Chapter 26: Royalties and Hannah’s Dilemma

 

It's been a couple of weeks; I was busy preparing for the book and taking it slow. I received a few titles during this period; some intentionally, while others where unexpected.

Name: Samuel Rothchild
Age: 10 years
Weight: 30.9 kg                           Height: 134.7 cm
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Active titles:
    Novice Warrior (New) : You have 25% higher comprehension power to learn any fighting style.
    
   Novice chess player (New): You have 25% higher comprehension power in the field of chess.

    Novice Singer (New): You have 25% higher comprehension power in singing.

    Proficient Listener : You have 150% higher comprehension power to differentiate sounds.

   Competent Learner: You have 75% higher comprehension power to learn anything.

   Competent Writer (lvl up): You have 75% higher comprehension power to write anything.

   Advance beginner Leader: You have 50% higher comprehension power to lead people.

   Competent Speaker : You have 75% higher comprehension power as a speaker.

   Novice Actor: You have a 25% higher comprehension power to act.
The comprehension is compared with average personals in said field.

Passive titles:
    Rising Star (New): can increase the levels of entertainment-related titles faster.

    Hoarder (New): can increase chances of acquiring a new title by a slim margin.

    Aspiring Entrepreneur (New): It Increases success rate by 8% for any new business venture.
    
    Multitasker: can segment body and mind to do different tasks simultaneously.

    Night vision: can see several times better in the dark than the average person.

    Regeneration: can heal rapidly in case of injury.

    Disease resistance: can resist all types of diseases.

    Cursed Child: No curses effect. Highest curse resisted.

    Blessed Child: Unearthly appearance and temperament.

    Curious One: additional learning speed.

    Eidetic memory: can retain picture-perfect memory for several hours.

    One who bridges the world : can store immense amount of information permanently.

    Otherworlder : can bring out magic use for a short amount of time, but body needs to recharge     after every use to siphon magic power from other reality.
      
    Heart of Gold: can slightly influence people's emotions.

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I tried several things, like jumping high, looking through a magnifying glass to acquire some related titles, but the system didn't recognize those. Singer title was easy to get because of my new passive title " Hoader"; it sounded like an evil title, but its effects were pretty good.
After getting the entertainment-related title, I decided to make my way in this field first. " Rising star" will surely help me plenty in the future. I have to find some mentor to learn from.

You are reading story Hollywood Zenith at novel35.com

All the preparation for the book was over; we also went through what will be profit distribution and advertisement plans.

Normally, the figures of 7.5%-8% for paperbacks and 10% for hardbacks are par for the course. Bestseller writers, however, do negotiate their way to royalties between 15% and 20%, but that obviously doesn't materialise overnight. It needs a track record of huge sales, which prompts publishers to share a higher percentage of their sales proceeds, since revenues are much higher.

There are several costs involved with books.
In addition to overhead costs, publishers sometimes allot augmented marketing budgets to particular books.

Unfortunately, this often means a proportional reduction in the author's advance. Marketing expenses sometimes go towards book launches, which are not very useful as either marketing benefits or sales boosters – so the author and their agent must decide whether it's worth it. Publishers also allocate budgets for illustrations and photographs needed in a book, which in turn might mean reducing the advance payment correspondingly.

We decided to go with 50-50; the publishing company was basically our private company, but we had to give them some wiggle room to function in the future. Their recent sales were mediocre, so they also needed some good books to bolster their sales.

I also told my idea to Uncle Thomas about Hannah's "Gift", he said it would be ready by that day.
We employed normal advertisement. I have confidence in the work, sooner or later it will get famous.

The reason being if an unknown writer shot up to stardom through Penguin Books, would surely invite trouble. I dont want to trouble my family more than this. In a few months everything will be fine.

The book was to be released on 6th June, 1999, five days from today. 

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Hannah was very happy today, she had boasted a lot to her friends about the book hobbit, which made her a star in their eyes. Several of her fellow mates would swarmed her regularly to hear more about the book during lunchtime.

She would always exaggerate about her big brother and how awesome he was. She would mention her visit to the estate and all kinds of things to her two best friends.
But today's events also perplexed her; they also wanted to read it in person. She knew from talks with Samuel these days that the book would be out this week; but her friends were adamant. There were several of them who would say that she was lying through her teeth and making stuff about her brother for attention.

Hannah's dilemma was growing at a rapid rate and she could only talk to her big brother about it. She asked her mother to call Samuel.
Carol called Laura, they talked for a few minutes before Samuel took over the phone. Hannah took the phone from her mother and said--

" Big brother, How are you? Mother told me you are very busy these days. " 

" I am good, whats with urgency in your voice? are you fine? by the way you will be happy to know that the initial books are already out we will send out copies in two days but I will have someone deliver the first copy to you tomorrow. " Samuel said.

" Brother about that Can you send me more copies?" Hannah said reluctantly, she didn't want to trouble her brother over something like this, but she can't have people make fun of her precious brother. 

" What happened tell me everything ? Is someone bullying my little sister? You promised not to hide anything from me remember?" Samuel said urgently.

" No brother its like this----" She explained her situation for a few minutes.

Samuel heaved a sigh of relief. He thought someone was extorting Hannah for books, but it was just a bunch of kids. He said, " Dont worry Hannah, It's okay with me. I will deliver a dozen books; you can give them to anyone but just tell them not to spread it too much for few days. Even it spreads its okay, it will be free publicity before the actual launch. "

They talked for a few more minutes before hanging up.

Samuel didn't know that there would be a big rumor in the coming weeks which will implicate some things because of Hannah's innocent talks.

The next morning, several books were delivered to Moore family's residence.