked at each cover, thinking of the hot books in the genre. She didn’t want hers to look like a riff on any of them, but she wanted to match them tonally. As she went through the row, commenting on what did and did not do those things, she caught Greta’s approving smile.
That expression ought not warm her the way it did, but she couldn’t ignore the flush of happiness she felt.
The worst part of this was that she realized that she and Greta really clicked in their interests.
Greta liked my book. They shared an interest in fiction, not just in a love of reading, but in books and publishing.
Greta had edited the best book Kaelee had read in historical fiction, and she’d edited Kaelee’s own book.
More and more, Greta was revealing herself to be exactly what Kaelee craved in a friend, as well as still being her ideal lover.
And I can’t have her in that way ever again.
By the time the morning meetings had ended, they were behind the planned schedule.
The publicist, Charlie, looked at her with an assessing gaze.
She was a tall woman with the sort of debutante beauty that would make Kaelee’s mother ask about her “beauty regimen,” but she also had an understated way about her.
With more attention to style, Charlie could force every eye to her.
Instead, she wore no noticeable makeup—including the sort necessary for a natural look.
Her blazer was boxy rather than slim cut, and both her trousers and shoes were basic black.
Like recognizes like, and Kaelee knew without asking that Charlie had secrets. If anything, it made Kaelee relax as she realized that Charlie was probably intentionally downplaying her beauty. There was little chance she didn’t know what she looked like, not with that kind of confidence.
“It can be a lot,” Charlie said. “We’re pros at this, but you have to be willing to trust that.”
“I’m certain you’re all great at your jobs,” Kaelee said.
“Ha! Spoken like a woman used to handling dissent.” Charlie eyed her, handed over a business card. “We really are on your team.”
“Unless the book fails,” Kaelee muttered.
Charlie reached out, not quite putting her hand on Kaelee’s wrist. “Our job is to make sure it doesn’t.”
“You can’t guarantee that. Any of you. Ever.” Kaelee sounded confrontational, which was the wrong tactic here, but she couldn’t stop her fears from burbling from her mouth. “What if something awful happens? Or worse … what if nothing happens?”
“Then we reassess for the paperback release.” Charlie shrugged. “Go to lunch. Relax.”
“Why don’t we just get carryout? Or delivery or whatever?” Kaelee tilted back in her chair after noticing Greta look at the clock and then at Emily. “I don’t need to go to a restaurant. At home, I’d be making a sandwich or grabbing takeaway to eat at my desk.”
“We can wrap this up and still more or less make the reservation,” Greta started. “Ian?”
“On it!” Ian was already on his feet.
“Or,” Kaelee said firmly, drawing a curious look from both agent and publicist. “We focus and get this finished. I don’t need wined and dined. I need marketed and promoted, and getting finished sooner means I can take the train home sooner.”
Charlie gave her a beaming smile, and Ian eyed her curiously. Greta looked away, but not before Kaelee saw a disappointed look wash over her face. She couldn’t possibly think I’m staying now? Of course Kaelee couldn’t ask that.
“What if we agree to a celebratory meal later, Kaelee?” Charlie eyed her again, and Kaelee made a mental note that the publicist was a little too observant.
“I have a train back to—”
“Not tonight. On the event of your first big victory. That way no one feels like we are neglecting you.” Charlie had an expression that said she threw down a challenge, a dare of sorts.
“You are more optimistic than I am,” Kaelee pointed out.
“I know.” Charlie met her attention head-on.
“However, my job requires me to think big, and Revel makes my job easy. I read the book, Kaelee. This isn’t just a case of getting the cover copy and talking points.
That happens, too, but I read your entire book.
I know how to get publicity for a book like this. ”
Kaelee laughed. “That confidence you’re flashing around probably makes your job easier, too.”
“Confidence and bravery, those are the tools that publicists need.” Charlie shrugged like it was no big deal, but she looked a little smug, too.
Kaelee eyed her with more curiosity. “What exactly do you see as your job?”
“Easy. Stay in the background. Insist people notice the star I am pointing out to them.” Charlie tapped her pen against the table. “I can work with you as is. A little media training wouldn’t hurt but—”
“I worked with Rossi and Aubert years ago.”
“Oh my.”
Kaelee’s opinion of Charlie went up as she peered at Kaelee.
