In a 900-square-foot office, Joyce Seltzer, a senior executive editor, acquires and edits books and meets authors, agents and out-of-town visitors whose travel plans may not include Cambridge, Mass.
Women's magazine editors acquire nearly their entire wardrobe -- shoes, suits, bags, jewelry -- at wholesale directly from designers' showrooms.
The editor who acquired the book moved on to another company, and so did the editor who inherited it next.
Ed Park, the senior editor who acquired the book, called it "a hugely ambitious and wild ride".
"What Craig is doing is kind of unusual," said Mauro DiPreta, the HarperCollins editor who acquired the book.
But Anne Perry (the editor who acquired it) immediately connected with and understood what I was doing in this novel.
Karen Rinaldi, the editor who acquired the book, for Bloomsbury, told me that she underestimated the impact it would have.
Cynthia DiTiberio, the editor who acquired "There Is a God" for HarperOne, told me that Hostetler's work was limited; she called him "an extensive copy editor".
"I was surprised, but nobody was more surprised than Sammy," said Lisa Sharkey, the editor who acquired "Red" for It Books, an imprint of HarperCollins.
Even the editorial room at their publisher, Simon & Schuster, was divided about the Betches, said Jeremie Ruby Strauss, the senior editor who acquired the book.
Andy Ward, the editor who acquired the book for Random House, said that when he bumps into colleagues from other houses, they all say Mr. Saunders's sales are giving them encouragement.
