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Four Ways to Untangle Your Writing Life

Image/FreeDigitalPhotos.net There’s something about chaos in my home office that infuriates me.

As I attempted to help my husband install a new computer, the jumbled mess of wires overwhelmed me. Lying on the floor, flat on my back, reaching under my desk, I needed more than a flashlight and my glasses to see where to plug in the cables. I wanted something to calm my frazzled nerves.

At times, I also find myself overwhelmed with the tangled web of my writing life. I have so many projects going at once that I can’t focus on the most important ones.

So, how do we unravel the emotions and confusion of our writing lives?

Stop and take inventory. As I inspected the knotted wires behind my desk, I saw that each wire needed to be threaded back through a narrow space under my desk and poked through a small round cutout in the desktop, before I could connect my new PC. I took a deep breath and thought about my angry reaction to my husband’s request. We had purchased the new computer for my writing needs, and he needed me to crawl under the desk because of his old college knee injuries.

Since I tend to overreact at times, my routine frustration over my harried writing schedule serves as a warning sign for me to stop and reassess my priorities. I try to remember to seek God first for guidance. Have I made too many commitments again? Do I need to redefine the boundaries of my work and my everyday life? 

Make some space. After we pulled the computer desk away from the wall to allow space to work, I found that the electrical supplies to my paper shredder, stapler, hole-puncher, and phone charger complicated my task. I unplugged all of them and moved the equipment, so I could focus on just the computer wiring.

Sometimes I also need to back away from my writing life to gain perspective, especially before making new commitments. My other activities, projects, and life issues contribute to my inability to manage my time. I’ve considered enrolling in the course, “Managing Multiple Priorities,” but I could never find the time.

Sort through the maze. Before I unplugged our old computer, I decided to tag each cord at its connection to each device. Then, I sorted the cables and bundled the wires with plastic ties. 

Prioritizing my writing projects requires more than plastic cable ties. The process motivates me to evaluate my passions and interests to see if each project meshes with my overall plans. My impulsivity often leads me astray. And someone else’s requests can produce unnecessary and avoidable stress.

Go forward. After installing my new unit, I expressed my appreciation to my husband for his help, and I thanked the Lord for giving me the patience and the helping hands I needed.

The writing life offers temptations and distractions daily. I’d prefer to believe that I have my writing life in order. But with every new task, I experience a learning curve. I’m well aware that I’m still a work in progress.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith …
(Heb. 12:1 NIV1984).

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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Fear, Hit the Road!

Admit it. You’re scared.

No matter how many times you’ve been published, no matter how many awards you’ve won, no matter how many manuscripts you have finished and waiting in your files, no matter if you’ve never let any of your writing see the light of day…in the far reaches of your mind there’s a voice screaming, “What in the world do you think you’re doing?!?!?!?”

You know, if you let it, fear and panic will freeze you in your tracks.

What do you do with it? Ignore it? Hope it will go away? Tell yourself the next step on the road to publication will finally silence it?

What are we so afraid of, anyway?

We’re afraid someone is going to find out we’re a poser. The little dog is going to pull back the curtain and everyone will see who we really are…and that person is just me.

Not Agatha Christie, or Shakespeare, or Dickens. Not Beverly Lewis, or J.K. Rowling, or Gilbert Morris…

just me.

I’m not a writer. Who do I think I am?

Eventually, someone is going to expose me, and then where will I be?

On my way back to Kansas in an old balloon.

What do we do about it?

Some of us try to build up that flimsy curtain. We think if we write better, faster, switch genres, get the right agent, the right editor, the curtain will withstand prying eyes. We become desperate, frantic in our efforts to be good enough to withstand the pressure when we’re finally found out.

But what should we do?

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.

Joshua 1:9 ESV

Joshua was in a pickle. He had enjoyed some success as the military leader of Israel, but Moses was always there to stand between him and God. Moses was the one who knew what he was doing, who talked to God face to face, who always knew the next step to take.

But now Moses was gone. You can imagine Joshua’s panic. He was supposed to lead these people now?

He had been given the mantle of responsibility, and he had no choice. Read the first nine verses of Joshua again.

What has God called us to be? Most of us reading this blog have felt that hand on our shoulder, that irresistible whisper, that compelling urge to express in words the truths God has laid on our hearts to convey.

We have no choice. We must write.

Three times in these nine verses, the Lord tells Joshua, “Be strong and courageous.” It isn’t an option, it’s a command.

“Have I not commanded you?”

It isn’t a choice.

We don’t have a choice, either. If God has commanded us to act, we must act.

Fear has no place here. It has no foothold.

And we won’t be alone.

“Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened and do not be dismayed…”

Why?

“…for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Fear, hit the road. I’m no poser, I’m the writer God has called me to be.

 

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Surviving the Summer and Social Media

Let’s talk about how hard it is to get things done right now. Ugh!! Personally, I have been battling getting things done because I am so busy with summer activities, or the heat makes me lethargic (and it’s been a HOT one). For those of you writers who are also parents, your life is especially tricky because the kids are out of school. I just got back from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, and I am late with this post. Summer can dish out some unexpected adventures. Remember to be prepared. Learn from me, and I am sorry to those who are a victim of my summer.

