Novel Experience (Sara Miles) Read Online Free

actually want to sell books?”
    “I want to write books. The way I want to write them.”
    “And to do that, you must sell books. But this isn’t just about sales. This is about making your books better. I’m an editor, not a salesman. I know what I want to read.”
    “And I know what I want to write. Look, Karen, maybe this isn’t the best fit. I don’t think this is going to work out.”
    “Thane, would you give us a moment?”
    “Certainly,” he says, before standing, straightening his jacket, and leaving the room.
    “Sara, listen to me,” she says, leaning forward and giving me her best “this is for your own good” face. “He’s a good editor. He has a reputation, not only for putting out good books, but for working with authors. Not against them.”
    “It doesn’t sound like that from my side of things.”
    “You’re just not willing to hear him. I’m not going to threaten you. Livery Press wants you. Believe it or not, they thought you’d be pleased by having them throw Thane at you. They were trying to do you a favor . And more than that, he specifically requested to work with you.”
    “How the hell does he even know who I am?” I ask. I had no previous published books, and when Thirty Hour Day came out, I’d been given no real publicity until after the book's sales unexpectedly spiked.
    “I haven’t got a clue. It doesn’t matter. This is an opportunity. Work with him. See where it leads you. You might be surprised.”
    “Okay, alright,” I say. “Not that I have much choice here, right? I appreciate what you’ve done for me, so I’m going to follow your advice. Just remember that I’m doing it despite my better judgment.”
    Thane entered again, but the discussion was primarily between Karen and him. I was going to have to learn to work with him, like it or not.
    * * *
    I LEAVE LIVERY PRESS WITH a check in hand. Not a royalty check, but a (small) advance on my second book. The rest of the conversation steered clear of Thane’s problems with my first novel. Karen passed him a draft of my current work, and we worked out some details. Thane tried to catch my eye a few times, but I just couldn’t meet his. Karen urged me to keep an open mind, and I’d reluctantly agreed.
    My first stop is to buy a new phone. Then I order Chinese food and call Gail. Maybe it’s the tone of my voice that does it. She drops everything and comes over. With two bottles of wine.
    An hour later I’m feeling guilty about the amount of General Tso’s chicken I’ve eaten. Less guilty about the wine.
    “Bums,” Gail says.
    She’s getting out my mango vodka. My downfall. I’ve almost forgotten what we'd been talking about, but the topic comes back to me.
    “Bums? Really?”
    “It’s all I need. Just a shot from behind of a guy doing his thing, and I’m good. All those tight muscles...” She shivers dramatically and takes a sip of her drink.
    “Guys in porn are overrated,” I say, a bit more honestly than I would have had I not been drunk. “They never shut up. They’re all like, ‘oh, baby, suck me, yadda, yadda,’ and I just want them to be quiet and get on with it.”
    “Danny likes to watch the lesbian porn.”
    “Isn’t that, like, taboo for him or something?”
    She shrugs. “The lesbian bit, or just porn in general?”
    “I’m just surprised he watches it at all,” I say.
    “I caught him awhile back, and he was all apologetic,” she says. “It was kinda cute, actually—like catching a seven year-old with his hand in the cookie jar.”
    “I’m desperately trying not to make a smart-ass joke about cookies, now.”
    “Yeah, yeah, yeah,” she says, waving a hand dismissively. “So we watched some together. I think he was surprised I didn’t cut his balls off for it.”
    “I thought you didn’t like that girl-girl stuff.”
    “It’s hot to watch. I just don’t know about actually doing it. Talking about it is making me horny,” she says. “Don’t you have some good