For the next few minutes, he talked about the tasks he’d require her to do, encompassing the social media work and email correspondence load he needed taken off his hands. Pleased when she understood the gist of it at a detailed level, he grabbed his laptop and opened Facebook to show her the pile of notifications that had arrived in only the last few hours.
“With my usual assistant out of commission, I spent time yesterday evening dealing with the backlog,” Travis said. “But it took a long time, and that’s time I don’t have. I have a guidance document I put together for my assistant, giving her a sense of the tone and style I need when she interacts with fans online or via email, as well as some approved responses to the sorts of questions that come up. Readers typically want to know when the next book is coming out, what the title is, what it’s likely to be about, and often have lots of questions about other things, too. Are there any plans to make the books into a television series or films? Who would I want to play the role of Maura Shaw? Are certain places featured in the books real or did I make them up? And so on and so on.”
“I saw that for myself when I looked through your author social media profiles last night,” Courtney said. “Some questions came up again and again, and others had already been answered before. Some were specific, some were general.”
Travis nodded. “I’m very lucky to have such an engaged group of readers, and it’s important to me that I know they’re getting courteous and accurate answers to their questions, even if they’ve already been asked before. It’s not the reader’s job to trawl through reams of social media posts looking for the information they want. The document I prepared, and which I keep updated, usually helps my assistant answer about ninety per cent of the questions that pop up.”
He opened the document he’d put together and watched as Courtney scanned the text. Sitting beside her now on the sofa, instead of opposite, while he used the laptop and tilted the screen towards her, he saw the long line of her neck as she studied the document and the way her glossy ponytail fell across her shoulder. Her eyes, deep in concentration, were utterly absorbed.
“I’m sure I can get to grips with this work,” she said after a moment, her eyes still on the screen. “From what I looked at last night, I was able to pick out questions and answers that cropped up again and again, and I think I noticed where your assistant perhaps went out on a limb and used her initiative to answer questions that were more unusual. As she’s worked for you for a while, she obviously has more of a knack for that than I would have, but I’d be glad to put in extra time to make sure I get things right. I wouldn’t bother you with questions unless I really had to.”
Travis almost opened his mouth to say it wouldn’t be a bother to talk to her about any of this. He would enjoy talking to her, just as he was enjoying it right now. It might be a job interview, and it might only have lasted fifteen minutes so far, but he liked sitting here next to Courtney, talking, explaining, and showing her the ropes.
The whole point of having an assistant was that they lessened his load and didn’t bother him with things they ought to be able to work out by themselves. But if he hired Courtney, he couldn’t imagine being ‘bothered’ by her questions at all.
“It might take a few hours until you find your way,” Travis said. “But if you think you can handle the work, I’d like to hire you and see how it goes.”
Courtney’s eyes widened in surprise. “Really?”
“Really,” he laughed.
“I thought my complete lack of experience would put you off. I know you need someone to get stuck in straight away.”
“And I don’t doubt that’s exactly what you’ll do. In all honestly, this work isn’t difficult. But it does need someone sensible and organised to deal with it. I think you’re that person. I could spend time searching for another assistant who’s already got more experience in this specific area of publishing and author marketing, but the truth is, I don’t have time for that right now. I need to finish writing my book.”
Courtney’s smile stretched wider with every word he said. “I won’t let you down, Travis.”
“There is one thing, though. When we spoke on the phone yesterday, you seemed to think this would be a job you’d comehereto do.” He gestured to the room, to the house. “But this is a virtual assistant role, and everyone I’ve ever hired in the past to do this job has worked freelance from their own home, or their favourite café, or whatever.”
“Oh, right.” She seemed to give this some thought. “That makes sense.”
But her expression was uncertain. As he knew she’d never done this sort of work before, he guessed he ought to fill in a few more blanks about the nuts and bolts.
“I’ll give you the log in details for my social media accounts and add administrative rights on my systems so you can take care of this work. As you’re new to this and probably need time to find your way, I’m happy to hire you for ten hours a week to start with, which is a couple more than my current assistant, but if that gives you the time you need to get up to speed, then that’s what matters.”
“Right, uh-uh.”
“Once you’re logged in, it’s just a matter of getting stuck into dealing with the work, as we discussed. Liking and acknowledging comments and responding as necessary on socialmedia. Sending quick email replies to readers who get in touch and answering any questions or supplying any info they need. Any emails that need my direct attention, we just filter them through the system like this.”
He flicked through to the email platform and showed her the easy work flow already set up there.
“Yes, I see.”
There was an edge to her voice, though, that made it clear that something was wrong.
“Does this all sound okay?” Travis asked.
“Uh, yes, it all sounds fine. It’s just that…” She looked embarrassed as she added, “I completely understand the whole ‘freelance work-from-home’ thing, obviously. But, the thing is… I don’t have a computer to do any of this work on.”
“Ah, okay.” Travis frowned, not expecting this answer.
A long beat passed, and Travis watched the hope and excitement disappear from Courtney’s eyes to be replaced with dismay.
“I’m so sorry, this is my mistake,” Courtney said, shaking her head and dropping her gaze. “I should have realised I’d need my own computer to do this job. My phone can cope with the basics when it comes to doing stuff online, but not the detailed work you need handled. What was I thinking? I’m an idiot! And I’m wasting your time.”
Shuffling to the edge of the sofa, she got to her feet, her hands on her baby bump as she stood and turned for the hallway.
“I really am sorry about this,” she said, her expression pained. “I’ll see myself out.”
