me included.” She deliberately left out the mention of her brother. This was their conversation and it didn’t belong to him. Not now. She continued on without distraction or small talk, trying to keep the conversation on track, as there was some work for Carnegie to do, that would help her secure an even more lucrative deal than the one being offered now.
“Carnegie, I recognize this is your first book, although, is there another one you have been working on? Have you thought about writing two? Often we can pull a better deal if there is more than one book on the table.”
There was silence for a moment. Writing another book hadn’t even been a consideration for her.
“Well, I hadn’t really thought about it. What kind of book do you want? I mean…I guess I could give it a go.” She was in shock, trying to come up with an idea.
“Well, have a think about it. See if you can even come up with an outline, you’re not expected to have a complete manuscript ready by next week, just a concept. If you can do that, we can get you an advance and a time frame to write it.”
“Do I get anything for the one I have written?” She asked innocently.
“Oh yes. You get a quite a lot actually. The figure isn’t set of course and as I was saying, offering another book at the same time will raise the bar on the final offer, although it is somewhere around the one hundred mark at the moment. That’s to you upfront.”
It took a while for her to read between that line. Was that one hundred dollars, or one hundred thousand dollars? Or was it Pounds?
“So, somewhere around one hundred what?” She asked with a dry mouth and with a sudden shake in the hand holding the phone.
“Oh…around one hundred thousand pounds. Sorry, I wasn’t very clear was I.”
There was no answer…Carnegie was unable to answer.
“Carnegie? Are you still there?” Katalie thought for a moment the phone had dropped out.
“Oh…Sorry. Yep. I’m still here.” She was only just there, working hard not to faint. The blood in her body was rushing to her head.
“So…What do you think? Any chance you could come up with a theory for a second book?”
“And the second book, it brings in more money on top of that amount?” She asked again, wondering if this was way too easy. Also wondering how she missed this for so long as a career option.
“Yes it will, not as much since you’re not offering a complete manuscript, but enough to allow you an income to continue writing uninterrupted.” Katalie did this every day, none of it was remarkable to her so it rolled off her tongue as easily as water over a rock.
“I’m sure I have a few ideas I could put together in the next week. I’ll do my best Katalie, and thank you…For the call.” It wasn’t that she was deliberately cutting it short. She just needed to get off the phone, sit down and allow it all to sink in.
“It was great to finally catch up with you Carnegie. We will talk again soon, in the mean time I’ll send you an outline of the offer and an email that will explain how it all works.”
“That would be great. Talk to you soon Katalie, bye…and thanks!”
Carnegie put the phone down, sat on her bed and burst into laughter. For the first time in her adult life, she’d just earned an income and it was by no means a small one. All of the financial pressure suffered from that messy divorce lifted… in the space of one phone call.
“Paddington, here we come.” She muttered to herself under her breath, happy now to continue the dissection of her outdated wardrobe. It didn’t matter anymore. She was about to go on a spending spree, and felt the excitement of it. Once, shopping held no reward. It was easy and money was no object. When the kids got home it was the first thing she was going to do, give them free reign to shop and make their absolute own decision on what they were going to buy. Simply, because she could.
She danced and imagined her way through the rest of her
“Carnegie, I recognize this is your first book, although, is there another one you have been working on? Have you thought about writing two? Often we can pull a better deal if there is more than one book on the table.”
There was silence for a moment. Writing another book hadn’t even been a consideration for her.
“Well, I hadn’t really thought about it. What kind of book do you want? I mean…I guess I could give it a go.” She was in shock, trying to come up with an idea.
“Well, have a think about it. See if you can even come up with an outline, you’re not expected to have a complete manuscript ready by next week, just a concept. If you can do that, we can get you an advance and a time frame to write it.”
“Do I get anything for the one I have written?” She asked innocently.
“Oh yes. You get a quite a lot actually. The figure isn’t set of course and as I was saying, offering another book at the same time will raise the bar on the final offer, although it is somewhere around the one hundred mark at the moment. That’s to you upfront.”
It took a while for her to read between that line. Was that one hundred dollars, or one hundred thousand dollars? Or was it Pounds?
“So, somewhere around one hundred what?” She asked with a dry mouth and with a sudden shake in the hand holding the phone.
“Oh…around one hundred thousand pounds. Sorry, I wasn’t very clear was I.”
There was no answer…Carnegie was unable to answer.
“Carnegie? Are you still there?” Katalie thought for a moment the phone had dropped out.
“Oh…Sorry. Yep. I’m still here.” She was only just there, working hard not to faint. The blood in her body was rushing to her head.
“So…What do you think? Any chance you could come up with a theory for a second book?”
“And the second book, it brings in more money on top of that amount?” She asked again, wondering if this was way too easy. Also wondering how she missed this for so long as a career option.
“Yes it will, not as much since you’re not offering a complete manuscript, but enough to allow you an income to continue writing uninterrupted.” Katalie did this every day, none of it was remarkable to her so it rolled off her tongue as easily as water over a rock.
“I’m sure I have a few ideas I could put together in the next week. I’ll do my best Katalie, and thank you…For the call.” It wasn’t that she was deliberately cutting it short. She just needed to get off the phone, sit down and allow it all to sink in.
“It was great to finally catch up with you Carnegie. We will talk again soon, in the mean time I’ll send you an outline of the offer and an email that will explain how it all works.”
“That would be great. Talk to you soon Katalie, bye…and thanks!”
Carnegie put the phone down, sat on her bed and burst into laughter. For the first time in her adult life, she’d just earned an income and it was by no means a small one. All of the financial pressure suffered from that messy divorce lifted… in the space of one phone call.
“Paddington, here we come.” She muttered to herself under her breath, happy now to continue the dissection of her outdated wardrobe. It didn’t matter anymore. She was about to go on a spending spree, and felt the excitement of it. Once, shopping held no reward. It was easy and money was no object. When the kids got home it was the first thing she was going to do, give them free reign to shop and make their absolute own decision on what they were going to buy. Simply, because she could.
She danced and imagined her way through the rest of her
Similar Books
