"Are you joking with me, Crow?" Ms. Hassan, the president of Zane's publishing company, laughed as she looked at the man across the table.
The man, Crow, was a boss from the giant company, Random House. He was here for one reason: to get the rights to sell Harry Potter in other countries.
"Crow," Ms. Hassan said, still smiling, "you want Harry Potter for only $450,000? And our company only gets 18% of the profits? That's a very low offer. It's almost insulting."
Ms. Hassan was a very smart and tough lady. Crow knew this because she used to be his boss at Random House!
Crow just smiled. He knew this would be hard. "Hassan, my old friend," he said, "times have changed. Random House is not the same company it was. We've joined with the giant Bertelsmann Group. We are now the biggest publishing group in the world."
He leaned in. "I know Harry Potter is doing well, but that's mostly because Bob Dylan helped you. The movie isn't even out yet. Our offer is very fair. You get 18% of every single book sold... just for letting us do all the hard work. That's a pretty good deal."
Hassan just kept smiling, like she had a happy secret. "Oh, Crow. That would be a good deal..."
She paused. "If that was the whole story."
"What do you mean?" Crow asked, his smile fading.
"I mean," Hassan said, "that the Harry Potter movie has already started development at our movie studio, Wald Pictures. And the video games are being planned right now. So... do you still think 18% is a fair deal?"
Crow's face fell. He knew he'd been beaten.
He sighed and threw up his hands in defeat. "Hassan, you win! I knew this would happen. I don't know why my new boss sent me in here. He knows I can't win a negotiation against you!"
Hassan laughed, a warm, friendly sound.
After that, the "real" negotiation was very fast. They signed the first papers on a new deal:
Random House would pay $1.2 million right away.
Zane's company would get 25% of the profits from every book sold.
It was a much better deal.
...
Later that day, Crow went back to his boss, Mr. Bertelsmann.
"Boss," Crow said, "I don't get it. You knew I couldn't beat Hassan in a negotiation. Why did you send me?"
Mr. Bertelsmann just smiled. "Crow, do you know how many other companies were trying to get Harry Potter? Twelve of them! Including our biggest rival, Penguin!"
Crow's eyes went wide.
"I didn't send you to get a cheap deal," his boss explained. "I sent you because you're her old friend. I knew she would trust you. I sent you to make sure we got the deal, period. Even if it cost us more. And you did it."
...
Back at Zane's office, he was congratulating Ms. Hassan.
"Hassan, that was brilliant!" Zane said with a huge, happy smile. "You got 12 different companies to fight over our book? That's amazing!"
Hassan laughed. "Well, Bertelsmann was pretty smart, too. He knew what I was doing, so he sent my old friend Crow to make sure he won."
Zane looked at the new contract. A $1.2 million payment, just for the overseas rights. This was a great deal. (He knew the firstHarry Potter book in America had sold for only $12,000!)
He knew he had to sell the rights, because his company wasn't big enough to sell books all over the world... yet.
The next day, Zane got even more good news.
The final movie scripts for "Spider-Man" and "Harry Potter" were officially finished and ready to go.
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