“New haircut?” Ron sat opposite her at the
round table.
Emily fingered the loose curls that just
touched her shoulders and feathered back from her face. “Just a few inches
off.”
“Looks good. Now you could almost pass for
twenty instead of twelve.”
“I do have a mirror, you know. The twelve
thing hasn’t been true for at least five years. And you’re the only one who
ever thought so anyhow.”
Ron grinned. “Just make sure to have ID if we
ever go out clubbing again—or, miracle of miracles, you say yes the next time
someone asks you for a date.”
Emily shook her head and concentrated on her
tablet. Ron was just about her best friend, but he was also one of those people
who thought everyone should be as happily married as he was. She couldn’t
convince him she was far too busy and had too much to accomplish to need
anything else. Anyone else. Maybe someday, when she was sure Pam’s future was
secure. Right now, her life was going according to plan—her plan, and that was
all she wanted. No more surprises, no more disappointments.
At 8:59, the senior members of the agency
arrived. Her team—two acquiring agents in addition to Ron, their interns, the
marketing director and his intern, and the budget supervisor.
“Morning, everybody.” Emily received a chorus
of mornings
and one barely audible groan. Clearly, one of the interns was not a morning
person, but that would change if they wanted to make it in the rapidly
transforming and ever-competitive world of literary discovery. Greetings
completed, Emily jumped in.
“Okay, we’ve got three months to the launch
of the summer season—so where are we in terms of ads, promotions, and tours?
Ron—why don’t you start.”
Ron ran down his six forthcoming titles with
reports from the corresponding publishers’ marketing divisions, recaps of
conversations with the authors, and summaries of his agenda for pushing his
titles out to reviewers and bloggers ahead of release. Emily listened but
didn’t take notes. Ron was always on top of his list. For nearly an hour, the
other agents in turn reviewed the forthcoming titles of the authors they
represented, strategies were revised, and projected costs were approved,
amended, and revised.
“We should be in good shape,” Emily said,
scanning the notes she’d made and projecting the timelines for the intersecting
campaigns in her head. “Ron, Terry, you’ve got to keep on top of Heron—they’re
going to let the Emery and Rosen titles fall to the bottom of the list if we
don’t push, especially now that they’ve moved up the release of Baldwin’s
mystery.”