William Morrow released Mercy House on February 11. For this edition of Beginning to End, Spine follows Mercy House from author all the way through to publicity and marketing, stopping along the way to talk to Alena Dillon’s agent and editor, as well as the book’s designer. We began with the author, and now arrive at her agent, Nicki Richesin.

Literary Twitter can be a scary place. Twitter mobs engage in Twitter pile-ons, at the least hurting writers’ feelings and at the most, threatening to take down titles before they’re officially released. But Caroline Eisenmann, agent at Frances Goldin, argues that Twitter is also a force for good, at least in her professional life.