Chapter 27
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Blaise set her laptop on the kitchen table and adjusted her chair until it felt right.
Not too close. Not too far. She checked the angle of the screen, then the camera, making sure the light from the window wasn’t throwing shadows across her face.
Morning sun filtered in, soft and forgiving.
It gave her a gentle glow that not even makeup could replicate.
She glanced at the clock. Ten minutes until it was time for the call.
Blaise took a sip of coffee, then smoothed her hand over the legal pad beside her laptop. It was her handwriting, but Cece’s great questions filled most of the page. What do they want to know? What do I want? What am I not willing to give up?
There were a few reminders there as well, along with a couple of underlined phrases meant to help her focus. You’ve earned this. No one knows as much about you as you. Money matters more than publicity.
That last one had been underlined twice. Money was the whole reason she was doing this, because for her, money meant freedom and comfort.
And if she was being honest, making money again would feel slightly like vindication. That she’d made things right, regardless of what the scammer had done to her. It would also prove to Evan that she could take care of herself. She hoped.
She took another sip of coffee and decided she needed a glass of water instead. She quickly got up and fixed one in the kitchen, trying to breathe normally as the clock ticked closer to the time of the call.
There was no reason to perform. She just needed to be herself. This wasn’t a pitch so much as a conversation. A chance to see whether the people on the other end of the screen understood what she was trying to do with the book. And whether they respected it.
Her phone buzzed. A text from Cece through the Queen Bees group. You’ve got this. Be honest. Be yourself.
Then one came in from Paige. They are going to love you.
Althea wasn’t far behind. If they don’t, they’re idiots.
Agreed, Essie added. Praying for you!
Finally, Maude. Remember us when you’re famous. Again.
Blaise smiled and set the phone aside. She was so grateful for those women.
And for Brick, who’d kept her occupied on her morning walk.
They’d talked about yesterday’s boat trip, which had been so restful and wonderful.
He’d fished, she’d sunbathed, and they’d even stopped at a small sandbar where Beau had gotten out and run through the water.
It had been the perfect distraction.
Now, of course, she had to focus.
She’d chosen her outfit deliberately, ultimately deciding on a lightweight blue summer sweater with a vintage Pucci scarf for a little more color around her face and her favorite white jeans, which they wouldn’t see, but she needed to feel complete.
It was simple and comfortable. Nothing that felt like she was trying too hard.
She wanted to look like herself, not a version of what they might expect. The book was about who she was now. How she’d become this person. She had to be true to that idea.
Four minutes to go.
She opened the document with her manuscript and scrolled to the last paragraph she’d written, reading it once more. Reminding herself that she was doing this and, at least to her mind, doing it well.
She was worthy of this opportunity, regardless of what anyone else thought.
When the meeting alert chimed, Blaise closed the document and clicked Accept. She was nervous, but she was determined. And she was definitely ready to talk.
The screen flickered, then resolved into a woman sitting in what looked like a bright office, shelves behind her lined with books and a framed poster on the side wall that Blaise couldn’t make out because of the angle.
“Hi, Blaise,” the woman said, smiling warmly. “I’m Karey. It’s really nice to finally meet you.”
“Hi, Karey,” Blaise said. “It’s nice to meet you, too.”
Karey adjusted her glasses and glanced down briefly, likely at notes.
“I want to start by saying how much we appreciated your proposal. There’s a clarity to it that really stood out to me.
That’s not something we often see from new writers.
Unless I’m making an untrue assumption. Have you been writing for a while? ”
Blaise felt her shoulders ease just a fraction. “No, this is my first attempt. But I am trying to be as honest as possible.”
“It shows,” Karey said. “As far as Centurion Publishing goes, we’re very interested,” she continued.
“Not in the sense of making promises yet, but in the sense that we see real potential here.” She leaned forward slightly.
“We think this could appeal to a broad market. Not just women your age, but also those who knew you as a supermodel, those who grew up with you, and those who are generally interested in celebrity books.”
“That’s great,” Blaise said, without hesitation. Although she didn’t, under any circumstances, consider herself a celebrity.
Karey smiled. “We do have some ideas about the book. One of them is the idea of the book’s structure. In other words, using key moments in your life as anchors for the story rather than a strict chronology. It would keep readers engaged without feeling like they’re reading a timeline.”
“That makes sense,” Blaise said. “I’ve been gravitating toward that anyway.”
“I suspected as much,” Karey said. “Which brings me to a few questions, if you don’t mind.”
“Of course.” Blaise exhaled. This wasn’t as intense as she’d imagined it would be.
