It was a beautiful, sunny, crisp autumn day so I decided to walk over to the King Life offices through the park - hoping to see some colorful leaves still left on the trees - over to Columbus Circle. The offices were located in the sort of building that tourists gawk at with their heads back, trying to see the top of it through the clouds.
“David, glad you could make it, follow me,” Jason Hoffman said, meeting me outside the elevator on the 41st floor. He shook my hand.
“Jason, this is pretty exciting,” I said as we walked.
“Just wait, it’s about to get even more exciting,” he said.
He walked me into a conference room. The walls were all windows and opened directly upon Central Park. We really were in the sky, so high up that I couldn’t see Columbus Circle. I saw only the tops of trees. I was in a giant building of steel and glass, and my view was of this natural haven in the middle of the city. I loved New York. Jason walked me over to the three people seated at the far end of the conference table. They immediately rose to greet me.
“David, I would like you to meet a few people,” Jason pointed around the room, “This is Trinity Campbell, our PR representative. Over here, we have Seth Olive, VP of Marketing, and, finally, this is Christopher Donald, the CEO of King Life.”
I shook hands all around, and then we sat down. “It’s very nice to meet all of you.” I said.
“David,” Christopher jumped right in, “We enjoyed your story and would love you to be part of the King Life team. Everyone in this room thinks that your first novel can be a breakout novel.”
“Well, that is quite a compliment. Thanks.”
“What we are offering for the opportunity to work with a writer of your talent is equally unprecedented. We are prepared to offer you a one-million-dollar advance for your book.”
I nearly choked. Carl had told me that there could be a seven-figure offer, but how could I believe it? This was like winning the lottery. That doesn’t happen! I wasn’t even sure that I had heard Christopher correctly.
I made a fist and brought it up to my mouth, so I could cough into it. Hiding my excitement, mid-cough, I said, “What?!”
Christopher looked at me like he had me reeled in, “I said, we’re offering you a one-million-dollar advance for your book.”
That’s what I thought he had said. One million dollars. I had no idea what to do. Should I take the million and run, or stupidly turn that down and tell them I am going to run a silent auction?
I cleared my throat trying to regain my composure. “Wow, that is a lot of money. A-lot-of-money. But, I have to disclose to you guys that I have been approached by other publishing houses, and it would seem unfair if I didn’t let everyone have an equal shot at purchasing the rights.” I actually got these words out of my mouth.
“David, we are offering you a chance to be with one of the largest publishers in the world. We are prepared to put a lot of marketing dollars behind your book. Not many other publishers can offer you the same,” Christopher said.
“I appreciate that, Mr. Donald, all I am asking for is a chance to see everyone’s proposal. This is a big decision for me. Please, put your proposal in writing and send it to Carl Greenman’s office by tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. I will make a decision within a day, or so. I’m looking forward to seeing it,” I said.
“Well, if that is what we have to do, then we’ll have it at Carl’s office by five tomorrow. David, thank you for taking the time to meet with us and hear us out. I hope you go with King Life in the end.”
And with that Christopher got up out of his seat, walked to where I was now standing, and ushered me out of the room with his hand positioned about an inch from my back. The hand floating behind the back was an old corporate trick. Unbelievable, this world was just as corporate as law. But, this was one corporate atmosphere that I didn’t mind being stifled in.
I met Karen later that night at her place. She looked great, having just come off a plane. She had on a faded pink t-shirt, no bra (it was a good look for her) and pink boy shorts. We had gotten to the point where lying around semi-nude was the norm. Less clothes to remove before jumping into bed - if we even made it out of the living room. We were cuddling and sipping some wine, when Karen turned to me, and asked, “Did you really think I wouldn’t know?”
“About the auction?” I asked.
“No, not about the auction. About Sandy McBride!”
“Oh, that...” shit, I was caught. “That was nothing. Just the tabloids making shit up.”
“Don’t give me that!” Karen said. “If it was nothing why didn’t you say anything?”
“I wasn’t even thinking about it,” I said. “That’s why I didn’t say anything,”
“Bullshit!” Karen yelled. “How long have you been seeing her?”
“I’m not seeing anyone,” I said. “Well, I’m seeing you, right?” Maybe injecting a little
humor into the situation would diffuse this nightmare.
No response from Karen. I was going to try not to dig my own grave.
“I’m not seeing Sandy. I took her to the party, that’s it! Carl invited her, for God’s sake.
I can’t control the paparazzi. I can’t control what they write in the paper.”
“Is that the truth?” Karen was skeptical.
“The whole truth, and nothing but the truth,” I lied.
“There better be nothing going on, or I’m going to kill you.”
“Would you still kill me if I told you I just got offered one million dollars for my story by King Life?”
“That’s old news. I work at The Manhattan, remember?!” Karen joked, informing me that we had successfully concluded our first fight.
“I hope you know what you’re doing,” she added.
“No. I don’t know what the hell I’m doing,” I said. And I wasn’t just referring to the book deal. Lying to Karen probably wasn’t the best idea, either.
“We’ll see, shortly,” Karen hugged me and kissed me on the top of the head. “Everything will work out. You know, I just can’t believe all of this. Everything is happening so quickly. Meeting you again, getting your story published, and now this,” she kissed me softly on the lips, “I’m falling in love with you, David.”
“I already love you,” I said. And I meant it. I had fallen in love with Karen in the short time that I had known her. I couldn’t imagine my life without her. I thought to myself how odd this felt. Karen just made me feel different. I can’t explain it. I just knew it was right.
We had some more wine and talked about the auction. Then we passed out on the couch in each other’s arms. Most people would think that this night wasn’t much of a celebration, but to me it could not have been more perfect.
