Chapter 10
The Contract
Ryan and Amanda languished in bed on Saturday morning. They’d made love when they first woke up, like they did every Saturday morning, and then ate breakfast while they read the morning paper. Amanda lived for the weekends because she had Ryan to herself. She loved to hold him after they’d made love and feel the energy flow between them. It was as if their bodies were being recharged. It felt wonderful. She made them bacon, eggs, toast, and coffee and as she took the first bite out of her toast a thought crept into her mind.
“Oh, shit. I’ve got to fax your father the contract.”
Ryan laughed. “You should have just had him sign it last night.”
“I know. But that would have seemed presumptuous.”
Ryan rolled his eyes. “He wouldn’t have cared.”
Amanda put her breakfast aside and stood up. “It will just take a minute.”
She ran into the second bedroom that she used as an office and rummaged through her backpack. She found the contract and fed it into the fax machine. A few minutes later she was back eating her breakfast.
“So, Dad seemed excited about having his manuscript published,” Ryan noted.
“Not your mother, though. She seemed a bit upset.”
“Well, having everybody read about her sticking cyanide up her vagina could be a bit embarrassing.”
Amanda sighed. “True, but they were so much in love. It’s not often you find a commitment that strong.”
Ryan raised his eyebrows and decided it was time to change the subject before Amanda started asking him about his commitment. It wasn’t that he didn’t love Amanda, but he personally thought his father was crazy to commit to dying rather than living without Erica.
“So, now that you have a contract, what are you going to do?”
Amanda sighed. “Hope like hell I get a few editors interested. Fortunately, Brenda can get me in to see them. If I were on my own it would take years to develop those kind of relationships.”
Amanda didn’t hear from Rich about any problems with the contract she had faxed, so promptly at two p.m. she and Ryan showed up with the original to be signed. Erica was conspicuously absent, apparently deciding she needed to go grocery shopping. Rich showed them into the dining room.
“So, I looked over the contract and didn’t see anything too onerous.”
Amanda smiled. “No, it’s the standard literary contract that all the AAR reps use.” Amanda pulled out the contract and handed it to Rich. He signed it and gave it back to her.
“Fantastic. I’ll keep you posted on how it goes. It may take a while. Editors are not known for their speed in reading submissions. We probably won’t get any feedback for ninety days or more.”
“Well, I’ve waited this long. I guess a few more months won’t matter.”
They got up.
“Oh,” Amanda said. “I need to put these yearbooks back in your attic. I’ll just be a moment.”
“That’s all right,” Rich said. “I’ll put them back.”
“No, no. I took them out, I’ll put them back,” Amanda said, rushing out of the room.
Amanda heard Rich ask, “So, are you ready to take the bar?”
“Ready as ever, I guess,” Ryan replied.
The bar is the last of my worries, Amanda thought as she pulled down the attic staircase and climbed up. Putting the yearbooks and envelope back where she had found them, she thought about the copy she’d made at Kinko’s and wondered if there was any way she could convince Rich to publish Erica’s version of the story, but she knew that was unlikely. A few moments later she was back downstairs. Ryan was inching toward the door because they were on the way to Lake Lavon for some water-skiing. They said their good-byes and left.
On Monday Amanda found Brenda in her office drinking a cup of coffee and poring over a manuscript. She gently knocked on the door, contract in hand.
“Here it is,” Amanda proclaimed proudly.
Brenda looked up and smiled. “Oh. Wonderful. Come in. Sit down.”
Amanda handed her the contract and then took a seat. Brenda flipped to the signature page and nodded. “Wonderful. So now the fun begins.”
“So, who do you think we should show it to first?”
“Oh, I’ve already promised it to Sheila Samson at Thorn. She’s dying to see it. Call her and maybe she’ll have lunch with you.”
“She’s in New York,” Amanda noted.
“Right. You’ll have to grab an early flight. It will be a great experience for you.”
