A Companion's Journey

Chapter 8 - A New Task

Rachel's routine changed a bit over the next week. When she was not attending to Karson, she spent her free time in contact with as many publishers as she could find. She found the experience frustrating at best.

Many publishers would gladly accept submissions from non-published authors as long as they adhered to their strict guidelines. Thankfully, Karson wrote his manuscript by using many of the established publishing guidelines widely used. Rachel submitted portions of the book along with a generic cover letter to all of the companies with less rigid guidelines. The bigger companies she tailored the cover letter to display some of Karson's previously published articles before explaining the proposed book.

Rachel was disappointed but not at all surprised that she did not receive any responses immediately after her submissions. It took several days before an automated form letter response came from some of the larger book companies. She knew that patience was required in this matter, but desperately wanted to make some progress to show Karson when he woke.

Meanwhile, the Companion displayed signs that he would soon come out of the coma. His fingers twitched and sometimes he mumbled as if dreaming. He even began to shift slightly in his bed, though his movement was severely restricted by the casts. Dr. Barrow was consulted and concluded that Karson could wake up any day now. Rachel visited every day even if Molly or Bobby stopped by; she was determined to be there for Karson.

Roughly a week after Rachel started her campaign to get Karson published, she received a call in the morning as she was eating a meager breakfast and planning her day. She distractedly answered the phone.

"Hello?"

"Can I speak to Ms. Rachel Nolan?"

Rachel focused her attention on the caller from the formal tone he used.

"Speaking, may I ask who is calling?"

"Good morning Ms. Nolan, this is Roger Greenburg from the Newpress Publishers Group. I received your submission for Mr. K. Shepherd and I was calling to follow up. Do you have a moment to talk?"

Rachel sat upright in her chair and clutched the phone.

"Yes, of course."

"I am one of the submission directors here and I was impressed with Mr. Shepherd's work. According to the cover letter you are his agent, is that correct?"

Her mind raced as she thought of a tactful way to answer the question.

"Well, I'm currently acting as his agent. Actually, he doesn't have an agent...yet..."

Rachel's voice trailed off.

Roger's voice was reassuring as he replied.

"Ah, I understand. Well, since this is not a contract negotiation I'm not required to talk to an agent, but I can talk to you about Mr. Shepherd's submission."

"Karson."

"Excuse me?"

"You can call him Karson."

"Oh, I see," Roger chuckled.

"Karson it is. Anyway, like I was saying, I was impressed with Karson's insightful writing and I think he has quite a lot of potential to be a best seller. Also, the fact that this piece comes from a Companion works in his favor. Here at NPG we are starting to expand our group of authors to include Companions, and as such I would like to offer an invitation for Karson to join us."

Rachel's hands trembled as she pressed the phone to her ear.

"Are you saying you want to publish Karson's book?"