Page 56 of Je T'aime, Actually

“But what does this mean forLa Fée du Livre?”

Monroe turned to her. “What if, instead of selling your diversity to them, you simply diversify yourself? OpenLa Féeto a broader genre range, pull in that commercial readership, and use the money you make from that to fund the more niche areas.”

Chloé stood up, wine glass in hand, as she mulled over Monroe’s suggestion.

“There are thousands of wannabe authors out there, all looking for a traditional publisher and struggling to find anyonewilling to take a punt on them. Now add in the fact they’re a person of colour, or part of the LGBTQ+ community…”

Chloé turned, eyes meeting Monroe’s as Monroe continued to give her thoughts.

“How many opportunities are there out there for those authors?” Monroe asked.

“Not many.”

“But you could provide them.” She leant forwards slightly. “You could create an arm of the business that focuses on high-revenue genres, marketing and promoting those properly. If you could capture even ten percent of what Shutler Fitch earns, you’d be okay,” Monroe finished.

“More than okay.” Chloé smiled. “But how do we do that with literally no funds to last more than a couple of months?”

“We create a proper business plan. Go cap in hand to the bank and ask for a loan.”

“I don’t know anything about Romance. Or Crime. And Fantasy?Ooh là là.”

“You employ twelve people,” Monroe said, shrugging. “Someone will have the knowledge.”

“If this could work…” Chloé mused. “I need to organise another meeting with my staff.”

Monroe grinned. “Let’s do it.”

forty-five

It wasn’t oftenLa Fée du Livre’s small office was filled with every member of staff on a Sunday. But today, they all sat around the large glass table, just as they had when Chloé had first informed them of Shutler Fitch’s planned takeover.

Cécile shrugged when asked what was going on. “Je ne sais pas.”

Muted conversations died down as Chloé stepped into the room, holding the hand of a woman most had heard about, but none had yet met.

“Bonjour, thank you all for coming,” Chloé said in French. Monroe understood enough to smile politely at the group.

“What’s happening?” someone asked.

Monroe sat down and opened her laptop. She brought up the short PowerPoint they’d put together the night before and connected it to the larger screen on the wall.

Then Chloé began to speak.

“I make no promises,” she said, “but…we believe there may be a way to keepLa Fée du Livrealive. It will take hard work fromall of us. It may mean reduced earnings for a while. It might not work at all. But I want to try. I want to give it our best shot.”

She smiled at the group. “My partner, Monroe…”

Monroe looked up at the sound of her name, meeting a roomful of curious eyes.

“…is a brilliant accountant, and she believes it may be possible—at least worth attempting—to open our doors to genres we’ve previously steered away from.”

“What does this mean?” came from a few voices at once, more murmurs rippling through the group.

Chloé raised a hand. “It appears there’s room in the market for what we do, alongside more mainstream genres—Romance, Crime, Fantasy—and we must embrace change if we are to survive—”

“Oh, finally,” Robert interjected. “I’ve said this before and no one listened.”

Chloé turned to him. “Robert, maybe I’ve been too focused on creating a perfect world of words. In future, we must all be willing to listen to each other’s opinions.”