Amanda could hardly contain her excitement. On her very first day on the job she would be calling one of the most influential editors in the publishing industry to set up a meeting! Rich was right about knowing the right people. She was on the fast track to success. She could just feel it.
“Okay. I’ll go give her a call and set it up.”
Amanda went back to her office and began reading the manuscript again. She’d have to know it inside and out if she was going to pitch it to Sheila Samson. As she read, she corrected a few typos and began noting portions that might need some rewrite. In the afternoon when she was done, she took it to Julie.
“We’ll need this manuscript put in electronic format and sent to a proofreader.”
Julie took the manuscript and set it down. “Okay, it will take a few days.”
“Can they put a rush on it?” Amanda asked.
“Yes, but it’s a twenty percent markup on expedited service.”
“How much will that be?”
“Probably a couple hundred bucks,” Julie replied.
“That’s okay. I’ll spring for it.”
Julie nodded. “Okay. I’ll take care of it.”
Amanda figured they probably wouldn’t get the manuscript back in time for her to go to New York that week, so she called Sheila Samson and made an appointment for the following Tuesday, since the bar exam was on Monday. While she was waiting for her meeting she worked on a synopsis of the story and a short pitch. There were so many manuscripts being peddled to the big publishers that it was critical to be able to give a two-minute pitch that would pique the interest of the listener. Once an editor was interested, then she’d have more time to discuss the details of the book. Because of Brenda’s relationship with Sheila Samson she probably didn’t need a pitch, but she would need it later, so it wouldn’t hurt to be prepared.
Over the weekend she saw Rich and told him she was going to New York to discuss his book with Thorn Andrews Publishing. He was impressed and excited to hear Amanda was already talking to a publisher. Erica was less enthusiastic but seemed resigned to having the book published.
Amanda and Ryan took the bar exam on Monday, and when it was over Amanda was worried she hadn’t done well, since all she could think about was her Tuesday meeting. The next day Amanda took a six a.m. flight to New York and caught a taxi to the Thorn offices in Manhattan. When she walked into Sampson’s office thirty minutes before her appointment, Sampson was in a meeting.
“That’s fine. I’m early,” Amanda said to the receptionist. “Is there somewhere I can freshen up?”
She followed the receptionist’s directions and found the ladies’ room without difficulty. Once inside she took a long look at herself in the mirror. Her hands shook as she freshened her makeup. She hadn’t remembered ever being so nervous. When she was done she took a few deep breaths to try to relax. Finally, when she felt her heart rate had subsided a bit, she went back to the waiting room.
“Ms. Samson just got out of her meeting,” the receptionist advised. “She said she’d join you in two minutes.”
Amanda nodded and looked around the plush office. As she was waiting a tall young man walked up.
“Hi. You must be Amanda,” the tall man said.
Amanda stood up. “Yes. That’s me.”
The tall man extended his hand. “I’m Robert Todd, VP of marketing. I’m going to join you for lunch, if you don’t mind.”
Ama
nda shook his hand tentatively. “Not at all. That would be great.”
Robert smiled wryly. “So, this is your first placement?”
“Yes, I just started working for the Colson Agency last week.”
“Well, I hope Rich Coleman is a good writer. I know the story was quite a sensation at the time.”
“He is good. I’m going to encourage him to do some more writing.”
A middle-aged woman in an expensive-looking suit walked up. She had a stern, all-business look on her face that filled Amanda with anxiety.
“So, you found Amanda, I see,” Sheila said.
“Yes,” Robert said. “I was just telling how hopeful we were that Rich Coleman was a good writer.”
Sheila nodded. “Yes, I’m anxious to read the manuscript and find out. Let’s get some lunch. I want to hear all about how you managed to get him signed.”
They left and walked several blocks to a busy Italian restaurant. The waiter took them to a booth in the corner. Amanda drew in a breath of the wonderful aroma of fresh bread being baked and smiled at Sheila.
