Page 3 of All the Right Words
‘Right, so… How’s that new award looking on your shelf?’ Olivia asked Brenda.
Brenda tried not to look happy about the ego stroke. ‘Oh, that thing? I don’t even think I’ve got shelf space for it,’ she said. Harper had to hold in laughter at the outrageous lie. Brenda loved an award more than life itself. She probably had it spot lit on a custom-built plinth in the centre of her living room.
‘Well, I think it’s clear that you don’t write for recognition,’ Olivia smiled.
‘Well…’ Brenda purred, looking away and blushing. The second her eyes were off Olivia, the tall woman threw Harper the most subtle wink. It was a bold move. After all, Harper was here to represent Brenda and might easily be offended because Olivia was laughing at Brenda. But if Harper was honest, she admired the knowing gesture. She couldn’t entirely hide a smile.
‘So, let’s see,’ Olivia said, opening her iPad and checking her notes. As she did so, someone Harper hadn’t even realised was in the room poured everyone’s coffee from a cafetiere. Harper glanced up to see the person. ‘Oh, have you met Gina?’ Olivia asked.
‘Of course,’ Harper said. However, she didn’t know her well. She was Michael’s too-cool-for-school assistant, a raven beauty who unnerved Harper. Her voice forever dripped disdain. Her cool dark eyes said, ‘You don’t deserve my attention.’ Her informal uniform of t-shirts and jeans said, ‘Why would I dress up forthis?' She had always fascinated Harper in the way a shark might. Was she going to take a bite out of you? Maybe.
Olivia said. ‘She will bemyassistant now, so I’m sure you’ll have plenty of contact, Harper.’
Gina gave Harper and Brenda an unsmiling nod apiece. Once she’d finished the coffee, she slid back to the corner.
Harper turned back to Olivia. ‘Shall we get to the crux? We want to keep the deal as it stands, except for a three percent raise on the sales, bringing us to ten percent.’
Brenda coughed. ‘Fifteen. She means fifteen.’
Harper looked at Brenda. ‘Brenda…’
‘I said I wantfifteen,’ Brenda said, rounding on her. ‘I wrote this company’s most successful crime thriller of all time. If you want me to keep making you money, I want to see more of the profits.’ She turned to Olivia. ‘Or we’re going elsewhere.’
Brenda had psyched herself up for this morning and had come in guns blazing. And now Olivia would be forced to politely tell her, in business language, to go fuck herself.
‘Right, well, that’s certainly a place to start...’ Olivia said.
‘It’s where we end,’ Brenda said.
Harper was quietly furious. Why have an agent and behave like this? An agent was a remove. Harper’s job was to leave space for two parties, to make sure that negotiations such as these – difficult as they could be when accord could not be struck – did not get ugly. It wasn’t good for business to let displays of temper into it.
But she was no use today, not with Brenda. If this was what she wanted, there was jack shit to do right now except sit back and watch.
Olivia laced her fingers together, and her smile went from a nine to a three. ‘Look, Brenda, we value your work, andyou, very much. But we can’t do that. Even ten is an ask at this point. Your sales are great, but not fifteen percent great. No writer gets that deal with us. What we offer you is a hands-off approach. We give our writers the space they need.’ Olivia paused and leaned back, relaxing into her spiel. Harper thought Brenda would use the moment as an opportunity to keep ranting. But she didn’t say anything. She was listening.
‘And sure, you might get a better deal with someone else, and you’re free to go looking,’ Olivia said easily. ‘But weknowyou, and we stay out of your hair. That’s what we offer, trust in you to do your job. You might not get that elsewhere because the real talk is that you’re a big fish in a medium pond here. You can go to the bigger guys and become a bit richer. But your life won’t be what it is now. It just won’t. Meeting after meeting, note after note. Stress you don’t get with us.’
Harper looked at Brenda to see some of the wind had been sucked out of her sails. She was thrilled to see it.
‘But we will give you that ten percent of sales and give you a bump on your advance, too,’ Olivia added. ‘It’ll be tight for us, but we really don’t want you to leave us. Your books are what put us on the map.’ It was the classic shit sandwich—compliment, rejection, compliment.
But would Brenda go for the advance bump dangled under her nose? Because that money came out of her sales percentage, ultimately. It was more money, but only if you were greedy and short-sighted.
‘How big of a bump?’ Brenda asked.
Olivia said a number, and Brenda sighed. ‘OK. Fine.’
Harper didn’t let her surprise show. But man, Olivia was quite the salesperson. Harper thought she could learn a thing or two.
‘But I have another demand, and I won’t be swayed on this!’ Brenda burst out. ‘I want the font of my name to be bigger on the covers.’
Olivia smiled as though that was a vital and not at all silly thing to care about. ‘We could work with you on that. Our graphic designer will send you some mock-ups over today.’
Brenda smiled like the cat that got the cream. ‘Great.’
‘So, it sounds like we might be getting somewhere,’ Olivia said with a subtle yet clear conspiratorial look to Harper.
‘It certainly does,’ Harper said, finding herself returning the smile. ‘So, let’s talk about cover approval.’