The media management company her father had used was hella expensive, but they were good.
The old man might be a misogynist and a vile homophobe, but he knew where to spend his money in order to hire the best. Kaelee hadn’t fallen prey to the lie that people with evil views were all stupid.
Tripp had built his financial holdings, ruthlessly and well.
He was a smart man, and he hired smart people.
“May I ask why you had media training?” Charlie asked politely.
This was the time, the logical opening to tell them who she really was …
well, who she used to be. The only thing Kaelee had to do was open her mouth and say it, tell them her father was a generous donor to the far right, admit that she had been raised in a hyper-religious household. She could omit the trust fund part.
And the predatory ex.
And the money he funneled to book banning.
And the fact that he’s dangerous.
Instead she shrugged. “My father’s company had them on retainer.
He got me a few sessions before I went and embarrassed the family.
You know how parents can be.” Kaelee braced for more questions, hoping to counter them without confessing her familial history.
“I can handle interviews. I don’t love them, and I’d prefer to avoid any visual media. ”
Greta’s gaze darted to Emily, who was watching the back-and-forth between Kaelee and Charlie with an increasingly blank expression.
So no avoiding tour … or interviews. Kaelee winced internally.
Charlie leaned forward slightly, not smiling now. “So let’s talk about the tour. We’re liking six cities, but once we get early reads and account numbers, we may want to increase that.”
“Or decrease it,” Kaelee suggested hopefully.
Tour was not appealing in any way. Neither was any TV exposure.
She’d felt sure that those things weren’t in her future.
Most authors were lucky to get an assigned publicist or a publisher throwing money at promotion.
How do I express gratitude without seeming contrary?
At such moments, it would be genuinely great to have Toni there to offer tips.
Although those tips hadn’t saved Toni from travel.…
But my book is so much smaller!
“I sincerely doubt that tour will decrease,” Greta spoke firmly. “The team will get your book in the right hands. Toni’s endorsement carries weight, too. And of course, the book is simply delicious.”
Kaelee studied her expression and posture in search of a lie or deceit. Pulling on every media training lesson she had to keep her expression closed, Kaelee asked, “You mean that?”
“I preempted,” Greta stressed. “I had never met you, have no loyalty to Emily—”
“Gee, thanks,” Emily drawled.
“The point, Ms. Carpenter, is that this team can see what I saw at first read: a successful book that with the right backing could be a season standout.” Greta looked down then, lifting the meeting schedule as she did so in an obvious statement of changing topics in some way.
After a pause, she carried on. “Right. Well, accounts and marketing and the demographic for books like yours have us ending in California or starting there. Chicago, obviously. Seattle?”
Charlie picked back up from there. “We could do both Seattle and Portland, but I wonder if we ought to look at a few of the cities where Toni’s book stood out. The numbers out of Houston look incredibly strong. What do we think about starting there?”
“In Texas? With my sapphic fantasy?” Kaelee frowned. Her only experience with the state had been via her father.
“In Houston, Austin, and San Antonio, there are a lot of our target readers, and the major cities skew blue.” Charlie’s smile was brighter somehow, even as her voice took on a cajoling note. “Trust me, Kaelee. There are so very many amazing booksellers in every state. I won’t steer you wrong.”
“Charlie is a master at this,” Greta interjected.
“Right. Texas. California. Pacific Northwest.” Kaelee shook her head, marveling at the thought that there were already four cities, possibly five, she’d be visiting as an actual author. “Not North Carolina.”
“Why?” Charlie and Greta both said at once.
“I don’t want to see my family.” Kaelee cut her gaze toward Greta.
“Sounds fine.” Charlie made a note before tapping her fingers on the table pensively. “Richmond has an excellent morning news program.…”
She looked so harmless, but it was quickly apparent that Charlie was the queen of fast-fired topics that made it hard to refuse everything on her plan. The epiphany made Kaelee hopeful for her book but also cautious about her secrets.
Ultimately, the afternoon part of the meetings stretched until almost three o’clock.
It would’ve been longer, but they hadn’t taken the long gap for lunch that had been on the schedule.
Various people from different accounts, marketing, library, and design filtered into the room.
Kaelee felt more than a little overwhelmed by the number of people dedicating their days to making her book able to reach readers.
There was a weight to it that she hadn’t expected.
I won’t let them down. Any of them.