Colin flopped into his desk chair. On the way back from Rhonda's office, not one person had wished him good morning. They'd stared in his direction and whispered, but no one had made eye contact. He'd become office enemy number one. Well, at least marketing was on his side. All he had to do was convince Miguel to get involved. He was a private man and treated publicity with a certain reticence, but if Colin could pitch him right, he just might do it.
Of course, he could solicit Gina's help. She obviously had Miguel's confidence and could be very persuasive when she wanted to be. That woman could sell water to a drowning man. But knowing now as he did, that she still had his ring after all these years . . . Tempting though it was, it wouldn't be fair. He'd have to get Miguel onside by himself.
He looked at the phone on his desk and prayed silently to the gods of publishing. Then, for good measure, he prayed to St. Jude before finally dialling the number.
"Hello?" Miguel still had a deep morning voice.
Colin checked the time. It was barely eight thirty. Perhaps he should have waited until mid-morning, but it was too late now. After exchanging pleasantries, he got right down to business. "We need to talk about marketing," he said. "This book will be a huge hit if we can get the right momentum behind it."
"About that . . ."
Colin kept talking. He'd made a mental list of Miguel's possible objections and hoped to diffuse them as quickly as possible. "Your fan base is already substantial, so we can expect a fairly good return out of the gate. But your story is so inspiring we can tap into a much larger audience."
A nondescript murmur came through the phone line and he took it as licence to keep going.
"Our marketing department is working on a full scale media blitz for this — bigger than anything we've ever done."
"I don't know about that."
Resistance was rearing its ugly head.
"We'll start with the talk shows," said Colin. He added a little chuckle to keep the conversation light. "Jimmy Fallon will be our first call."
Silence. Had it not been for a siren wailing in the background, he would have thought the line had gone dead.
"Listen, man," said Miguel at last. "We need to talk." Never, in the history of personal or professional relationships, had the phrase "we need to talk" been a good sign.
Colin let his head sink into his hand. "Ok. Shoot."
"I read the draft you sent over."
"And?"
"It's not what I was expecting."
"How so?"
"You put a lot of personal shit in there." Miguel's offence was actually bordering on anger.
Colin took a deep breath before responding. He wanted to say that Webster defined a memoir as a book about personal shit, but instead he painted over those thoughts with a smile. "And that surprises you?" he asked.
"Well, yeah."
"But you gave me permission to speak with your family and friends."
"If I'd known this is what you were going to do, I'd have refused."
What the fuck did you think I was going to talk to them about? "I can appreciate how difficult it must be for you to see your life in black and white." That much was true. To Colin, the idea of having his private life exposed to the world was downright horrifying. Although for one and a half million, he'd get over it. "These are the kinds of details your fans want to know. This is what will sell the books."
"You're going to have to find another way to sell books."
"I beg your pardon?"
"I have to approve the book before you publish it. Says so in my contract. I'm not approving this."
Colin clenched his jaw so tight he thought he might crack a tooth. "That clause refers to factual errors only. Is anything inaccurate?"
There was a long pause before Miguel replied. "No."
"Ok. We're good then."
"I'll have to call my lawyer —"
"You do that," said Colin. If the guy wanted to play hardball, then so be it. "In the meantime, we've got a marketing plan to put together. As I said, this book has the potential to reach a very wide audience and to do that, you need to play an active role in the promotion."
"No."
"You don't really have much of a choice. As you pointed out, we have a contract." Up to now, Colin had been prepared to do whatever he could to avoid invoking that part of the agreement. He'd wanted to honour Miguel's desire to be out of the public eye. Having his personal life out there for the world to see would be hard enough, but doing endless interviews about it seemed, at the time, like unnecessary salt in the wound. But this squeamishness was too much. Miguel was a big boy. "Think about the kids you're trying to help," he continued. "You need money for your foundation and there won't be a penny in royalties until you've earned out your advance. I'm sure Gina explained that to you."
"She did, yes."
"Well then, roll up your sleeves and get ready for press junkets and talk shows."
"You're a son of a bitch, you know that?"
"You may be right. But I'm damn good at my job and that means you're going to do whatever it takes to sell this book."