“So, Brenda has told me a lot about you,” Sheila said.
“Really?”
“Yes, she has high hopes for you and, so far, you haven’t disappointed her.”
“Well, I’m afraid I got lucky with Rich Coleman. I’m dating his son.”
“How did you find out he had a manuscript? That was a pretty well-kept secret.”
“Ryan ran across it in the attic. He mentioned it to me when I told him I wanted to be a literary agent.”
“Hmm. Lucky for you,” Robert said. “Does Rich like to travel? We’ll want to do a national book tour, of course.”
“Yes, I’ve mentioned that to him. He’s fine with it.”
“What about his wife?” Sheila said. “Would she go with him?”
“No. She said to keep her out of it.”
“Too bad,” Robert said. “She’d be a big draw.”
Amanda shrugged. “I’ll talk to her some more, but she was pretty adamant about it.”
“So, I assume you brought the manuscript?” Sheila asked.
“Yes,” Amanda said, grabbing her backpack. She took out the manuscript box and handed it to her. Sheila took it and set it next to her. “There’s a summary and blurb in there, too.”
“Good. I’ll read it tonight and call you tomorrow.”
“Can I read the blurb now?” Robert asked. “I kind of know the story, but I was very young when it all happened.”
“I’ve got it memorized,” Amanda said. “ ‘Richard Coleman has made partner in his law firm in record time. Despite his success there is little joy in his life, having recently lost his wife in a tragic car accident. It’s been a year now and he’s tried to adjust to the loneliness and emptiness in his life with little success. Then he meets Erica Fox, the seventeen-year-old daughter of a high roller, Franklin Fox. Mr. Fox is divorced and needs someone to be trustee over Erica’s affairs should he die. After eliminating all potential candidates for the job, Rich ends up being recruited for the task. When Franklin dies just weeks later, Rich assumes his duties but soon is drawn into an illicit affair with Erica, his ward. When they are discovered by a meddlesome aunt she threatens to blow the whistle on them and have Rich thrown in jail. When she is later found dead, the two lovers are prime suspects. Eventually Erica is charged with the murder, but Rich doesn’t think she did it and sets out to prove it. What he doesn’t realize is how perilous the search for the truth will be. . . .’ ”
Brenda smiled. Robert nodded. “Very good. You’ve got my attention,” Robert said.
“It may a bit long,” Sheila noted, “and it doesn’t mention the death pact. We’ll work on it.”
After lunch Robert drove Amanda to the airport. He told her the fact that he’d been called in at this early stage was a good sign. It meant management was very interested in the concept even without actually reading the manuscript.
“If they don’t like the manuscript, they may hire a ghostwriter to edit it to make it commercial,” he told her.
Amanda didn’t like that idea. That would delay the project for a year or more, and she was hoping to have the book in print in a year.
“Right. I’ve read a lot of books and gone through a lot of manuscripts, and I really don’t think you’ll need to do much editing. Rich is a lawyer and a good writer.”
“I’m sure he is, but legal writing and creative writing are very different.”
“But this is true crime,” Amanda argued.
“You still have to make it read like a novel so people will be entertained.”
“Well, let me know what you think after you read it,” she said as they pulled up to the curb at LaGuardia Airport.
She got out, thanked Robert for lunch, and went straight to her gate. Her flight wasn’t for an hour, so she pulled out another manuscript she had been working on and began reading. After about five minutes her mind began to wander. She wondered what Sheila would think of the manuscript. Sheila hadn’t taken her personally to the airport because she had said she wanted to start reading it. By the time Amanda got back to Dallas, Amanda knew Sheila would probably have it read if she was as fast a reader as Brenda, which was a safe bet. She wondered how long Sheila would make her wait before she called back. Usually, you had to give an editor at least a month’s exclusive look at a manuscript. The publishing business moved at a snail’s pace. Amanda cringed at the thought of having to wait that long. She wondered if she had the patience to be a literary agent.
