Free Ithaca by David Davidar Page B

surprised to find theirbooks have failed. She is able to see a complete book in her mind’s eye soon after she has finished watching a television program, or reading a blog – all the author has to do is connect the dots – so she often gets to books or authors long before they are lassoed by agents. Plus, she does her homework, is good with facts and figures, and can position her books exceptionally well. Her latest success, a deeply insightful study on the significance of the little black dress, which she commissioned after attending a fashion show, swept every major non-fiction award last year, and sold 200,000 copies. A fanatical gamer, Yanara is leading Litmus’s digital publishing efforts, but that is only a small part of what she does at the moment, for she has charge of every major non-fiction area: history, politics, science, popular culture, lifestyle, and everything else in between. Zach does not have the luxury of having an editor for every area of specialization like the biggest houses do, so his six editors are expected to forage far and wide for their books. He is hoping she will come up with something good today.
    Rachel, his main fiction editor, follows her colleague into the room. Petite and blonde, she couldn’t look more different from Yanara but she is just as brilliant. Their approach to publishing is a study in contrast. Where Yanara is passionate and instinctive Rachel is cool and granular. They have been at Litmus for around the same time, four years, and he was responsible for hiring one and promoting the other. They hate each other. Some of the dislike he attributes to their innate competitiveness, as they are both ambitious; but he is also aware that they compete for his attention and he is carefulto divide his praise and time evenly between them. This doesn’t always work and verbal scuffles between the two hold up the meetings from time to time.
    Gareth, the sales director, ambles in. Gareth is his rival for Gabrijela’s job (she is still only fifty-four so no one expects her to quit anytime soon, but you never know) so they are wary around each other; this is not helped by the traditional standoff between editorial and sales. In a business as precarious and inexact as publishing, he will try to push for more optimistic sales numbers for any book they are trying to buy and Gareth will push back, attempt to be more conservative, because in the end it is Gareth who will be held responsible if sales do not measure up to projections. As publisher he has the right to veto Gareth’s sales numbers but he uses his power sparingly – too often, and he will run the risk of rendering Gareth ineffectual; too infrequently, and there will be missed opportunities.
    Hard on Gareth’s heels, Maggie makes her entrance. The two bicker like twins. As marketing manager, Maggie likes to weigh in on stuff that Gareth guards ferociously, basic things like how much the company can expect to sell of a new title (despite the fact that no one really knows, including the retail chains who tend to pretty much drive the bus, although everyone likes to pretend that that is not the case, and that publishers have the same clout they had back in the day). Not that it matters, for when it comes to actually acquiring a book other things count, such as how desperately they want it, in which case, no matter what Maggie, Gareth, he or the editor truly believe, all the rules will be flouted, P&Ls fiddled with, market studies ignored, and large sums of moneyand the Virgin Queen promised to the agent and the author in the hope that Litmus will land the book. If they succeed, there will be celebrations and drinks all around, gift baskets and expensive bottles of champagne will be sent to the author and agent thanking them for giving Litmus the opportunity to publish the best writer since Shakespeare or Marian Keyes or John Grisham or J.K. Rowling (or since the last budding Shakespeare/Keyes/Grisham/Rowling six months ago),