Five

Summary

• The main character has her first video conference meeting with her new publicity and marketing teams, Emily and Jessica, who express their enthusiasm and plans for promoting her book. This is a sharp contrast with her previous experience with a disinterested publicist.
• Emily and Jessica discuss the varied possible audience for the novel, between historical fiction and military fiction, and their robust marketing strategy, which is well beyond what the main character experienced with her previous publisher.
• The team introduces a concern about the book's representation of Chinese culture, given that the main character is not Chinese. The main character feels defensive about this, insisting that she has done extensive research.
• The team suggests ways to position the main character as "worldly", given her background of living in different places. They also suggest she change her pen name to Juniper Song to create a fresh start and build a new identity for her readers.
• The narrator has a tense exchange with an editorial assistant named Candice Lee, who insists on a sensitivity reader to evaluate the cultural authenticity of the book. The narrator resists this, insisting she is comfortable with the research she has done for the novel. Candice is eventually taken off the project.
• The narrator engages a professional photographer to take a new set of author photos and begins cultivating a social media presence, following advice from the publishing team and studying the Twitter feeds of successful authors.
• In the run up to the book’s release, the publishing team sends advance reader copies to other authors for endorsements, and settles on a cover design that feels modern and compelling. They finalize translations for the book and secure international rights sales.

• The protagonist, Juniper Song, is amazed to see her book being advertised everywhere, even on subway walls.
• Her book, "The Last Front" is gaining success with foreign rights sales and features on lists like "Ten Best Books of the Summer"
• It gets chosen for a national book club run by a prominent Republican woman, which initially gives her moral discomfort but she rationalises that it can broaden the reader base.
• In the UK, her book is chosen for the Readaholics Book Box, a subscription service that sends books and merchandise to thousands of customers a month.
• Barnes & Noble decides to do an exclusive special signed edition of her book, resulting in her signing thousands of pages.
• Juniper realizes that author efforts don't influence a book's success but publishers select bestsellers.
• She regularly checks Goodreads reviews for feedback and is shocked to find one one-star review from a user named CandiceLee who works in publishing.
• She reports this to her editor as concerns that it might have been purposefully done due to an issue with a "sensitivity read".
• Daniella, her editor, assures to handle the concern and Juniper feels vindicated.