“Aaand . . . that’s all she wrote,” Janice said as she stopped typing. She sat back in the chair with a sigh of relief and rubbed her neck. “Whew!”
“All done?” Christine asked, wide-eyed and excited.
“Yeah. Not bad for three weeks of work, eh? Hey, you like the title? I came up with it myself. It’s pretty self-explanatory. Of course, if you would prefer another, that’s fine, too.”
Christine looked at the monitor and read the following:
Blood Blossom: Memoirs of the Life of Rose Hutchins
Compiled by Christine Hutchins
“Blood Blossom,” Christine said, her eyes glued to the monitor. “‘Blood’ because she’s obviously got blood on her hands. ‘Blossom’ because her name is Rose. I love it. Oh, Janice, you’re simply the best.” Christine hugged her.
“Thank you. You’ve been wonderful, as well.”
“Oh, pooh. Don’t even mention it. Let’s celebrate. I’m gonna bring out the champagne.”
“Sounds good,” Janice said. “There are still a few more things to do.”
“Like what?” Christine asked as she set the chilled bottle of champagne on the counter.
“Look up publishing companies online, either the major publishing houses or self-publishing companies, it doesn’t matter. You want to get your script out to them as soon as possible and have them do everything for you, such as the following: reading evaluation to make sure everything’s copacetic; proofreading and copyediting to check for and correct sentence structure; word choices; and grammatical, spelling and punctuation errors. There’s interior page layout and formatting and cover design. You can print your book in hard cover, paperback, e-book, and/or PDF formats. There are many options for advertising. Then, there are interviews with some online radio stations that specialize in books, writing, and authors. Don’t forget marketing and distribution—make that wide distribution. Also, there are the daytime and nighttime talk shows, book signings and book fairs, virtual book tours, and an option to have the book converted into a screenplay so that it could potentially be made into a movie or a documentary.”
“Excellent! This is great, Janice! You’re gonna really appreciate the payment.” Christine’s eyes twinkled with excitement. “It’s better than what you think.”
Christine pulled two fluted champagne glasses from the cupboard and filled both glasses.
“To Janice,” Christine said.
“Thank you,” Janice said, “and to Christine.”
“Better yet, to Blood Blossom.”
They clinked glasses.
For the next few days, Christine and Janice looked up several publishing companies. They checked out the major publishers and compared them to online self-publishing companies. They jotted down notes and did price comparisons.
Christine decided to settle for one of the major publishers and e-mailed a query letter with a copy of her manuscript. She wanted them to do all the work, especially with advertising, marketing, and wide distribution, plus she had the financial means to afford it.
Janice reeled from shock when Christine paid her fifty thousand dollars in cash and handed her a brown paper bag loaded with jewels and gems.
“Now you know where I got all this from,” Christine said. “Of course, this is strictly between you and me, you understand?”
“I sure do. Thanks again.”