Summer in Pine Ridge
photo by Amanda Jensen Photography

I decided to make a list of my best tricks for making summer social media survivable.

First.

Schedule whatever you can ahead of time. Block off time to work for a few hours on social media, and do yourself a favor if you are living in Denver: find the nearest icebox with Wi-Fi and work there. Seriously, take time out and work in a isolated place where you can knock a BUNCH of work out.

Schedule your Facebook posts. Did you notice that with the latest update you can schedule and date your posts? It’s kind of the coolest thing ever!

Second.

GUEST BLOG!! Ask people to blog for you, and you should extend the same courtesy to others. This is the best way to skip a little and give a little. The best thing about guest blogging is that you are able to cross-market with some of your author friends/co-conspirators.

Third.

Take advantage of being outside.  You can take some epic pictures with Instagram and use them in your future blog posts.  Be creative and take trips that could be relative to your blogs.  Strategize.  (If you missed my blog about how to use Instagram, find it here.)

Summer in Telluride

Fourth.

Remember that people are not on Social Media quite as much in the summer.  The times that trend are a little bit different depending on your target audience.  More people are on later at night.  Try some test posts to see what time you are getting the best feed back.

Fifth.

Make sure you have all your accounts linked.  Tools like this plug-in make things easier. Link your Twitter to Facebook and your blog to both.

I hope you all survive the heat and have many summer adventures the next month.

What is your best trick to survive the summer? What makes social media easier when you are busy?

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Publishing Is Publishing

This Fourth of July, I watched the fireworks from the exotically landscaped grounds of a ritzy Malibu mansion overlooking Santa Monica Bay. I was admiring an Anna’s hummingbird perched in a tree that could have been invented by Dr. Suess when a beautiful woman I’d never met before came up to me to find out how to get her children’s books published.

“They rhyme,” she told me. She had written them together with her three children, whom she homeschooled.

She seemed sweet, one of those amazing moms who can take charge of all children present (in this case, at least twenty of them)—supervising them in the pool, sunscreening them on a schedule only she knew about, braiding hair to keep it out of faces, correcting their behavior toward one another, taking one to the bathroom, moving them en masse to the trampoline, seeing to it every last picky eater among them got something to eat, keeping track of the dog—and all the while initiate and maintain extended conversations with various of the adults present.

“Well,” I said. “I don’t have any experience whatsoever in children’s books. I write nonfiction for adults.”

“Yeah, but I heard you write, um, like, spiritual books.”

I nodded.

“And they’re published, aren’t they? So they’re, you know, regular books, right? Like, you can buy them in bookstores? I mean, publishing is publishing, isn’t it?”

It intrigued me that she was seeking my advice at all. I was such an oddity at that party. Visiting from Oklahoma. Not rich. The only woman present with grey hair. Not at all the sort of person someone like her would go to for advice about anything—except maybe birdwatching. I seemed to be the only one at the party paying attention to the magnificent hummingbirds and house finches and hawks whooshing around us.

But she was right, I guessed. Publishing is publishing. I recommended she get the latest edition of Writer’s Market.

“Did that already,” she said.

“And I think I’ve seen a special Writer’s Market just for kids’ books.”

“Got that too. Read it cover to cover.”

“Then you know what to do. Write a proposal that has all the parts they ask for and send it out to agents listed in the book who represent the sort of thing you’ve written.”

“You mean a query letter?”

“Yes, that too. I mean, for publishing adult nonfiction, you’d need a book proposal, but maybe with kids’ books you can get everything you need to say said in your query letter. Send it to agents who seem in the same place professionally as you are—that is, just beginning your career as a writer.”

“But don’t I need to copyright my stuff first? I mean, they could just steal my ideas.”

I said I didn’t think copyrighting was necessary. Why would an agent want to steal her ideas? “Agents make money from selling your book to publishers,” I told her, “not by stealing ideas and writing books of their own. They get fifteen percent of whatever you make. They want you to make money.”

She seemed unconvinced.

“Well,” I said, “Just do whatever it says to do in your children’s Writer’s Market.”

“I did all that,” she said. “So what do I do now?”

“You wait to hear back. And then, if you don’t get any takers, you revise and do it all again with another list of agents. If your stuff is good, eventually you’ll find someone who wants to represent you.”

“But how long should I wait? I mean, it’s been a few weeks already. Isn’t there anything else I can do?” This woman was a doer. As we spoke, she was rearranging the bowls of dips and crudités that the pool-wet children had left in disarray.

“No,” I told her. “Just write. Revise. Submit. And wait. That’s all I know about how to get published. Unless it’s different with children’s books. Which I’m guessing it isn’t. I mean, publishing is publishing, right?”

So what do you think? Is all publishing the same? If it’s different, how is it different? If it is the same, how is it the same?