She sighed. The secret, she knew, was to get a lot of projects in the pipeline so you would always have something coming to fruition to keep your spirits up and your pocketbook full. She thought about the manuscript from the slush pile she was reading. It had started off strong but began to drag in the middle. She knew as soon as she lost interest in a manuscript it was time to cast it aside and start a new one, but she also knew she had been distracted and shouldn’t let her distraction affect the hopes and dreams of a would-be author who had put hundreds of hours and his or her heart and soul into a manuscript.
She thought about Rich and wondered how he would feel seeing his book finally published. Would he be as excited about it as she was, or would reliving the pain and sorrow of the past detract from the exhilaration an author would usually feel? Would Erica’s discomfort ruin it for him, or would she come around when the book was released and the royalties started coming in?
Amanda didn’t have to wait long for an answer from Sheila. On Friday Brenda got a telephone call. Sheila was faxing a proposed contract and wanted them to consider it over the weekend and get back with her on Monday. Amanda read the contract as it came off the fax. It was the standard Thorn contract, but a couple of provisions bothered her. Along with a ten-city book tour, appearances at Bouchercon and Book Expo in LA, Rich had to commit to two late-night talk shows. The kicker was Erica had to appear with Rich for the TV shows and the advance was only $50,000. That would mean her commission would only be $3,750 after she gave half of it to the Colson Agency.
Although Amanda was disappointed, Brenda told her not to lose any sleep over it because it was only an opening offer. But Amanda was fearful that if Erica wouldn’t agree to do the talk shows, there wouldn’t be a contract at all. When she and Ryan went over to his parents’ house that night her stomach was in knots. They sat at the kitchen table and Erica served them iced tea and brownies.
“So, you’ve got an offer already,” Rich said excitedly. “That was fast.”
“Yes, but it’s just an opening offer, so don’t be disappointed. Brenda thinks we can do better,” Amanda explained as she handed Rich the contract.
Rich began reading to himself. “A hardback edition tentatively scheduled to be released six months from contract execution,” he summarized. “That’s good. A $50,000 advance, ah hah, book tour, TV shows—hmm.”
“What’s wrong?” Erica asked.
“Ah. They want both of us to be guests on
two talk shows to be determined at a later date.”
Erica stiffened. “No. No way. I told you to leave me out of it. I’m not going on TV to be humiliated.”
Rich sighed and looked at Amanda. “Didn’t you tell them Erica wouldn’t make appearances?”
Amanda shrugged. “Well, when you meet an editor you don’t want to start dictating terms before they read the manuscript. We’ll just have to tell her tomorrow. Hopefully it won’t be a deal breaker.”
“You’re not going to make much of a commission on that advance,” Ryan noted.
“I know. But hopefully the book will do well and there will be royalties down the road.”
“Well, aside from Erica’s participation I don’t see anything wrong with the contract, if you’re happy with it.”
“The advance is a little light, but like I said, we can make a counteroffer. I’m going to talk to Brenda about it tomorrow and then we’ll probably get Sheila on the phone to discuss it.”
“Well, I’m not doing this for the money,” Rich said. “Erica and I have done very well and our lives are not driven by financial gain anymore. Actually, we’re doing it to help you out and, I’ll admit, to gratify my ego a bit.”
They all laughed.
“You know,” Rich continued, “everybody thinks they have a novel or story to tell the world, but only a very few have the opportunity to actually get it out there. You’re giving me that opportunity and I appreciate it. And if it helps kick-start your new career, well, that’s just a bonus.”
“Thank you, Mr. Coleman,” Amanda said appreciatively. She was glad Rich was being so amenable but disappointed Erica hadn’t even considered appearing on the talk shows. She could have understood her position if Erica’s version of the story was being told, but it wasn’t.
The next Monday she and Brenda got Sheila on the telephone to continue negotiations. Brenda took the lead.
