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. Her author marketing book, The Extroverted Writer, is available from Amazon andBarnes & Noble.

Last night was our GET PUBLISHED teleseminar with Michael Hyatt. What a great time, talking business and answering questions! It was a blast.

We weren’t able to get to some of the submitted questions, so I’ve gone ahead and answered them below. Would love your thoughts on what was discussed during the teleseminar, or what is talked about below.

And don’t forget! We have a special opportunity for friends (that’s you!) of MacGregor Literary. 

Michael Hyatt, former CEO and Chairman of Thomas Nelson Publishers (one of the largest publishers in the world), has recently released a comprehensive solution for authors called GET PUBLISHED. It’s a 21 session audio program, accessible online, that distills Michael’s 30+ years of publishing knowledge into a step-by-step guide to help authors get published and launch a successful career, even perhaps a bestseller!

Michael is offering a special limited time discount on GET PUBLISHED. Not only can you save significantly on the program, you’ll also get access to several bonuses worth over $150. Bonuses include items such as Michael’s popular “How to Write a Winning Book Proposal” ebook and more.

For details and to take advantage of this special offer, go to http://michaelhyatt.com/getpublishedoffer

(Note: This discount offer is only available through April 17).

Okay, on to those questions!

Brooke asks: What makes an agent take a chance on a first-time author?

When we fall in love with a fiction author’s story idea and writing, or when we see the potential of the book idea, writing, AND platform of a nonfiction author.

Mark asks: What do you think about publishing a “book” as a series of blog postings over time, or self-publishing a free e-book, rather than through traditional publishers?  If the purpose is to gain readers/audience, what is the best way to collect that information?  And then what do you do with it (esp in terms of monetization)?

I think this can be a great idea of done right (great cover, professionally edited, targeted to a focused audience). If you publish through an epublishing site, you should keep track of your sales numbers, and in terms of monetizing it, you’ll be able to set a price for your items, which will make the whole thing a bit more worth your while.

Terri asks: What are the most effective ways to attract your audience to a blog or website? I’ve previously produced blogs and ended up spending too much time on the content compared to the number of views received.  Also, what recommendations do you have on balancing the time demands of building platform vs. completing works in progress?

First, it takes time to grow a readership. I don’t know how long you pursued your blog, but it’s going to take 1-2 years or more to build a solid following. There are many ways to grow a readership (I have a whole section on this in my book), but the easiest is to find other blogs that hit the same readership as your own and spend time there leaving comments and interacting with others. You can also do giveaways, include the right SEO, and attend blogging conferences where you can team up with other bloggers and present a unified front. Really, the ideas go on and on.

If you’re serious about growing your blog, you should spend half your time writing and the other half going out and getting your readers. Depending on how long it takes you to craft a blog post, this could be tricky. But if it takes you an hour to write a post, you may want to spend an afternoon knocking a bunch out and then 30 or 45 minutes every day, going out and interacting with your potential audience.

Melissa asks: We see many big name authors supplementing their income by self-publishing titles themselves along with their traditional books, at what point do you think authors should consider this route? Do you think it will harm their career or enhance it?

I think this is a great idea if they do it right and are willing to pay for a great cover, great edit, etc. Too many authors dial it in. It needs to be professionally done, but then they also need to realize that in order for the book to be a success, they need to promote it like crazy—no one is going to stumble upon the book on a store shelf. And of course they also need to make sure that epublishing won’t violate any contracts they have with publishers.

Anne asks: Please comment on how the rapid changes in publishing, stimulated by e-publishing, have affected quality, increased competition, and whether this necessitates amp-ing it up with a paid edit before submission.

There’s a lot more competition all around, but I don’t think paying an editor to clean up your manuscript is the solution. I think hunkering down and truly learning the craft and taking time with your ms is where it’s at. Too many authors want to write only one or two drafts and then be done. The business requires more than that these days…especially if you’re a debut author.

C asks: I’ve had five commercially-published romance novels and I can’t seem to get another contract. Would you recommend my self-publishing some e-books (romance novellas)?

Absolutely. You don’t want to lose your current readership, and you need to make money. If your agent supports it, I think this is a great option. But don’t do it flippantly. Be serious about it, because if your sales are strong enough this could help you get back in with a traditional house.

Jeremy asks: I’ve been looking for an agent for my first ms via the query method with no success.  I have been thinking about going to a conference, but the cost is quite high.  Is there any other way to acquire an agent for the Christian Market?  Are conferences worth the expense?

