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Blind Submission: A Novel | 
 enlarge | Manufacturer: Shaye Areheart Books
Category: EBooks
List Price: $17.95
Buy New: $9.99
You Save: $7.96 (44%)
Avg. Customer Rating:  34 reviews
Sales Rank: 12418
Format: Kindle Book
Media: Kindle Edition
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 336
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
ASIN: B000MAH7NQ
Publication Date: November 7, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Product Description
Books can be a dangerous business . . .
Angel Robinson loves books, loves reading, loves anything to do with the written word. But when Blue Moon Books, the Bay Area bookstore where she has worked since college, is squeezed out of business, Angel is forced to find a new job. She lucks into a position as the assistant to the world-renowned literary agent Lucy Fiamma.
Angel soon learns that working for Lucy is no picnic. The agent has a blockbuster ego to match her blockbuster success and Angel must juggle both her boss’s prima donna demands and the strange quirks of her authors. But Angel soon becomes indispensible to the agency and develops a keen understanding of big projects and the writers who create them.
What she doesn’t realize is just how far one of them will go to get published.
One day, a chapter from a mysterious manuscript by an anonymous author arrives at the office. Set in a New York literary agency, the novel, titled Blind Submission, centers on the ambitious assistant to a successful literary agent. Angel is pulled in by the plot—but her initial curiosity soon turns to panic. As the story unfolds—with chapters e-mailed in one by one—it becomes clear that the mystery author is writing the story of Angel’s own life, including secrets she thought were deeply hidden. Someone is watching her, even plotting against her. Could it be her backstabbing coworker, her jealous boyfriend, or her seductive new client?
When the novel’s plot turns to murder, Angel knows that if she doesn’t discover the author’s identity before the final chapter is written, more than just her career will be cut short.
From the Hardcover edition.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 29 more reviews...
chick lit for book lovers December 2, 2008
Chick Lit, which goes like this: Chick on the periphery of an industry (in this book--the world of literary agents) tells about industry while struggling to "make it" in the world, and finds true love with another peripheral player. Lots of fashion and/or food descriptions as well as insight into the industry. I happen to like the genre (I skim the fashion and food parts and double read the sex scenes. I'm a guy, after all.) Being a writer who disdains the whole concept of middlemen (sales agents) and the authority (Editors, publishers, & their whores) I found a lot I liked in this story. The author wrote an entertaining story with a fun mystery and lots of unlikable characters; and, I think, was laughing at herself while writing it. She also foreshadowed her second novel, "The Gift," which I will definitely read. Ginsberg's dedication says all you need to know about the story: "For all the writers who have yet to be published and for the book lovers who will one day read their work." Not great writing but good enough, clever.
 Mislabeled as a "Mystery" August 31, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This novel shared my nightstand with two well-reviewed novels, namely Laura Lippman's What the Dead Know and The Sister by Poppy Adams. I read the first 30-ish pages of all three books, and then figured I'd continue with the one that hooked my interest.
That'd be "Blind Submission."
This book has mistakenly been labeled a mystery. Not so; our protagonist works at a highly successful literary agency where every unsolicited submission is read carefully by two people. These two prepare and compare notes on these manuscripts before passing judgment. Further, this agency made and continues to make its fortune by carefully culling the ideas sent in by beginning writers.
So clearly "Blind Submission" is science fiction!
Issues of believability aside, Debra Ginsberg has concocted a very entertaining tale. I especially enjoyed the invented snippets of novels and memoirs that came in the agency's slush pile. I hate to call this book an "entertaining lark," but there it is. Nice work, and I look forward to Ginsberg's next book, The Grift.
Sidelight: As most of this novel takes place inside the agency's offices, halfway through it, I was starting to feel the story was a bit confined and stifling. At that moment I came across the line, "It occurs to me that my novel might be...a little claustrophobic." Eerie!
Great story that shines a light onto publishing March 28, 2008
I really loved reading this book. Angel was a fantastically written character that I identified with. I am an avid book reader, as Angel is, and it's great to read about a character that is as passionate about books as I am. It was great reading a book that is set in the publishing world and I learned quite a bit about what it takes to get a book published, even if it was fiction and had a driven boss like Lucy in it.
This book had a lot of different things thrown in-woman having to deal with a nasty boss, a little romance, and a mystery. But all the themes worked well together. The mystery was really well-written. I didn't figure out who was writing the book that was being sent in chapter by chapter not long before the person was revealed. I had my guesses but I wasn't completely sure.
So I would definitely recommend this book to anyone. It can appeal to many people because it's not a fluffy chick-lit book but it actually has depth to it.
Highly recommended! March 12, 2008
Many people will read Blind Submission and see shades of The Devil Wears Prada. They would be correct, but on the surface only. It is so much more. It is quirky, it has a bit of mystery, with some romance and the light touch of a fairy tale, with the required happy ending.
Angel is passionate about books and runs a bookstore. Her boyfriend encourages her to apply for `the' job at the Lucy Fiamma Literary Agency and gets it. Her boss, Lucy Fiamma, believes that no form of torture is beneath her. But despite her vicious boss, Angel loves her job. She actually seems born to it and proves to have an uncanny knack for `picking' authors.
An anonymous writer sends Angel a manuscript that looks like it could sell. The thing is, the book arrives a little at a time. At first the novel seems innocuous, but soon the manuscript includes personal details about Angel's life. To say that paranoia becomes a part of Angel's life is an understatement. She soon begins to suspect everyone, including her boyfriend (who has his own literary agenda). It's important that Angel discover who the mystery author is, but in doing so, she must carefully navigate all the landmines associated with solving the mystery.
I thoroughly enjoyed Blind Submission. I did think that the boss, Lucy Fiamma, was a bit over the top and can't imagine anyone working for her beyond--say an hour. But the entertainment value of the novel made that point easy to overlook.
Armchair Interviews says: Blind Submission is a fun, dark romp through the literary world and highly recommend it for as a fast-paced, light, madcap romp.
not another Prada January 23, 2008
When I started this book, I said to myself "Oh great, it's just The Devil Wears Prada in a literary agent's office." But I was wrong. This book is much more than that. The "mystery" was a little transparent to me (I don't usually figure out who's behind the grand plot only 1/3 of the way through a book), but I was still intrigued enough to read all the way through. And I found the ending very, very satisfying.
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