There is always a new book every list season that attempts to let
new writers in on the goings-on of publishing so that they will
have an easier time selling their books to big companies. Like the
outrageous weight-loss claims made by the "Hollywood Diet," an
orangeade-looking drink that is supposed to make you lose 10 pounds
over one weekend, WRITER TELLS ALL promises details
that will give us all the inside track on becoming real published
writers but fails to discuss the most important part of all ---
talent.

Not every one can write a book, and not every one who wants to
should write a book, but WRITER TELLS ALL hopes to inspire
every person who ever got it into their head to write a book. And,
so, it reads like a primer on publishing and "the biz" --- a
Writers 101 guide to how a book is published and what stages you
should go through to get yours done and up on the auction block.
That's a really nice idea, but lacking examples (i.e., actual
outlines so the reader would know what they look like or what they
are to begin with), WRITER TELLS ALL is actually a surface reading
of what the process of putting a book together really is.

It's a shame --- Masello has taught at the Columbia School of
Journalism and other noted universities, published many books
himself and been a writer his whole life, as he tells us, and you
would expect more from him given those experiences. However, this
feels like a first-draft that got published because someone was
interested in making some bucks. Since it is a slight rendition of
many of the countless other books out there about writing and
"making it," WRITER TELLS ALL is not highly recommended.