"Cady, Windsor Books wants 300 sets of Fifty Shades of Grey, 400 sets of Pirates of the Caribbean, and 2,000 copies of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Carroll Books wants 500 sets of Fifty Shades of Grey, 300 sets of Pirates of the Caribbean, and 3,500 copies of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Forest Cabin Books wants..."
As her assistant kept laying fresh purchase orders on her desk one after another, Thorn Bird Publishing's marketing director, Cady Brook, felt both miserable and delighted at the same time.
Miserable because she had already worked overtime for three straight days, and judging by the current sales frenzy, there was no way those late nights were ending anytime soon.
Delighted because the company's numbers were phenomenal. No, phenomenal was too mild. They were printing money. And as a senior executive, that meant her year end bonus was going to be glorious.
Still, Cady had no time to daydream about bonuses.
After quickly tallying the latest batch of orders, she jumped to her feet, grabbed the paperwork, and hurried straight to CEO Christopher Ritt's office.
"Boss, these just came in. Total orders are now 4,500 sets of Fifty Shades of Grey, 3,000 sets of Pirates of the Caribbean, and 11,000 copies of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them!"
"Another batch?" Christopher looked up. "If I'm not mistaken, that makes seven additional order waves today alone, doesn't it?"
Cady nodded.
"So far we've received orders for 189,000 sets of Fifty Shades of Grey, 107,000 sets of Pirates of the Caribbean, and 283,000 copies of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Fifty Shades is growing the fastest. Demand has already hit more than four times the initial shipment."
Christopher took the order summary from her, and for a moment his expression turned deeply complicated.
Out of the three titles, the one he had believed in least was Fifty Shades of Grey.
And now it was the one exploding the fastest.
True, Fantastic Beasts was still selling more overall, but that book had the enormous Harry Potter halo working in its favor. Fifty Shades had no such tailwind. It had punched its way up on pure market momentum.
That thought brought Bruce back to mind.
In all their discussions, Bruce had repeatedly said that Fifty Shades was the book he believed in most. He had even turned down the easy path of signing with major publishers and instead borrowed money to set up Thorn Bird Publishing just so he could publish it himself.
At the time, Christopher had privately thought the whole decision was absurd. He had kept his opinion mostly to himself out of courtesy and self interest, but the truth was the same as it had been for all the publishers who had rejected the manuscript.
Now the market had slapped them all in the face.
Hard.
Fortunately, he had become a partner in Thorn Bird Publishing instead of standing on the outside like a fool.
He let out a breath.
Thank God for that.
"What did you say, Boss?" Cady asked.
"Nothing." Christopher set the order sheet down. "Have you already spoken to the printers about another run?"
"Yes. We've ordered an additional 300,000 sets of Fifty Shades, 300,000 sets of Pirates, and 400,000 more copies of Fantastic Beasts."
Christopher thought for a moment.
"Double it."
Cady blinked.
"Double it? Isn't that too much?"
Christopher shook his head.
"All three titles have sold more than 180,000 in a single week. The pace is only going to get stronger from here. A million is not the ceiling."
Thinking about the phones in her department ringing nonstop for the last three days, Cady found herself nodding.
He was right.
"Oh, and make all distributors settle their revenue shares for this week immediately. Also tell them that from now on, anyone who wants stock has to pay a 30 percent deposit up front."
Cady hesitated.
"The revenue split is fine, but 30 percent up front... won't that be too high?"
Christopher smiled.
"No. Not now. This is a seller's market."
That answered the question.
"I understand."
"Go handle it. And one more thing." Christopher paused. "Everyone in marketing gets double bonus this month."
Cady's eyes lit up instantly.
"That's fantastic. I'll thank them on your behalf, Boss."
Christopher waved her off.
After she left, he picked up the phone on his desk.
"Hello?"
The confident young voice on the other end came through clearly.
"Bruce, I've got good news. All three of your books are selling like crazy. Fantastic Beasts is leading the pack with 348,000 copies sold in its first week. Pirates of the Caribbean is next with 128,000 sets. Fifty Shades is the lowest for now at 72,900 copies, but it's growing the fastest. We expect sales next week to jump by at least four times. Bruce, on this year's Forbes list of wealthy authors, your name is going to rank above Rowling's. You've hit it big."
Bruce smiled and set down the file in his hand.
"Christopher, we've both hit it big. Thorn Bird has your 25 percent too."
Christopher laughed.
"That's true. The more I think about it, the luckier I feel that I listened to you and became a partner. Otherwise I'd be just like the idiots at Bloomsbury and Random House right now, banging my head against the wall in regret. Honestly, I'd pay good money to see the faces of the people who turned down Fifty Shades, Pirates, and Fantastic Beasts once they see these sales numbers."
He paused, then added with a hint of curiosity,
"Bruce, why do you sound so calm? Aren't you excited at all?"
Bruce curled his lip slightly.
He had expected this all along. What exactly was there to be shocked about?
"Christopher, not everyone wears excitement on their face. Believe me, I'm very pleased." He shifted the subject. "How's the rollout for National Treasure coming?"
"Distribution is being set up now. The first printing is 500,000 copies this time. We're not going to repeat the Fifty Shades shortage."
"Good. And did you get the package I sent?"
"The package?" Christopher sounded puzzled. "What package?"
"The manuscript I just finished. Paranormal Activity."
There was a beat of silence.
"You wrote another one?"
The disbelief in Christopher's voice was almost comical.
Only twenty days had passed since Bruce had handed him National Treasure.
"Just finished it. Around 210,000 words."
Bruce said it casually.
In truth, with the outline already in his head and most of the key scenes mapped out from memory, 10,000 words a day was not even especially fast.
To Christopher, though, it sounded almost obscene.
There was admiration in it too, of course, but there was definitely a trace of How are you even real in there.
"Bruce, I'm running out of ways to describe you," Christopher said at last. "But I can say this with confidence. You may become the most prolific and highest earning author America has ever seen."
Bruce laughed softly.
"Thanks for the encouragement. I'll do my best to live up to it. But there's something you should start thinking about now."
"What?"
"Thorn Bird Publishing can't stay boxed inside the American market forever, even if it is the biggest."
Christopher chuckled.
"Relax. I've already got people in talks with Maxon Publishing in the UK."
"Maxon's not bad. But if there's any way to do it, Bloomsbury would be better."
Bruce knew exactly how valuable the Harry Potter tail would remain for years to come.
Christopher sighed.
"Bloomsbury won't be easy. Nigel Newton is stubborn."
"Everybody's stubborn until the price gets high enough. And unless I'm mistaken, after the company went public, Nigel Newton's stake fell below 30 percent."
Christopher considered that.
"I'll find a chance to speak with him."
Bruce nodded.
"Good. But take your time. Bloomsbury is much bigger than we are, and without Harry Potter's future rights, they're the ones with more to worry about, not us."
"Understood."
"And Britain matters," Bruce continued, "but this year Thorn Bird's expansion can't stop there. Canada, Australia, New Zealand, every major English language book market with real purchasing power should be on our list."
Christopher laughed.
"Your appetite is always ridiculous."
Bruce smiled.
"Ridiculous appetites and impossible goals are what keep my creativity alive."
Christopher gave a helpless little sigh.
"All right. For the sake of your creativity and the company's profit, I'll do my best to make it happen."
"I'll be waiting for good news."
They exchanged a few more words, then Bruce hung up.
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