The next day I arrived at Carl’s by 4:30 p.m. I sauntered into the office and into the conference room, where Carl and Karen were seated next to a woman who I had never met before. Carl stood up and made the introduction. “David, this is Elaine Kirsch, your new agent.”
Elaine was in her late fifties, with black bobbed hair and blue eyes. She had on a smart, fitted, navy-blue pant suit, with a white, button-down blouse on underneath her jacket. Her face had a serious, ‘I mean business’ expression on it that you could read in her eyes behind rimless glasses that were sliding down her nose.
“So nice to meet you, Elaine,” I said shaking her hand. “I can’t really believe this is happening.” I actually was brimming with excitement.
“Bids have been coming in all day. I have seven of them right here in my hand. Two from publishing houses I never even talked to,” Elaine said, equally as excited.
“Did you go through them yet?” I asked, taking a seat at the conference table where Elaine laid out the seven proposals like cards.
Carl chuckled, “Not yet, we are waiting until five. Did you think we’d open them without you?”
“Is there a proposal here from King Life?” I asked.
“We haven’t received a bid from them yet,” Elaine said.
“You haven’t? It’s 4:45pm, what are they waiting for?” I was getting worried.
“What did they say to you yesterday?” Carl asked.
“Well, they offered me one million for the book, and then I told them we were having the auction,” I said, nervously.
“You turned down $1,000,000 for a book! Are you nuts? That’s an insane amount of money for a first-time author!” Carl yelled at me.
“But you said ‘silent auction’ –” I said.
“Who cares what I said? King offered you one million dollars! What’s wrong with you?” Carl said.
Karen looked over at Carl, confused by what she was hearing. Last night, Karen acted as if she knew about the million, but Carl must have just told her that I was going to turn down the King Life offer - not realizing they were going to offer me $1,000,000. Now, it seemed as if her faith in Carl was waning.
“I trust you. I didn’t think that you would steer me wrong, I mean, you’ve been so nice to me since I met you,” I said.
For the first time in his life, perhaps, Carl was rethinking the advice he had given out regarding the publishing industry. I could see the uncertainty in his eyes. He didn’t think King was going to submit a bid.
“Okay, I know it’s getting late, but let’s not jump to any conclusions. I’m sure King is just getting their numbers together. I’m sure they aren’t mad about you turning down their offer. Well, I hope they’re not mad. We’ll just have to wait and see,” Elaine said, trying to calm everyone down.
I liked her.
The clock struck five and there was still no sign of King Life anywhere.
“Well, looks like this is all we’re going to get. Let’s take a look at what we have,” Carl said.
I looked around the room. Carl was hiding his disappointment and his face by shuffling papers. He had possibly just lost me one million dollars. Shit! I knew that was a lot of money! I should have taken it! What the fuck was I thinking?
Elaine was all business. She was laying out the bids in front of her. What did she care? She was going to get a small percentage of whatever I brought in. This was all found money to her. And Karen. Well, she was just staring at me, trying to calm me down with her eyes. It’s not working, Karen!
“All right folks. Let’s open the first proposal,” Elaine said.
Suddenly, a knock at the conference room door. A messenger arrived with a letter.
“I have a letter for David Michaels,” he said.
I stood up. “I’m David.”
“Can you please sign for this,” the messenger, asked as he handed a King Life envelope to me.
“Here it is,” I said, “I never doubted you for a second, Carl.”
“Okay, let’s look at these bids already,” Karen said.
Elaine went methodically through each proposal. The first one was not that great. Mid six figures. Not great? Have I lost my mind? Six figures was a shit-load of money. The second and third were about the same. It’s funny how in the course of twenty four hours your perspective can change. A few days ago, six figures would have been unimaginable. Now, I was looking at it like I was being ripped off. I need to stop thinking like a crazy person. Six figures will change my life forever.
“Can we look at the King Life proposal already?” I pleaded.
“Hold on, we have one more,” Elaine said.
We opened the proposal and it was from Michael S. Publishing. They offered a $1.25 million advance for the book! Holy crap! They also offered guaranteed marketing money bringing the proposal into the mid two-million dollar range. I was floored. Elaine gasped.
“Let’s try to get our composure here. Michael Publishing’s offer is impressive. But let’s continue with the process. You guys ready to open King Life?” Elaine asked, trying to regain her own composure.
Then we opened the King Life envelope. Elaine slowly ripped the manila folder top open. Then she blew the envelope open. (C’mon, Elaine, let’s cut the drama, I thought) She slowly took out the proposal, held it up and showed it to us, brought it back down to eye level, read it, looked up at all of us and then re-read it.
“C’mon, Elaine! What does it say!” I said.
“Well, I don’t believe it. They’re,” she coughed, “ offering a package including promotion
of the book in excess of three million dollars. Including an advance of $1.75 million.”
“YES!” I jumped out of my seat, screaming. “YES!! $1.75 million! I can’t believe it!”
“I don’t believe it! I have never seen a proposal like this for an unknown author! Congratulations!” Elaine was ecstatic.
I ran over and gave Carl a high-five.
“David, this is amazing! Congratulations!” Karen hugged me.
“I never doubted you for a minute Carl. Thank you so much for everything. This is unbelievable!” I said.
Carl joked back, “I hope this means we can have the first few chapters for publication in The Manhattan.”
“Don’t worry about that Carl, we’ll work that into the contract somewhere,” Elaine said.
“I’ll tell you what, I’ll write you stories for the rest of my life for free!” I said.
“I won’t forget that!” Carl laughed.