Dear Geist,

My agent showed my memoir around and got a rise out of two small, reputable independent publishers I’d be glad to work with. Great, right? Except that one company wanted a slightly different focus in the memoir, and the other recommended that I recast the story as fiction. I’m sure both ideas are smart, but. . . Help!

Dear Aimee,

Much as we’d all like to think that publishers sign up books for their great writing, there are other criteria. One of them is whether the publisher can sell enough copies of the book to realize a good return on everyone’s investment (including yours). They know what is available for sale, what has sold well and what is selling well now. Based on that knowledge of the book-buying audience, as well as their marketing strengths and an author’s intention and style, they offer big-picture editorial advice that they believe will bring in the highest sales. Publishers have different experiences and different books and authors, which is reflected in their different advice. Your agent will tell you this and more, and may offer an opinion; but the decision on how or whether to tamper with the original shape is yours.