Amanda Luedeke is a literary agent with MacGregor Literary. Every Thursday, she posts about growing your author platform. You can follow her on Twitter @amandaluedeke or join her Facebook group to stay current with her wheelings and dealings as an agent.

Next week, I’ll revisit those social media critiques we were working through, but in them meantime, I thought it would be fun to list a smattering of prize ideas for giveaways…prizes that won’t cost you a fortune.

1. Gift cards
2. Coupons for ebooks (could be novellas, shorts, etc. that you have self-published)
3. The chance to name a character (may only work for established authors, but the idea is the winner gets to name a character in an upcoming book)
4. Twenty minute Skype call with the author
5. Free book
6. A book dedication
7. A shout-out in the Acknowledgements section
8. A “fan of the year” or “fan of the month” badge for their blog/website
9. Book tchotchkes in the form of PDFs that you email to winners, such as paper dolls (for childrens or romance genres), detailed world maps (for speculative fiction genres), recipes (for historical genres, etc), paper crafts/Cubeecrafts (for childrens or speculative genres), basically anything that either appeals to readers’ children/grandchildren or to the inner nerd or hobbyist. This idea may cost a bit of money up front, but the long-term use makes it worth it.
10. Themed gift baskets that tie in with your novel, such as gardening theme baskets for gardening cozy mysteries, etc.

What else? What other great giveaway prizes can you think of (aside from huge doorbusters, like iPads).

Every once in a while, I'll set a contract in front of an author, and he or she will say, "Just tell me where to sign." I have to explain that they need to know what they're signing. The fact is, every clause in a contract can be deemed important, if you consider it's a legal document that will govern everything about your book for as long as it's in print. So let me offer several questions an author ought to think about…

1. What's the grant of rights? Your contract should ask you to grant specific rights to the publisher. Not "everything, always, in all circumstances." And rights not specifically granted to the publisher are to be retained by the author. Keep in mind that you (as the author) own the work — you're granting a license to a publisher for them to produce and sell copies of your work. So understand what you're granting them. 

2. Is the wording clear? Know what you're signing. Understand the due date, the word count, the rights being granted. Some publishers have exceptionally easy-to-read contracts (Baker, Harlequin, and Harvest House are three that come to mind). Others can have contracts that read as though they were invented by lawyers for whom English is not their first language. If you don't understand what you're signing, ask questions. And let me offer a word of advice: If you have an agent, he or she ought to be able to explain what you're signing. If you don't have an agent, you can get help from a contract evaluation service, which will charge you a couple hundred bucks to review your contract and suggest changes. [You can also have a contracts or intellectual property rights attorney review the contract, but DON'T have him or her negotiate it for you. The moment they pick up that phone, the clock is ticking...and the longer they can keep the clock ticking, the more you're going to pay.] You can also find some books at Barnes & Noble that will help you understand your contract. 

3. Is there added work? Sometimes a book contract will also ask you to create something else — study questions, additional material for an enhanced books, etc. Read the contract carefully to see if you're on the hook for an index, a bibliography, or a map to the star's homes.

4. What is acceptable? Make sure your contract offers you the chance to revise an unacceptable manuscript in order to make it acceptable. That's usually pretty simply — the editor tells you what they want, and you, as the author, have adequate time to fix the book. Some larger houses wait until the book is completely edited and proofed before they consider it "acceptable." And some smaller houses have been know to withhold "acceptance" until, um… well, until they have the cash in hand to pay for it.

5. Who owns the copyright? A contract should state that the book's copyright will be in the author's name, not the publishers. 

We'll look at some more questions you should ask when signing a contract — feel free to drop in your questions and comments in the "comments" section!

Amanda Luedeke is a literary agent with MacGregor Literary. You can follow her on Twitter @amandaluedeke or join her Facebook group to stay current with her wheelings and dealings as an agent.

First, I'd like to say I'm sorry for missing my post yesterday. I had some personal things come up and just didn't get around to it. So, we're going to take a slight detour this week, since I know there are a number of people who tune in specifically on Thursdays to hear about building author platform. And, well, we don't want them missing the next installment, now, do we?!

So for today, I'd like to share links to a batch of really helpful tutorial videos my author, the fabulous Jill Williamson, put together. They cover everything you need to know to format your manuscript for submission.

Clovis asked, "If you are seeking a market for a particular idea, how do you study the market? What steps are critical in matching the work to the right publisher? How much do you rely on the guidelines, samples, catalogs, etc.? And what other sources are helpful?"

My answer: If you want to take steps like this , get to know the industry. I can think of a number of things that would help a writer do that…

1. Read frequently.

2. Read outside your genre (for example, if you’re a CBA person, read books outside of CBA).

3. Study the bestseller lists (New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, your local newspaper — all have them). Spend time on Amazon.com and BarnesAndNoble.com to see what's selling.

