In her work as a literary consultant--first in private practice and now at Georgetown University--this author has worked with many scholars who would like to adapt their research for a trade audience. Many shared a set of core beliefs about how the rules of publishing change when one writes for a larger, more general audience in order to publish with one of the elite trade houses such as Farrar, Straus & Giroux, Knopf, Scribner, or Norton. However, her work with them has uncovered some interesting myths that even published writers tell themselves about the "big-bookstore" world versus the better-known academic one. In this article, the author discusses some of the most persistent publishing myths she hears, along with her responses to them.