Conferences are absolutely worth the expense, and there are so many that there’s probably one relatively close to you. It’s only at a conference that I can truly feel comfortable with the authors who are pitching me, and I’m much more likely to sign someone after meeting them at a conference than if I were to simply read a query from them. It’s that face-to-face aspect that changes everything.

Greg asks: It seems that literary agents are very busy and as a first time author how do we get their attention?

Try to attend a conference or see if we’re active on Twitter and other social media sites. But still…conferences are where it’s at.

Jane asks: I heard a popular author say that you don’t have to be a GREAT writer, just persistent. Do you agree or disagree?

If we’re talking about having a traditional publishing career, then I disagree. Editors have a lot on their plate, and more and more they’re looking for projects that require minimal edits. There will always be exceptions to the rule, but overall, a GREAT manuscript has much more potential than a so-so manuscript written by a persistent author.

*Note: MacGregor Literary is not profiting from this reccomendation nor is this an affiliate link. We only recoomend GET PUBLISHED because we truly believe in it’s impact as a resource for authors and because of the vast knowledge that Michael Hyatt provides.

I’ve been using the past couple week to try and blow through a bunch of publishing questions people have asked, offering shorter-than-usual answers to try and get people the information they need. For example, one writer asked this: “I’ve heard that requested materials get put toward the top of the slush pile in most cases, but does this still mean a 3 month response time from most agents?”

If you ask ten agents “what’s the average response time to a submission,” you’ll probably get ten different responses. Just remember what your mom always told you: patience is a virtue. My guess is that, for most of the agents out there, the response time varies based on how busy we are at the time. Some months (like December and July, for example) are slow months for publishing, so all of us get to catch up on our queries and proposals. But yes, most of us are sure to look at requested materials ahead of the slush pile. I try to respond to every query within a month. I try to respond to every requested proposal faster – as soon as I can get to it. In most cases, that’s about two weeks, sometimes three. But no, I’m not perfect, and sometimes things take longer.

Another writer sent this question my way: “I have a question for all you hardworking agents out there. [Note: Though the author of this question has aimed it at "hardworking" agents, I decided to answer it anyway.] When you get a submission from an unpublished author who has requests from several publishers, do you prefer if the author wait to see if you want to offer representation before she or he sends those submissions into the requesting editors? Or does it not matter?”

No question about this one—I much prefer the author wait. The thing is, I’ve been working in this business a long time. I’m fairly confident I can take your proposal and improve it. I know I can take it and shape it for a particular house. And since you only get one chance to make a first impression, you’re going to want to make your proposal as strong as possible before sending it to a publisher.

Besides, even though an editor has said something to you at a conference about “sure, send it to me,” a proposal coming from a writer’s conference may not actually jump to the top of the editor’s in-box. There are plenty of editors who get weary of saying “no” at conferences, and siply say “send it” to make authors go away. However, a proposal coming from an experienced, trusted agent (someone the editor has done business with in the past) is probably going to be reviewed quickly. A good agent ought to add value to your proposal. So I’d prefer an author not short-circuit the process by sending something that may be incomplete or not as strong as it could be.

And one person wrote to say, “A couple of years ago, I published a historical romance through a POD company. In order to make it a ‘different’ book and republish elsewhere, how much would I have to change the actual story? I know I’d have to change the title, and I will try to have the POD publisher release their rights, but if they don’t…”

First, pull out your contract and see what it says. You may have the right to pull it out of POD circulation. That would solve your problem.

Second, if you have one of those publishing contracts that was apparently written by lawyers from Mars, have your agent or a lawyer look it over. You may be able to negotiate your way out of it.

Third, if you’re hoping to re-sell your book to a regular, royalty-paying publisher, you will have to get out of the POD contract before you pitch it. One publisher isn’t going to offer you a contract if your book is still for sale via another publisher. Changing the title and a percentage of the content is not enough, unfortunately. Once a project is in print, it will usually need to go out of print before it can be republished.

Fourth, if your book is under contract, the terms of that deal are binding until that contract is canceled or superseded. To cancel a contract usually takes both parties to agree. The good news is that many of the older POD companies would readily agree to cancel their agreement once an author received a royalty-paying deal from an established publisher. The bad news is that things have changed, and many publishers are no longer willing to part with assets unless there is a payment made to them. (Lesson to all writers? Be very careful before signing a contract. That’s a legally binding document that will govern all rights to your work for the life of it.)

