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Outside, a taxi is waiting for me. By the time I’ve climbed inside and told the driver my address, I’ve received a text message from Ahmet and an email from Marcus. They are both asking me to dinner this weekend.

Smiling like a mad person, I tell Ahmet ‘yes’ for Friday and Marcus ‘yes’ for Saturday. Then I realise I probably shouldn’t have done that.

I text Freddy: ‘Possibly just made a minor mistake on the exclusivity front. I’ll tell you about it tomorrow. Don’t forget my dessert.’

CHAPTER25

‘You’ve arranged dates with Ahmet and Marcusthisweekend?’ Freddy poses like a three-piece suit model, both hands flat on the glass table in the Salt Marketing boardroom.

‘Yes.’ I deliver myself an espresso from the gleaming Barista Robot. ‘Look, they askedme. I’ve followedmostof the rules and I’m in a hurry.’

‘Yes, but you can’tlooklike you’re in a hurry.’ Freddy starts pacing. ‘You’re an exclusive product. You’re not supposed to say yes to the first date. We need to do some damage limitation. You’ll have to be fashionably late. Got it?’

‘But that’s so rude –’

‘Tough,’ says Freddy. ‘Don’t arrangeanymore dates without running it by me. Okay? And by the way, you’ll be moving offices next week.’

‘I’ll be what?’

‘Moving offices,’ says Freddy. ‘I’ve found you a great building. Modern design. Clean toilets. Better access for anyone with a disability. The lease starts next Monday.’

‘But we can’t afford offices with clean toilets.’

‘You can now Book Haven are stocking your titles.’

‘Book Haven isn’t stocking our titles. There was an issue –’

‘Yeah, I know. Your idiot fat tech guy uploaded the wrong book. Don’t worry. I ironed that out for you. And put systems in place so the aforementioned fat tech guy is less able to make errors in future. I also made sure the reprinted copies were delivered within a day, instead of the two weeks your team predicted. You’re welcome.’

‘Duncan is not fat. He is … pastry challenged –’

There’s a knock at the conference room door.

‘Come!’ Freddy bellows.

Freddy’s assistant, Tim, puts his head around the door. ‘Mr Stark. I just wanted to let you know, your Frankfurt Book Fair meetings are now confirmed –’

‘Great, Tim.’ Freddy barks. ‘Put them into the calendar and leave us be.’

‘You’re coming to the Frankfurt Book Fair?’ I ask.

‘Of course I am,’ says Freddy. ‘I need to immerse myself in the industry. How else am I going to turn Little Voice into Big Voice?’

‘I didn’t think a book fair would be your style.’

‘It isn’t.’ Freddy drops into his seat. ‘But if I’m making changes to a publishing company, I need to know what works and doesn’t.’

‘No one in publishing knows what works and what doesn’t,’ I say. ‘It’s all a lucky numbers game.’

‘You’re wrong there,’ says Freddy. ‘Some publishers are doing consistently better than others. Good marketing, strategy and efficiency work in every industry, and I intend to find out what works.’

‘You know you’re not allowed to get rid of my staff, don’t you?’

‘I know. Listen. Maybe I was a little hasty when we first met. Your staff are doing better. The systems, or lack of them, were the bigger problem. Also, you micromanaging and doing everyone’s jobs for them.’

‘I’ll take that as your best attempt at an apology.’ I down my coffee and stand. ‘I’d better head back to the team. See you next week. Wish me luck on my dates.’

‘Wait a minute.’ Freddy grabs a tablet from his man bag and starts whizzing his finger around. ‘Good data is at the heart of every successful marketing campaign. You should fill in evaluation forms when you go out with Ahmet and Marcus. Here’s the main form we use.’