Karey glanced at her notes again. “First, how comfortable are you with being very specific? Names, places, the brands you worked in, the financial aspect, those kinds of things. I guess I’m really asking where your boundaries are. How open you’re willing to be.”
Blaise reached for her water, took a sip to buy thinking time, then set it down.
“I’m comfortable being specific when it matters to the story,” she said.
“And I’ll be honest here. I’m not interested in protecting people who didn’t protect me.
But I also don’t want the book to turn into some kind of scorecard.
This isn’t a tell-all, except where it comes to my life. ”
“We can live with that,” Karey said. She paused, then said, “Second question. What does success look like to you for this book? Sales are part of it, obviously, but on a personal level—what do you want out of this?”
Blaise didn’t need to think long. “I want it to make people feel less foolish for having trusted someone only to have that trust betrayed. I want people, especially women like me, to see it’s okay, and very possible, to start over.
I want readers to see that losing everything doesn’t mean you’ve lost yourself. ”
She also needed the money, but she wasn’t about to tell Karey that.
Karey nodded slowly. “Those are all wonderful goals.” She smiled again, wider this time. “Last question for now. Are you prepared for the fact that once this is out in the world, people will have opinions about it, and about you?”
Blaise met her gaze through the screen. “They already do,” she said. “This book isn’t about trying to control some sort of narrative. It’s about telling the truth. About telling my story.”
Karey sat back, visibly pleased. “That’s exactly the answer I was hoping for. I assume you’re shopping this to other publishers?”
“I am,” Blaise confirmed.
“Please let us know if another publisher expresses serious interest.”
“I can do that.”
“Thank you.” Karey closed her notebook. “This has been a great start, Blaise. I’ll be sharing my notes with the rest of the team, and we’ll be in touch soon about next steps.”
“Thank you,” Blaise said. “I appreciate the conversation.” Before Karey could wrap things up, Blaise glanced at the legal pad beside her laptop. “I have a few questions, too, if that’s okay.”
“Of course,” Karey replied. “Go ahead.”
“First,” Blaise said “I want to ask about rights. What are you typically looking for? Print, ebook, audio?”
Karey nodded. “Yes, all of those. We’d be looking for North American print, ebook, and audio rights to start.
When it comes to audio, we might also want to retain you as a narrator.
It’s very popular right now to have celebrity books self-narrated.
Of course, there would be an additional consideration for that. ”
“That’s good to know,” Blaise said, making a quick note. If there was extra money to be made, she was all for that.
“And what about foreign rights?” she asked.
“We usually ask for the right to shop them,” Karey said. “But again, that’s negotiable. Some authors prefer to keep those with an agent or handle them separately.”
Blaise nodded. She liked hearing the word “negotiable.” She did not, however, have an agent as of yet.
“What about distribution?” she asked. “What are you thinking? I guess I’m asking how wide your reach is.”
“We have solid national distribution,” Karey said. “Independent bookstores, chains, online retailers, big-box stores. This wouldn’t be a limited release. We’d expect to support it properly, especially if we move forward with the positioning we discussed.”
“I assume when you say you’d support it, you mean marketing?” Blaise asked. “What does that realistically look like?”
Karey didn’t hesitate. “So that would be a baseline campaign from our side. Advance reader copies, pitching to reviewers, podcast outreach, social media support, and in the case of someone with a name, like you, we’d pitch some talk shows as well.”
Blaise appreciated that answer. It felt honest. She hadn’t considered the possibility of talk shows, though. That was interesting. She’d done Carson along with a few other models years before.
“One last thing,” she said. “Money. I know nothing’s decided yet, but what kind of advance are we talking about if this moves forward?”
Karen smiled slightly. “That’s the question everyone wants answered.”
“I figured,” Blaise said.
“If we make an offer,” Karen said. “It would likely be a high five-figure advance, paid in standard installments. That could change depending on final scope and marketing plans, but that’s the range we’re discussing internally.”
Blaise kept her expression neutral, even as her pulse picked up. That was real money. Maybe not as much as she’d hoped for, but still enough to change her life in the way she needed.
“Thank you,” she said. “I appreciate the transparency.”
“You’re welcome,” Karey said. “And I appreciate that you’re asking the right questions. It tells me you’re thinking long-term.”
“It’s the only way I can think at the moment,” Blaise said.
Karey smiled. “Thank you for your time. We’ll be in touch soon.”
When the screen went dark, Blaise sat very still, thinking about the conversation. It was exciting, but none of it would happen unless she got the book finished.
She was pleased with how the call had gone. Pleased, too, that she hadn’t been too overwhelmed to ask the questions important to her. Whatever happened next, she knew she’d handled this part exactly the way she wanted to.