Would love to hear your stories (both good and bad) about your submissions or POD contracts you’ve faced.

Someone wrote to ask, “What is the most important thing I need to know about marketing my book?”

To me, the most important thing for you to grasp as an author is that you are responsible for marketing your book. Not the publicist. Not the marketing manager. Not even the publishing house. YOU.

Think of it this way: Who has the most at stake with this book, you or the publisher? (You do.) Who is more passionate about it, you or the publisher? (You are.) Who knows the message best, you or the publisher? (You.) I think an author should work with his or her publisher’s marketing department as much as possible. Make yourself available. Say “yes” to everything they ask. Express appreciation every time they do something that helps market your book. But then go do everything as though it all depended on you, because it does. Whatever the publicist does for you is gravy. YOU are responsible for marketing your own book. Don’t leave it to some young college grad who has 17 other projects to market. 

Someone else asked, “Since it seems like anyone can get a book published today through self-publishers, how do I make sure my book gets the needed exposure?”

I’m one of those who thinks that many self-published books don’t really seem as if they are really “published.” They post their book on Amazon, then sit and watch it not sell. And most people who actually self-publish (that is, pay to have an ink-and-paper book, rather than just an ebook) lose money because they don’t know how to market and sell their own book. So if you want to really sell some copies, whether you are self-pubbed or published through a regular royalty-paying publisher, you’ve got to understand basic marketing principles. I suggest authors purchase some basic marketing books (such as a textbook from Philip Kotler and Gary Armstrong, or Frances Brassington and Stephen Pettitt), in order to give them a conceptual framework for what marketing is. Maybe take a class at the local community college, or look for online marketing training. Then you can invest in some of the “how to market your book” titles available at Barnes & Noble. But the most important thing is to put together a planned strategy, so that you aren’t just trying to think up stuff on the fly as your book releases.

The key principle for anybody doing marketing of their own book is simple: Figure out where your potential readers are going, then go get in front of them. If you’re doing a book on lowering cholesterol, research to find out what websites people with high cholesterol are visiting, what blogs they’re reading, what magazines and e-zines they’re checking out, what the most popular sites for information sharing are. That’s the first step. The second is to get yourself involved with those venues. Those are the keys to getting exposure.

I’ve had a few people write to me and say, in essence, “I have a background in a field outside of publishing, and I’m fairly well known. How much does that help me when I seek to market my book? Does having a platform outside of writing help me market my book?”

 It does if you write a book that reflects on your platform. For example, let’s say you are really well known among scrapbookers. You’ve written articles in scrapbooking magazines, created new scrapbooking ideas, and been interviewed and profiled. People who are into scrapbooking know who you are. If you write a book on scrapbooking, your platform obviously helps. If you write a book on knitting… not so much. If you write a book on the history of Albania, not at all.

And again, because we have so many novelists as readers of this blog, one of the ignored truths of publishing is that an author can’t really move from nonfiction to fiction and take a readership along. So if you are a world-class scrapbooker, and you do a bestselling book on creating scrapbooks, that’s great. But if you then write a novel about a woman who scrapbooks… it’ll be a tough sell. Nonfiction readers just don’t cross over to read that much fiction. By the same token, fiction readers aren’t that interested in nonfiction books by novelists. (Yeah, yeah… YOU are. But you’re a writer.) It’s really tough for even a bestselling author to cross genres and have success. So no, in general having a platform outside of your writing won’t help all that much. (And here I should point out that numerous readers reminded me that Mike Hyatt, the former president of Thomas Nelson and I guy I really admire, wrote recently that an author’s platform might be overstated in our culture. I don’t know if the people who have worked for him really believe that, but I read his blog at www.michaelhyatt.com, and I wholeheartedly agree with his point that the BEST thing an author can do is to write a fabulous manuscript.)

Finally, one person in Europe asked, “What should I do to help create a platform for myself if I don’t live in the US?”

I’ve noted here before that it’s tough to be successful in the US book market if you don’t live here. It’s not impossible, but it’s difficult because you’re not around to be a face on TV shows or to be interviewed live on radio. So I’d suggest you begin to explore social networking and article writing on the web. That’s the most likely channel to help you develop a following in the States.

Got a question about writing and publishing? Bung it along and I’ll try to bring some wisdom to it.

We’ve been hosting some guest bloggers recently, and I wanted you to hear from John Robinson, an author who has been taking his out-of-print novels and putting them up as ebooks on Amazon…

The 60′s rock group Steppenwolf (yes, I’m that old — bite me) had a line in one of their songs that went, “It’s never too late to start all over again.” And at age sixty, that’s exactly what I’m doing with the first book of my Joe Box trilogy.  