4. Note who publishes the books you read and the books on the bestseller lists. (In case you haven't figured it out, not all publishing houses were created equal.)

5. Take a look at trade journals to find what's hot/what's not/what's happening. These journals would include Publishers Weekly, the email version of Publishers Daily, maybe Library Journal, or Christian Retailing, or Writers Digest, possibly Bookstore Journal. You may also glean some good information in some entertainment journals.

6. Keeps tabs on the economic climate of publishing and bookselling. Right now everybody is talking about what bad shape the industry is in… but this year there will probably be more book pages published and sold than ever before in history.

7. It's important that you study a publisher before sending anything to them. Harvest House may be the right place for your gift book, but it's the wrong place for your commentary on Habakkuk. So go to web sites and read catalogues to figure out who publishes what. If you research the house and its list, you'll be better able to target the right publisher.

8. Check out market resources like the Writer's Guild stuff, Writer's Digest publications, Sally Stuart's CBA Market Guide, etc. Go online and check out some good blogs (Sandra referenced a couple yesterday. I happen to be a fan of Rachelle Gardner's excellent CBA Ramblings, as well as Mike Hyatt's blog on the industry. There are plenty of others.) Anybody with internet access can do some basic research — anybody who can get to Barnes & Noble can do some more. Walk around with a pen and a notepad for an hour or two at a store and see what you can glean.

9. Ask around. If you're part of a critique group or writers organization, you ought to have some connections with fellow writers, editors, publishers, and agents to bounce your ideas around. If you're attending a writer's conference, by all means ask in the sessions or the panel discussions — or even in a face to face meeting.

10. Many publishers will print a style guide. Ask for one, and if they share it with you, follow it. Nothing makes an acquistions editor unhappy faster than having to wade through a wad o' manuscripts that only tangentially relate to the house's publishing focus.

Samantha wrote me this past weekend and asked, "If you were my mentor, what are the skills you would share with me to help me develop a career in writing?" I love the question…may I just create a laundry list as my answer?

1. Develop a writing schedule (i.e., have a time and a place where you write regularly)

2. Have a goal (perhaps "create 1000 salable word per day")

3. Learn to get the words down on paper (you can revise later – it's always easier to edit something than to create something)

4. Create short assignments for yourself (you're not trying to write a book all at once — if you break it into pieces, you're trying to get each small assignment done)

5. [This is going to offend some people, but hear me out] In the words of Anne Lamott, be willing to create shitty first drafts (okay, forgive the language if it offends you — that's stolen from Anne Lamott's fabulous book Bird by Bird, and it's one of the best writing lessons ever. So what should I say? "Poopy" first drafts? First drafts of deep doo-doo? It seems weak to say, "Be willing to create first drafts that aren't very good." So…I'll just ask you to live with my colorful use of the language today.)

6. Know what makes a good story (understand what a plot is and how to follow a story arc)

7. Learn to create true-to-life dialogue (nothing keeps people reading more than a great conversation)

8. Establish a place (many novelists has lost the art of establishing a setting)

9. Characters make your story (newer writers often want to focus strictly on plot, but strong characters are what add depth and texture to a story)

10. Understand what makes superb writing (great themes, the deep questions, wrestling with morality, decision making, choices that may not be correct)

11. Learn to organize your life (in the words of management guru Bobb Biehl, everybody needs a calendar, an address system, a filing system, and a "To Do" list)

12. Learn to partner "a big idea" with  "great writing" and "a solid platform" (publishers want all three)

13. What is unique about your idea? (Solomon was right — the writing of books is endless, so figure out what is different or special or fresh about yours… If you can't answer the "so what?" question, you're in trouble.)

14. Establish your voice (the hardest thing to do in writing, but the single most important step to becoming successful)

15. Network so that you can create strong relationships with other authors, with editors, and with publishers (it's who you know in publishing…just like every other business)

16. Know your audience (books are read by individuals, so know exactly which individual is going to be reading your book)

17. Create perfect proposals (work to create a proposal your publisher can't say "no" to)

18. Seek to understand the market (you don't have to be driven by trends, but it's important to know what they are)

19. Understand what helps writing sell (fiction is for entertainment, nonfiction is for education, but gr
eat writing for either should change me)

20. Know how to sell (your book, your idea, your self)

21. Establish a relationship with a good agent (there are some lousy agents out there, but a good agent can help shape your career as much as any choice you'll make)

22. Know how to plan a writing career (how to write, what to write, when to write, who to write to, how to move forward, and when to go full time)

23. Be able to read through a publishing contract (understand what you're signing and what it means)

24. Be able to negotiate (even agented authors need some basic negotiating tools)

25. Work hard at marketing (the author is the person most responsible for marketing the book, not the publisher, the editor, the sales team, the publicist, or the marketing director)

26. Know how to manage your money (writing is feast and famine…knowing how to fill in the gaps is a really handy ability)

27. Understand yourself and your writing (plan your work and work your plan)

28. Politeness counts (express appreciation to others — success should be matched by grace)

29. Learn to give back (every good writer is a mentor who carries on the craft by investing in a protege)

30. Keep perspective on your life and work (publishing doesn't make you smart or pretty or holy; getting your name in print doesn't validate your life)

There you go — my list of things I'd share with you. If this interests you, I encourage you to pick up a copy of Carolyn See's wonderful little book Making a Literary Life. In it, she encourages authors to write 1000 words and send a "charming note" each day. If you only did those two things, you'd probably be miles ahead of the pack. Maybe the best advice I know.

