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I’ve written about royalty rates several times, and I usually avoid using actual numbers because royalty rates are varied across types of publishers, types of books, and book formats. But people keep asking me, so I’ll try to explain a little more clearly here. Royalty rates are calculated either on the retail (or cover) price…

One of the things I often discuss with my clients is their writing and publishing schedule—making sure their manuscript due dates are spread out enough so they can meet their deadlines. This requires honesty and self-awareness from each writer, because they have to be able to realistically predict how long it will take them to…

Blog reader Sue Harrison said: I’ve found myself in a frustrating situation with a publisher regarding the definition of “out-of-print” [and not being able to obtain] a reversion of rights to two of my novels. These novels have earned back their advances but are no longer available to the public. I’m guessing this situation has…

1. A day without sunshine is like night. 2. On the other hand, you have different fingers. 3. Forty-seven percent of all statistics are made up on the spot. 4. Ninety-nine percent of lawyers give the rest a bad name. 5. Remember, half the people you know are below average. 6. He who laughs last,…

I love answering questions about writing and publishing. For example, blog reader R.D. Allen asked: Once you have an agent, do you have to query them the same way for your next books as you did the first? And my answer is this: It depends on whether your agreement was that the agent would represent…

A couple times recently I’ve asked you questions that encourage you to decide why you’re writing. (See If You Had to Choose, and What is Success?) I’ve been asking you to identify the goal at the heart of your writing journey—are you seeking to reach a wide audience with your words, or is it more…

Denise Grover Swank asked: What should an author do if they are offered a contract from a small publisher but don’t have an agent? → Do your best to understand it. Be ready ahead of time by reading (and maybe even printing out and keeping in a notebook) all the blog posts you can find…

Last week I did a post giving a cursory glance at a few important clauses in publishing contracts. It would take a whole book to go into detail on contracts, so on this blog I’m just trying to get you familiar with some of the basics. Today I’m going to answer some of the questions…

It’s no secret that things are changing so fast in the publishing industry – along with the entire culture – that it’s difficult to know where we’ll be in a year, let alone five or ten years from now. Some people are pessimistic about the future of publishing, but I don’t listen much to the…

If you’ve been reading my blog and other agent blogs for awhile, you’re aware that the agent-client relationship can be a wonderful, long-term, productive association, but like any important relationship, it’s not always easy. Sometimes it takes work to make it succeed. It has a better chance of working well if each of you has…

I’ve been negotiating quite a few contracts lately, and you’d be surprised how this aspect of an agent’s job stays constantly interesting. Publishers are always changing their contracts in small and large ways, needing more and more to protect their interests in this difficult economy, so agents have to stay diligent in making sure their…

“When am I going to stop feeling so bad about rejecting people?” My husband muted the football game. “What?” “When am I going to get thicker skin? When is it going to get easier for me to tell people no?” Okay, I probably should’ve waited until half-time to get into this conversation. But I’d written…

By now most people either know how to use Twitter, or they hate the whole idea of it and have sworn to never go over to the dark side. Wherever you stand, I’m not going to try to change your mind. But if you’re using Twitter, I have a couple of helpful hints, based on…

Since you’re reading this blog, I assume you’re probably pretty good at knowing your way around the computer. This is a very good thing! It’s vitally important that you’re comfortable with technology. You should also know that the standard program used by publishers in working with manuscripts is Microsoft Word. I don’t want to hear…