A bit of history: Way back in 2002 I came up with a crazy idea… what would happen if I took a rough-cut, world-weary private eye (one of my favorite genres to read), and then, through a life crisis, got him religion? How would his life change? How could he (or even would he) manage to balance his admittedly gritty profession with his new walk of faith? To me, that was a great set-up to a story. 

The idea grew, and we were off to the races. The result was a former alcoholic cop turned PI named Joe Box, and the book was called Until the Last Dog Dies. I made Joe an amalgamation of guys I knew growing up — policemen, Vietnam vets, smartasses, and drunks — and then gave him a shadowy past, a high IQ he keeps hidden, and a lonely heart he keeps buried deeper still. I thought he’d make a terrific character for the CBA market… the prodigal son returns.

I was wrong.

I sent him out to every CBA house I could think of, and each time the reply would come back, “John, you can write, no question, but this guy, Joe Box… no. No way. Most of our readers are women, and he’s going to scare them to death. If you write something else–ANYTHING else–we’ll be happy to take a look at it. But not this guy.”

The problems was, I didn’t want to write something else. I had more stories about “this guy” in the wings. I was on the verge of throwing in the towel when the very last house I queried finally read it, got it, and offered me a three-book deal.

Happy ending, right? Not so fast. Right as Until the Last Dog Dies was going to press, the house was sold, and the new owners rather joyfully told me they had no idea how to sell fiction. But they said they’d sure give it the old college try. The net result was that the book died a quiet, peaceful death, as did the next two I was under contract for. And there they sat, ready but unread.

Jump ahead to today. I now have the rights back to all three Joe Box novels, and they’re all up on Kindle at three bucks a pop. And, as they say on late night TV, “But wait… there’s more!” On Monday and Tuesday, February 11th and 12th, the first book will be absolutely free. As in zip, nada, no charge.

“But why, John?” some of you might say. “Have you gone crazy?” Well, yeah, most likely, but that has nothing to do with my offering my book for free. I figure that after two days of my novel being free, word might get out that it’s a pretty good read, and some people will pony up the three bucks for their own copy. Like my logic? I hope so, since Chip asked me to tell this story in order to let other writers see what I’ve gone through. I took the book, did some editing, got it formatted, and posted it myself on Amazon. It’s not terribly difficult, but there are certainly some hoops to jump through. 

Will it work? That’s up to you, dear reader. Here’s the link: http://tinyurl.com/bbbejh8 , so spread the word.

And now it’s time for me to slide into some elephant bells and love beads, fire up the lava lamp, and slip some Steppenwolf onto the turntable. Pax, man. The 60′s rule. 

-John Robinson

I’ve had more than a dozen people write to ask me about the new self-publishing service Jerry Jenkins has set up through his company, CWG. I’ve looked into it, read the stories, studied the comments, and four thoughts have come to my mind.

First, Jerry Jenkins is not a con man. I don’t understand the vitriol being leveled at a guy who wants to help authors get their books published, and make a buck while doing so. Some people in CBA are acting as though there’s been some breach of faith — as though this is a sign of the end-times, and the world’s most famous apocalyptic writer is behind it. Look, Jerry and I aren’t friends, but we’re certainly friendly — I’ve gotten to know him a bit over the years, and was at the literary agency that represented his LEFT BEHIND series that sold 70 million copies. It’s not like we’re hanging out together, and I have to leap to the defense of the guy… but give me a break — he’s made a pile of money, doesn’t need to bilk anyone, and has basically run his Christian Writers Guild as a service, not as a money-maker. I can tell you from firsthand experience that he’s honest and fair, and a much nicer guy than, say, me (who would be calling these people nasty names if they said those things about me). He’s not out to con anyone.

Second, Jerry Jenkins is a businessman. His name and celebrity certainly draws in potential writers, and the long list of people who have participated in CWG classes, conferences, and training creates a perfect list for potential self-published authors. How is that unethical? (For the record, PW asked me for a quote about all of this, and I told them I didn’t have much to say. It’s pretty much the same as what Thomas Nelson did with Westbow, or what Rick Christian did with Bondfire.) If a well-known author wants to start a service to help people self-publsih, why would I be up in arms? I’m not really enthusiastic about all the attendant marketing copy (claiming that there are piles of great unpublished CBA manuscripts crying out for a publisher is more marketing hype than actual fact, in my view),  but there’s nothing inappropriate or unethical about it. It’s a business.

