This is the review I left on Amazon. Thought I'd share it here. I stumbled upon Elisa's book after corresponding with her about an agent matter and immediately downloaded it onto my husband's Kindle (this *is* a verified purchase, but I didn't want to write this review under his name). I found this to be an absorbing, accomplished, and brutally honest account about what I fear is becoming an all-too-familiar scenario for talented writers. Full disclosure: I was an Associate Editor at one of the "Big Six" for several years, and also worked for a literary agent in New York. At the same time, I'm also a writer, so I found this book provoking complex emotions, to say the least. There were times when I wished I could have intervened on Elisa's behalf during the events she documents in this book and put her in the hands of another agent. Good agents exist. I know, because I worked for one of the best; she chaired the AAR's Ethics Committee for several years. She was compassionate and kind, even in her rejections; she always responded. She never left the work solely in the hands of her assistant. And when she came a calling, editors made sure to return her calls tout suite. In short, she honored the writers who approached her, even if their skill was lacking, and never made promises to authors before the submission process. So although Elisa may be right that agents are ultimately going to become obsolete, and that many of them have abused their role as gatekeepers to the editors, there are, in fact, many ethical agents out there who are also decent human beings. That being said, there are also hundreds of downright fraudulent agents, as well as agents who are incompetent. And honestly, I don't know which is worse.

Elisa's story captures something that happens all too often at large publishers, which is that talented writers, especially if they lack a "platform" (and why would a literary memoirist, for example, have a platform coming into the submission process?), are harder sells all around--to the agent, to the editors, to the publisher, to the big chains, etc. I remember very distinctly several instances during my career at the Big Six publisher where I rushed into editorial meeting almost trembling with excitement about a new author, and over the course of the editorial board meeting, learning that I would not be able to acquire the book. There was no snarkiness, no gloating--there was almost a resigned sadness. Imprints were told what kinds of books to acquire, what direction in which to take the imprint, and to create authors and books that could either build upon an already existing platform or else exploit a topic or a background to garner attention for the book. There were times when I was allowed to acquire wonderful books by first-time authors--that was sort of my speciality--and I'll always be grateful to the publisher for allowing me to do so. But darn if it wasn't hard to call that agent back and say, look, I can only offer this fantastically talented author $5000. For the whole thing. In thirds. Or worse, in fourths.

The best revenge, of course, was seeing these books be named NPR's Best Book of the Year or get on the New York Times Business Bestseller List or be a Times' Editor's Choice for the week--although of course it's not really revenge when you're congratulated upon making the company money at the expense of the author. I will say this on behalf of editors (at least the young hungry ones like I was): I never rubbed elbows with any editor making six figures, including the Executive Editor. I never had cocktails at lunch. I made a pittance and could barely cover my rent, let alone my student loans. Most of us were at the office until very late into the evening, trying to complete our work. And the more idealistic among us (yours truly) actually left the industry because time for editing was shrinking in favor of sales meetings where we had to sell our book to our own sales force, agent lunches, author meetings, marketing meetings, and so on. The sad part is that in order to make sure a book you have already acquired and edited doesn't disappear into the ether, you had to lobby your own sales teams to pitch the book to Barnes and Noble and Amazon; you had to beg your Publicity Director to call in a favor to a reviewer to make this book a priority. If you didn't do these things, and other non-editing tasks, you were neglecting your books and authors and putting them at risk of an early death. And sometimes even if you looked at the Publicity Director the wrong way, he'd decide to abandon your book to the brand-new publicity assistant quaking in the corner cubicle.

So I don't necessarily agree with the idea that editors don't "want" to edit. I think all of us got into this line of work because we want to publish good books, and if we had our way, we would do nothing but edit and read manuscripts all day. But that's not what is expected of us, and it wouldn't be fair to our authors. That being said, Elisa's insights about the publishing industry are hard-won and penetrating. She manages to inspire, even as she is painting a bleak picture. She took control of her own artistic output, and she's right that this is a set up that is much more fair to the author in most ways. She shows in this book how willing she was to follow what she believed at the time to be informed editorial advice; but she also knew when to walk away. I did want to know what Elisa's feelings on Amazon were, though. Because the publishers and Amazon are actually *not* working together--they are at one another's throat because Amazon is making life very difficult for the publishers, and, in fact, authors as well. Amazon is not exactly a good guy here, and because Elisa's insights into the other aspects of publishing are so trenchant, I was eager to hear what she thought of Amazon, which is quickly becoming one of the "Big Six" itself with all its publishing imprints and poaching of authors from the big guys.

Finally, it's also crystal clear that Elisa is a talented writer. This is a compulsive read that is at once literary and accessible. Someone in an earlier review mentioned the almost lapidary quality of the prose, and I agree that Elisa's voice on the page is confident and appealing. You will be absorbed from the first line of the book--especially if you are a writer. She's a great companion on the page. I have recommended Elisa's book to several writer-friends and students. I would also recommend that anyone who works in traditional publishing read this book. As a publishing professional, you might not agree with every insight, but you will come away enlightened about what's happening on the other side of that curtain that separates agent from author, editor from author. And you will walk away with great respect for Elisa's gifts as a writer and her sheer ballsiness to tell it like it is. ( )