Chip MacGregor

So I'm writing this from Kauai, where it's 80 and gorgeous — a perfect day. (I mention that only because the bulk of the US is experiencing the worst winter in years. Everybody has snow and ice, and they're all miserable. Except me — 'cuz I'm in Hawaii, where it's beautiful.) 

1. Someone wrote to ask, "How do you brainstorm titles?" 

At most publishing houses, they create a "titling committee" — which is often an ad-hoc group of fairly creative types who come together to bat around ideas. Everybody in the room is familiar with the material, so they know what the book is basically about. They start talking about ideas — what are the themes in the book? The images? The lessons? The principal stories? The character traits? The action? The setting? Anything that would help define this book is quickly noted. One person writes those down — often on a whiteboard, so that everybody can see the words. The next step is to begin writing down words that play off that list. All bad ideas are welcome. People will say words that seem appropriate, they'll look for familiar phrases, they'll open a thesaurus in order to find similar or more vibrant words. And all those ideas (the bad and the good) are captured. The goal isn't just to come up with one title, but to come up with several potential ideas (especially ideas that can be used as jumping off points for other ideas). 

For example, I once wrote a book about "why people call psychic hotlines." We couldn't come up with a title that worked, so a group of us sat in a room to brainstorm. We had words like "psychic" and "money" and "grifters" on our list. We wrote down things people say about psychics: "He knew everything about me" and "I can't believe she read my mind." Pretty soon we were creating a list of great words that came up in our discussion: frauds, magic, the future, the X-files, deception. the discussion turned to the way we talk about the stupid TV commercials you used to see, with the Jamaican woman promising to give you insight. Eventually someone used the term we've all heard when discussing emotional manipulaton: mind games. Perfect! We had our title. And that same process gets repeated at publishing houses all over the country. 

2. A nonfiction writer wrote me to ask, "What's the best advice you can give me in order to help me get my book published?" 

That one is easy. The BEST advice? Become a better writer. Often times at conferences I get the feeling there are some people wandering around, hoping someone shares the "secret" to getting published. But it's not really a secret. Every publisher is looking for a great idea, great writing, and a great platform. You may or may not have a great idea in your head. And you may be a well-known celebrity or a complete unknown. But if you can't write, you're going to find this business awfully tough. Because in the normal course of things, publishers aren't buying ideas. (Occasionally, but not normally.) Nor are they going to do a book with you just because you're famous. (Again, it happens occasionally, but not normally. And they're always crappy books anyway.) So the single best thing you can do in order to improve your chance of getting published is to become a great writer. 

Study the craft. Write a lot. Take classes. Attend workshops. Do your exercises. Work with a mentor. Get a group of stud critiquers to help you improve. Make friends with an editor and ask him or her to hack away. Do anything you can to improve your writing…and you'll find you stand a much better chance of getting published. 

3. A novelist asked, "If a new author is committed to a long-term career, but is not yet trying to pay the bills with her writing, does it makes sense to buy copies from a friendly book store (at, say, $1.50 above invoice price) and get the credit toward earning out?" 

My advice: Be careful trying to be too crafty with book purchases. One big-name author (and his agent, who apparently masterminded the whole thing) got into hot water a few years ago for buying cases of his book through a certain bookstore. He did this in order to manipulate public opinion by purchasing enough quantities to get his book onto the best seller list. (And it worked.) They got caught when people noticed there were a ton of orders coming from one store, and figured out what was going on. What you're basically saying is that you're willing to pay more than you need in order to make the book appear to sell more. If you get caught, people are going to wonder if you're honest. Is it worth it?

Aloha! 

So I've have several people write to ask what my "best" blogs were. To this point I've had to answer them, "Um… beats me." I figure people with writing and publishing questions come on and read this, then maybe go back through old posts to find helpful information (there's a list of topics over on your right, in case you want to search something like "proposals" or "conferences"). So I asked my trusty assistant Amanda to look back over the last couple of years worth of blogs and find the top ten. Here are suggestions for the top ten (and not all hers — I'm going to stick in the time my buddy Andy Meisenheimer from Zondervan blogged, since it was brilliant and everybody loved it, and I'm going to include the blog from the folks at Novel Journey, since they had such good things to say):