“What’s that?” Harper asked.
“An offer that hinges on the use of the Ripley name, regardless of what I told her Kyle wants.”
Harper sat up, set her book aside, and pulled her knees into her chest. “You really think Lucinda would go against your wishes?”
“No, it’s not that. I told her it’s all right to tell the publishers who Kyle is. That he’s my son. But also that we both agree he’s going to do this on his own merits. She knows that and she’ll respect it. The publishers, on the other hand, won’t care what Kyle wants.”
“Ah.” Harper frowned as she thought about that. “That kind of sucks. He wrote the book. It’s up to him.”
“It is, but…” Mitch shrugged. “That’s publishing. That’s most business, actually, but publishing is especially egregious when it comes to taking advantage of the producer.”
“You mean the writer.”
“That’s exactly what I mean. Until you get to my level, not that I’m such a big deal—”
“Except you are,” Harper interrupted.
With a quick smile and a nod, he acknowledged her. “There are bigger authors.”
“Not many.”
“The point is, he has no pull. He’s a nobody right now. If he was using my name, it would get him some pull, but he’s still an unknown quantity. One they’ll undoubtedly throw serious money at, but that only gives him less say. The more money they give you, the more they dictate your career.”
“I didn’t know publishing was like that. Kind of reminds me of the movie industry.”
“Similar, I’d imagine.” Mitch glanced at Jack.
Harper studied Mitch’s handsome profile. He was a beautiful man. “You know, when Teddy came out of rehab, no studio wanted to touch him. He’d poisoned a lot of wells. His only real option was independent films for basically scale. It was sort of like he was starting over. But one of those movies,Operation Blackbird, made bank. Overnight, he was a movie star again. He’d taken a risk and that risk paid off.”
“I love that movie.” Mitch turned his attention back to her. “What are you saying?”
“Just wondering if you’ve ever thought about becoming your own publisher. Or if Kyle had. You must know enough about the business to be able to do that.”
“I do. But it’s a tremendous amount of work.”
“What isn’t?”
He let out a short, soft laugh. “Point taken.” He shook his head. “It would be good for him to start out traditionally published. The upside of a big advance is they’ll put some ad dollars behind him, some real marketing. At least they should. It’ll show him what it’s like to work with an editor, meet deadlines, all of the stuff that comes with being an author.”
“And if it’s not a great experience?”
“He can do whatever he likes for his next book. I’ll support him no matter what.”
She was facing Mitch, since he was sitting perpendicular to her. She stretched her legs out until her toes touched his thigh, her knees still bent. “I’ll help him in whatever way he needs.”
“Thanks,” Mitch said. He picked her feet up and put her legs across his lap. “If you can help him brainstorm, help him work out plot points when he needs it, do some beta reading, maybe some light editing, that would go a long way toward supporting him.”
“I’m in. You know that. Whatever you guys need.”
He rubbed one of her feet, working his thumb along the arch of her foot. “You seem to have this innate sense about what works in a book and what doesn’t.” Her eyes closed, but she was still listening. “If you ever want to make a little extra money, I have some friends who would pay for that kind of beta reading. Other authors, I mean.”
Her eyes opened. “You have friends?”
He grinned. “Smart aleck.”
“What kind of money?” It was something that had been on her mind more now that she’d decided to make Hideaway Bay her permanent home. Yes, Mitch paid well. So did her remaining clients. But how long would those other clients stick around without her being there in L.A.?
“Generally, it’s a per word sort of thing. I’d have to check the going rate. Are you interested?”
