I wanted to rate this book more highly. I really did. It does have a great deal of hard-headed insight and advice and things that all aspiring photographers really need to think about.
However, I cannot lightly set aside Mr. Heller's antipathy towards 'photographer solidarity'. Specifically, he spends a fair amount of time criticizing the notion that photographers should uphold certain policies and pricing. I do not know for sure, but I would guess that Mr. Heller has a rather dim view of union organizing as well.
What Mr. Heller advocates, then, is a 'race to the bottom' where each photographer undercuts his competitors. Well, we all know where the 'race to the bottom' ends up. This may temporarily benefit you personally, but in the long run it does tremendous damage to all photographers (definitely including one's self) in a business where already anybody who can afford a digital camera can call themselves a photographer, and where many clients tend to think we should be happy getting paid ANYTHING AT ALL since we are being paid to 'play with cameras' for a living.
What's more, in the long run one does one's self more harm than good by taking on 'grinder' clients - clients who are never satisfied unless they grind your profit margins to nothing. In addition... clients who grind your price down will also try to grind as much work out of you as possible, so that you end up working for less than minimum wage... sometimes far, far less.
If one is to succeed in this business - as in any business - one must spend time learning how to talk beyond price and how to counter typical 'grinder' negotiating strategies such as, "I can get my cousin to do this for $20! He has a Canon Rebel with 10 megapixels!" or, "do this job for $X - I'll have a lot more work after that!" These are clients to WALK AWAY FROM, not ones to appease by working for whatever breadcrumbs they deign to throw your way.
