Chapter 27: Synergistic

Little did Niall know that the genuine interaction he’d had with the family of five would lead to unprecedented yet equally spectacular results.

After the initial shock of the three kids wore off, a genuine sense of curiosity had gripped them.

It was one thing to have met an actor on the very same night they’d watched the movie he’d starred in.

It was another, to find out that said actor, was also an author of what seemed to be an epic fantasy novel.

That then begged the question;

Did his talent for acting, equally translate into his flair for writing?

It went without saying then, that before all three got home, they’d began reading the book, equal parts curious to have that question answered, and equal parts intrigued by the book’s inviting cover.

Their parents on the other hand (their mother especially), had been notably glad to have their kids actually engaging in something that didn’t involve them burying their faces in a screen.

However, even they hadn’t expected their interest in said book to last long.

With how little the attention span of kids were getting today--one her kids remained no exception to--Helen was even more assured of her skepticism.

Besides, as an avid reader herself and the president of a thriving online book club for mums on Face-Space, she knew better than to believe an actor could equally be a literary genius.

She wasn’t of the belief that the book was bad. Far from that, she expected it to be average, but nothing particularly exciting, intriguing or compelling.

Not that it stopped her from attributing the novelty of their unexpected run into the actor having a hand in her children’s evident captivation by it.

Nevertheless, she had stereotyped Niall as the typical Hollywood actor who probably had no talent in the medium but had insisted on it anyway, probably either to gain clout or as a marketing stunt of sorts.

However, by the time they’d reached home and her kids still had their noses buried in their individual copies of [The Token of Fate], her disposition towards the book changed, ever so slightly.

’Maybe it is quite good,’ she had thought to herself.

Still, she’d expected them to lose interest come the next day. Afterall, she didn’t believe they’d boycott sleep just to read a book all night.

Waking up the next day however, the sight she and her husband were met with stunned them to no ends.

Animatedly chatting in their living room were all three of their kids, their eyes slightly puffy--evidently from the lack of sleep. Yet it did nothing to dull the genuine fervor on their features.

Listening in on their conversation about how great the book was and how they couldn’t wait for the next one, Helen knew for a fact that she just had to peruse through the book herself.

And so she did, picking up one of the copies and settling into her reading nook by the window.

Thankfully, it was a rainy Sunday morning, and her kids were also on vacation, hence affording her as much time as she needed to sink her fangs into the book.

Within the first few Chapters, Helen could instinctively tell. [The Token of Fate] wasn’t the work of someone whom had simply decided to write on a whim.

It was so evident that every detail, every character and every plot point was extensively planned out.

By the time evening came, she was done reading the book.

Notably giddy, and equal parts in awe of how an actor for that matter could’ve written quite literally one of the best books she had read in years, she immediately took to searching up his name, just to verify that he was in fact the one they’d met at the supermarket.

Certifying that it was in fact him, she then navigated over to Face-Space.

Making a post about how her family had gone to see [The Promised Queen], how they’d loved every minute of it, including Julien Lancaster being her favorite character in the movie, she then added how they’d run into the actor that played him, how he’d been so sweet to them, and how her kids had gotten free copies of his novel with his autograph on each of them.

Then she gave a professional review on [The Token of Fate], highlighting it as one of the best books she’d ever read, and rounding it up with the sentences;

I believe [The Token of Fate] was written with a very broad demographic in mind. It’s one thing to for it to completely enthrall me, an avid reader who’s ever hardly impressed by newer releases, especially from a debut author. It’s another thing when even my kids (two teens and a tween), are equally as captivated and hyped for the next book in the series as I am.

As one would expect, the post got a lot of traction from several mums in the community who had to wonder if their President’s account had been tampered with for recommending a book written by an actor.

However, with all the pictures she’d attached to the posts as proof of her words, they couldn’t resist giving it a shot.

Besides, if the book was truly as she said, most were willing to buy it for themselves and equally gift their kids.

With those thoughts in mind, several mums went on to purchase the book, hoping their president was right and they’d be getting their money’s worth.

The results that followed were staggering, to say the least.

Rave reviews about the [The Token of Fate] soon flooded the book club in the following days, and equally several book review websites.

With it, came a domino effect as several other mums began recommending it on their other social media platforms and groups, some even making short-form videos about it.

That, was when [The Token of Fate], attained some sliver of true virality.

And for Feyre Publications whom were already jubilating at crossing over 250,000 copies sold before the end of the month, the sudden surge in demand for the book, threw them in for a loop.

It got so bewildering; they were still coming to grips with how they’d managed to sell over 50,000 physical copies in a couple days!

More than that, at the rate it was going, the book was bound to make almost double the sales from the first month, which by all accounts and estimation, would be over 500,000+ copies.

Truly, it was a situation that they had never for once in their wildest dreams accounted for, or expected by any stretch of the imagination.

Even Niall whom had been quite assured that the book would do well, was equally just as baffled.

But then again, good mums were never to be underestimated... especially when said mums had found a piece of media they were certain would do a good job of keeping their tweens and teens positively engaged and away from their screens.

*

[The Promised Queen] had been off to an excellent start.

With a $40 million opening weekend, and a cumulative $180 million by the end of the week, the folks calling the shots at Silver-Crest Studios couldn’t have been more ecstatic.

As predictions went, they were bound to rack in over $600 million in total by the end of the movie’s theatrical run.

Considering the movie’s budget had been over $150 million--coupled with an extra $50 million which had gone into marketing and promotion, they were on track to not just breaking even, but even tripling their investments.

It only made perfect sense then, that they had chosen to host a big party by the end of the month to celebrate the movie’s success.

More than that, they had also taken note of not just the entire crew involved in the production of the movie, but also the stars that had brought them this boon.

Ivelia York of course, came front and center. It wasn’t every day in Hollywood that they could stumble upon a director who could effectively balance her vision of the movie, alongside their frankly, unreasonable whims.

Still, they more than anyone knew they couldn’t push their luck with her, lest she decided to jump ship and stop working with them altogether.

David Wilde, Emily Turner and Gareth Armstrong had also made it onto their nice list, each individual actor giving it their all to make the movie a resounding success.

To that effect, it was only natural that they maintained a good relationship with them for the foreseeable future.

One other actor whom they hadn’t really heard of, but had been pleasantly surprised by anyway, had been Niall Parker.

Though he hadn’t been in involved in the marketing and promotion of the movie, his role in it both on-screen and behind the scenes had been quite invaluable.

That was made even more apparent by two things.

The first was how despite not being called on for talk shows, podcasts and the likes, the main trio who were, always had some little nugget of information to say or share about him.

The other, was how multiple short videos across various social media platforms made by ladies whom had gone to watch the film, kept repeating how Julien Lancaster was their favorite character in the movie.

This situation, led to a synergistic effect with the domino effect caused by the moms... eventually resulting in more and more people purchasing [The Token of Fate].

As a result, by the end of the month of May, Feyre Publications had sold roughly 750,000+ copies in total, of which 250,000+ accounted for physical copies each sold at $14.99 and the rest, from digital sold at $9.99 per copy.

At the same time, they got yet again another order, this time from a certain talent agency uptown requesting for a bulk purchase of a little over five hundred copies of [The Token of Fate].

Advance Chapters are available on Patreon!

/Caer07