Penguin editor-in-chief Jane von Mehren won an auction for an unusual project: a book of advice to authors by a currently active editor-publisher. He is Pat Walsh, a founding editor of the successful San Francisco literary publisher MacAdam/Cage, and his book has the rather unwieldy and daunting (for authors) title: What Am I Doing Wrong? 78 Reasons Why Your Book May Never Be Published, and 14 Reasons Why It Just Might. Von Mehren had the floor going into the auction arranged by Coast agent Amy Rennert, and, in classic style, exercised her topping privilege to take the book at its end. The editor describes it as "the smartest and most honest take I've ever read" on the dealings that take place among editors, publishers and authors. She got North American rights and will make it a lead Penguin title sometime in 2005.