Chapter 56: The Alluring Senior Editor
Random House PublishingEditor's Office
"Four percent?" Adam kept his expression neutral. "Mr. Cerf, the standard range for novel royalties is generally six to fourteen percent. Even for a debut author, six is the floor. You've read enough of the manuscript to know it's not average work — otherwise this conversation would have ended twenty minutes ago. So what's the reasoning behind four?"
Cerf had the practiced calm of someone who had navigated this exact conversation many times. He didn't flinch.
"Six percent for a newcomer is a myth," he said. "You have no readership, no track record, no name recognition. The publisher carries all the distribution risk — building those channels costs real money. If you believe the book can stand on its own without our infrastructure, self-publishing exists. You'd keep a much larger share that way."
Adam said nothing for a moment.
The logic was airtight in the way that convenient arguments often were. Publishers had genuine leverage — distribution networks, retail relationships, promotional infrastructure — and they used that leverage to set terms that authors with no alternatives had to accept. The counterargument, that the content itself was the reason any of those channels had value, was equally true and equally irrelevant in a room where one party controlled the pipeline.
"Of course," Cerf continued, leaning in slightly, "if you were willing to transfer the full copyright — all rights — the royalty picture changes significantly. Established-author rates. Ten percent. And we'd put real promotional resources behind the book. For a debut, that kind of investment is what separates a quiet release from a genuine launch."
Adam smiled politely. "That's an interesting perspective. Let me think about it."
"Of course, take your time." Cerf's expression was warm with the specific warmth of someone who believed they'd already won.
He hadn't.
Adam had no particular anxiety about this negotiation because he had no particular need for it to succeed. The novel was a supplementary income strategy, not a life raft. If every major publisher in New York operated on the same exploitative terms for debut authors — and Cerf was implying they did — then Adam would find the one that didn't, or wait until his position was stronger. Either outcome was acceptable.
What he wouldn't do was sign away rights he intended to keep because someone had constructed a philosophical argument for why he should be grateful to do so.
Cerf, reading the room more carefully now, shifted slightly. He'd expected the usual anxious eagerness of a first-time writer desperate to see their work in print. Adam had the composure of someone who could leave without regret, which was a different negotiating position entirely.
"You're welcome to take more time," Cerf said, and opened the office door with the gracious air of a man playing a long game. "Come back whenever you're ready."
Adam stepped into the corridor.
A woman was walking toward them from the far end of the hallway, accompanied by an editor who was talking with the particular energy of someone who wanted to make a very good impression. Adam caught a fragment — 3.8 million copies, the third printing alone... — before his attention shifted entirely.
She was in her early forties, he estimated, with the kind of presence that didn't announce itself but simply occupied the space it moved through. Blonde, professional, the sort of composed confidence that came from knowing exactly what you were worth because the market had confirmed it repeatedly.
Adam recognized her.
Not from his personal life. From the career he was planning. From the list of names that mattered in American publishing in this decade.
He stepped aside to let her pass and she glanced at him briefly with the polite acknowledgment one gave a stranger in a hallway.
Adam looked at the manuscript under his arm, then at the direction she'd come from.
He had an appointment to reschedule.
End of Chapter 56
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