Third, the service is certainly expensive. My defense of Jerry and CWG is not to be seen as a wholehearted endorsement for their program. The cost is apparently $10,000 to get some writing training, a substantive edit, a copy edit, a cover, and the book posted as an ebook and available as a print-on-demand. If you checked into it, you could get all that done for a third of that cost, so it’s not something I’ll be encouraging a bunch of writers to do. But so what? Some people want a turn-key operation, since it’s easier than doing it all yourself. And the folks who do it will probably trust the process better than if they were working with free-lancers. Hey, some people want to eat steak at Ruth’s Chris, others at Outback, and still others with a hunk of dead cow they bought at Wal-Mart… I’m failing to see how offering choices is a bad thing. Sure, if they’re caught scamming people down the road, I’ll be first in line to criticize them — but I don’t see that happening. Again, I’ve always found Jerry and the team at CWG to be people of integrity. So lighten up with the uncalled-for criticisms.

Fourth, I’m dismayed how the anonymity of the internet seems to bring out the worst in people. The nastiness of the comments I’ve seen, many of them personal, are certainly disappointing. I poke fun of things on this blog, but try to stay away from personal attacks on people. I worry that the influence of Rush Limbaugh, Fox News, and the consonant responses from MSNBC and The Daily Show have generated a nastiness in our public discourse. We saw it during the presidential elections, we see it on a daily basis on TV, and its filtered into our personal communications. The lack of civility in comments from “Christian” writers is dismaying. The lack of listening is alarming.

A case in point: I recently said “the shooting in Newtown has me re-thinking handgun control laws.” I didn’t call for any big changes, but said I was considering things, in light of the tragedy. To me, that’s a reasonable reflection… Instead, you’d have thought I had tattooed Ted Kennedy’s face to my chest. People came onto the site to argue gun control as a sort of spiritual evil. One author fired me over my comment. People didn’t want to reflect or listen — they wanted to shout their point, then go home, angry.

That’s a perspective that amazes me. I generally try to stay away from the really volatile topics online — abortion, gay marriage, politics, etc. But when I’ve made even moderately political statements (such as saying that George W Bush, while a nice guy, wasn’t really a great president), I had my salvation questioned. To me, that’s an opinion, there’s adequate evidence to support it, and the support of one political party doesn’t make one a Christian or non-Christian. It’s okay to disagree sometimes. So I just want to encourage people to tone down the vitriol over this topic. Jerry Jenkins isn’t going to be scamming anyone, and will probably offer very good help to those who can afford the hefty price tag. In my world, that’s a perfectly acceptable path to take.

While on an agent’s panel at ACFW in September, I sat next to Lee Hough, one of the smartest and hardest working agents in the business. While we all fielded the typical questions we get as panelists, someone asked a question about the current state of affairs in publishing, and how agents are faring.

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.

Amazon’s KDP Select program (part of their Kindle Direct Publishing platform) comes with a lot of strings. First, the author must agree not to have their book published elsewhere for a period of 90 days. Second, they must agree to have their book be part of the Lending Library Program. And third, they have to be ok with the fact that there’s no set structure for payment of titles lent out through the Lending Library. You basically just get a portion of the money pool based on how many books you lent in comparison to the total number of books lent (quite a mouthful).

In exchange for all of this, you get 5 days to offer your book for free on Amazon.

Is it worth it? Absolutely. But only if you’re smart about it.

Amazon is designed in such a way that the more an item sells, the more air time it gets. And the more air time it gets, the more it sells. This happens through their recommendation program (that list of Amazon Recommendations that appears at the bottom of a product page) and their “Customers who bought this also bought…” program. When your book hits these promotional venues, it can find fans who never knew you or it even existed. And if priced right, shoppers will throw your book in their cart, assuming that since they like Joe Schmoe, they’ll like you.

So what does this have to do with KDP Select? Everything. KDP Select is the quickest way to get your book air time. When it gets air time, it will start selling. And when it starts selling as few as 300 or 400 copies a month, Amazon starts recognizing it and lists it as a recommended product and such.

But how do you ensure your book gets air time through KDP Select? Well, you need to make it on to the Kindle Top 100 FREE Best Seller list. Preferably, near the top.

HOW TO HIT THE KINDLE BEST SELLER LIST

1. Make sure it’s the right genre. Mysteries, romances…straight category fiction does really well in the ebook format, because let’s face it: most ebook readers are people who are traveling or people who read purely for entertainment. Not because they’re looking to change the world or themselves or become better people.