“Sheila. We took the contract to our client and he’s happy with most of it, but there are a few issues.”
“Like what?” Sheila asked.
“Well, of course, that’s not a spectacular advance. What kind of a print run were you thinking of?”
“Well, it’s difficult to predict the market these days with so many independents going out of business and even the chains in trouble. This economy hasn’t helped, either. We would probably start off modestly with maybe twenty thousand copies. If it does well we can get a second printing out fairly quickly.”
“That small a run, huh?”
“Yes, like I said, the book business is in turmoil right now. We’re taking quite a risk since this is kind of an old story and not of any historical consequence.”
“Well, a bigger problem is Mrs. Coleman’s participation. She doesn’t want to do the talk shows. She’s not crazy about the media dragging up all the sordid details of her past, but she can insulate herself from all that by not going out or watching TV for a few months.”
Sheila sighed. “Well, I’m afraid that’s a deal killer. The only way I could talk my manager into a contract offer on this deal was if Erica and Rich did the talk shows together. We contacted producers at The Tonight Show and The Late Late Show, and they liked the joint appearance idea, but weren’t so sure if just Rich appeared alone. The idea of two lovers willing to die rather than live without the other is appealing, but without Erica there to explain her point of view it wouldn’t work.”
“So, you’re saying if Erica doesn’t appear there is no deal at all?” Amanda asked.
“Yes, I’m afraid so, but I’ll tell you what we can do. We can increase the advance to $75,000. Maybe that will help convince Erica to get on board.”
Amanda didn’t say anything.
“Okay. We’ll take that to our client and get back with you, Sheila. Thanks for getting on this so quickly.”
“No problem. Hope you can talk some sense into Erica.”
“Me, too,” Brenda agreed.
Amanda was sick after the telephone call. She knew there was no chance Erica would change her mind. She had made that perfectly clear. It was so frustrating to be on the verge of her first placement and have it blow up in her face. She began to get angry. Why was Erica being so difficult? Would it kill her to be on a talk show? Most people would give their first child to be a guest on Jay Leno or Craig Ferguson. But not her future mother-in-law—the bitch.
She couldn’t handle another face-to-face with Rich and Erica, so she called Rich and told him about Thorn’s sweetening of the offer. He told Amanda he didn’t think Erica would budge but that he’d try one more time to get her to change her mind. A few hours later Rich called her back with what he said was good news.
“What do you mean?” Amanda asked.
“Erica says she’ll do one talk show, and that’s it.”
A flood of hope washed over Amanda. She wondered if that would be good enough. She prayed it would. The next day she and Brenda got Sheila on the phone again.
“So, Erica has agreed to do one talk show,” Brenda said. “Do you think your people can live with that?”
“I don’t know, Brenda. They were pretty adamant about two shows. You get a gold mine of publicity from those talk shows. Jay Leno has over three million viewers and Craig Ferguson has a million and a half. You can’t turn down that type of publicity. Unfortunately, they both said having Erica there was the main draw. After all, she was the one who went on trial for murder and almost died from the cyanide poisoning.”
After the telephone call Amanda stormed back to her office. She was so angry and frustrated she could scream. How could this be happening to her? It wasn’t fair. She was on the verge of tears when an idea came to her. She knew how to close the deal, but she’d have to be very discreet about it. She got back on the telephone with Sheila, this time alone, and made one last pitch. She made Sheila promise not to tell Brenda what was going on. Sheila said she’d run the idea past her bosses and give Brenda a call if it was a go. An hour later Brenda came into Amanda’s office with a puzzled look on her face.
“What’s up?” Amanda asked expectantly.
“Ah. I just got a strange call from Sheila. They’ve reconsidered and will do the deal—$75,000 and just one talk show appearance.”
Amanda feigned surprise. “Oh, really?”
“Yes. And they decided to do an initial fifty-thousand-print run.”
“Seriously?” Amanda said, swelling with pride. “That’s wonderful.”