2. Give your book a great cover. Keep in mind that the Kindle store keeps covers very small. Almost thumbnail size. So make sure the title stands out by making it large and dark. Images don’t have to be as visible…they just have to be alluring enough to get someone to click on the cover and see a larger size. And whatever you do, don’t skimp on quality. This is one of the few of the costly aspects of the ebook process that is essential to success. So pay a professional or find a college student and pay him. Do what it takes to get a great, professional-looking cover.

3. Give your book a great description, complete with reviews. Don’t punk out and slap up your book’s back cover copy in the description section. Think of this more as your only chance to sell the book to a customers. So really work the copy, including reviews, links and whatever it takes to prove it’s a great read. This is also a great opportunity to link to other books in the series or other books that you’ve written. I guarantee you’ll see those sales go up, too.

4. Use up all of the FREE days at once. It’s tempting to spread your days out over time, but what I’ve found is that you get much more out of your days if you use them at once. This is because you give your book more time to build interest and reach people. You also give it more time to climb the best seller list. I’d say the best days for doing a promotion are probably Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. But you can play with it and find what works for your readers.

5. Have a marketing campaign in place. Just like we discussed last week, a steady marketing campaign complete with guest blog posts, blog tours, ReTweets and more gets people to pay attention to your book. I’ve also found that updating those you know on its status (example: We’re now #7 on the best seller list! Tell your friends so we can hit #6!) helps mobilize people toward action.

6. Make sure the price is right for when the FREE days are over. The last thing you want is for momentum to die. So, make sure your book is reasonably priced for when it FREE days are over. $4.99 and less works best, though I’d probably keep it under $2.99. A lower price will keep people buying it, therefore perpetuating how long it sits in the spotlight.

These are tried and true, folks, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t more good strategies out there. I’d love to hear your thoughts and also any questions you may have on the process!

Kevin wrote to say, "I'm about to negotiate my own book contract! What is important for me to know?"

If you're at the stage of negotiating your own publishing contract, congratulations. It means you've created a strong proposal, shopped it to publishing houses, and found an editor interested in your work. Those are huge hurdles, so you've already done well. Now what's going to happen is that the publisher is going to approach you with some details and numbers. Let me offer a handful of thoughts for you…

1. Have a Plan. A contract negotiation isn't just a bunch of random conversations, helping two people move things forward. It's one piece of a larger discussion about your book — how both sides view its value, what it will pay, how it's going to be produced and marketed, etc. Therefore, do your homework before you go into the negotiation. You should have researched what the market is paying (so you get a fair deal, but you don't ask for the moon), you should know what rights you want to keep or give away, and you should have a familiarity with the issues that will be involved in a publishing contract. All of this takes time (and all of this is why authors get agents who, presumably, know this stuff).

2. Take a Positive Approach. Too many people seem to have learned all their negotiation strategies from watching television dramas — the two high-powered lawyers point fingers, pound the table, make demands, and generally act like jerks. That's not an approach that's going to work very often in publishing. From my point of view, you have to develop a relationship with the person you're going to negotiate with. That way there's a sense of trust on both sides. You really want to establish some rapport with the person you're negotiating with, so that you both keep in mind the big picture of making this a successful book. Think of it this way: would you rather buy insurance from a trusted friend who happens to sell insurance, or from some stranger who shows up at your door? All of us prefer doing business with people we know. So approach your contract negotiation in a spirit of cooperation, rather than a spirit of confrontation.

3. Think Win/Win. The publishing of books is a business, so put away all your thoughts about just being helpful or friendly, and approach this as strictly business. Believe me, the publisher will take this approach. The goal isn't just to "win," but to help both sides feel as if they're winning. The publisher needs to be able to sell the book at a profit. The author needs to be able to make a living. From the start of your discussions, let both sides be thinking of winning, of doing well, of making this project succeed. Again, television dramas have a tendency to make it seem as though one side must win and the other must lose. In the real world, that doesn't work. I want every publisher I deal with to be successful. I want them to make money, to sell lots of books, and to want to work with me on other projects. So as you're putting your plan together, don't just focus on "how can I get this deal to my advantage?", but think of "how I can help the publisher succeed?" If both of you come out of this negotiation feeling good, you've set yourself up for a healthy long-term relationship.

More on this topic tomorrow… but feel free to ask questions about negotiations. 

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.