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Thoughts on Publishing: What Would the Wright Brothers Do?

“If we worked on the assumption that

what is accepted as true really is true,

then there would be little hope for advance.”

~Orville Wright

A lot of hoopla surrounds the publishing industry, these days more than ever. In the midst of the business, it’s easy to forget the original dream and heart of the artist.

This is not a new phenomenon.

Nor is it unique to the publishing industry.

Take the Wright brothers, for example. I wonder if Orville and Wilbur had today’s airplane industry in mind when they first sketched out their dream to fly. I assume they were two wildly imaginative, brilliant brothers who had a knack for ingenuity, and who simply wanted to feel their feet leave the ground. Who simply wanted to fill their lungs with air free from the heavy, constant pull of gravity.

Sure, they must’ve been pleased to see the initial progress of their invention, how flight began to morph into bigger, stronger vehicles which allowed others to feel weightless freedom, too.

But what would they think now?

Of the pushing and shoving and security detail in airports? Of gunfire, like rain pouring from silver wings? Of hijackings? Of crashes? Of bankrupt airlines? Of their beautiful, wooden machine used as weapons of mass destruction on 9/11 nearly a century after liftoff?

Of course, modern-day airplanes are still a marvel. Their massive engines bring orphans into the arms of adoptive parents; soldiers into the embrace of waiting wives and newborns; food to the starving; medicine to the dying; peace to the war-torn; relief to the hopeless.

All of these things–the good and the bad–began with a dream which lolled around the hearts of two gangly boys for years, and which eventually tamed the winds on a lonely, sandy beach.

And so it is with the publishing business. A single page of script begins as it did with the Wright brothers, with a small dream in a great, big heart. From there, the dream takes flight. And after that, it becomes a part of the industry–an industry which carries words to distant places.

Some stories give life and hope.

Others tear down and destroy.

Much ado is made over the various branches of publishing: self, electronic, traditional, mainstream, Christian, small press, large press, and on and on and on. I suppose this is not new. But the industry is merely a vehicle for syntax to take flight.

Our job as authors is to keep the original dream alive, despite commercialism, competition, money, and what all the writing blogs say.

If you’re an author (like me) who follows Jesus, our job carries the even weightier responsibilities of strengthening, encouraging, and comforting. As Christ-followers, we must choose building up over being edgy for the sake of being edgy. We must choose loving accurately over nosediving into the murky waters of what itching ears would have us say.

Write brave, yes.

After all, neither flying nor faith are safe.

But write with prayer, precision, and while feeling the weight of the cross on our wrist.

*************

“The desire to fly is an idea handed down to us by our ancestors who, in their grueling travels across trackless lands in prehistoric times, looked enviously on the birds soaring freely through space, at full speed, above all obstacles, on the infinite highway of the air.”

~Orville Wright

*************

What about you?

How do you stay true to your dreams and the truth you long to pen upon blank pages?

How have the Wright brothers (re)impacted you today?

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Learning to Become a Writer Can Be a Very Rocky Road!

Do we modern civilized westerners really know what it is to travel along a rocky road?

I have just finished reading a book called The Friar of Carcassonne. It is a terrible tale of religious persecution and the horrors of the Catholic Church Inquisition in 13th century Languedoc, a region of southern France, and the famed land of the Cathars.

One very common feature of medieval life was that if you wanted to get from Rome to Paris or Paris to Carcassonne, your choices of transport were few. Horse and cart, riding a horse or donkey, or going by Shanks’s pony–in other words, foot-slogging weariness for hundreds of miles. And the highways and byways were either hard, rocky, dusty roads in summer or icy, frozen lanes and quagmires in winter. Both descriptions could be understood to be a rocky road.

Can I seriously liken my journey in becoming a writer to a rocky road experience? Honestly, I don’t think I can. Sitting in a comfortable study, shelves full of reference books to consult with and now in these, our marvelous times, having a window onto everything through the screen of my PC. A good wife to provide cups of coffee and hand-made sandwiches at my request, a safe environment outside should I want a breather, and even a tender mattress to lie upon should I get overworked and need a nap.

What can I say on this subject?

My second thought took me back to a summer morning twenty-five years ago. Slipping out of the English Lakes holiday cottage at five a.m., I was bound for Scafell Pike, England’s highest mountain. I had planned the trip many months before, pored over the ordnance survey maps to find the best way up to the summit while avoiding any obvious hazards and dangers en-route. I had planned it well. Made a list of all the equipment I needed, and not just needed for the climb, but also in case of emergency, accident, or injury. I wrote a route map and planned to give a copy to a responsible person who knew where I was going and what time I was expected to return and who also would know what to do in the unlikely event I didn’t come back at the appointed time.

The night before my intrepid adventure, I checked my equipment against the list. I made doubly sure that everything was in good order especially my handy fell walkers compass. Triple checked that I had enough food and drink. Had I packed a whistle to raise the alarm and a camera to record the good bits and a pair of binoculars to see what was up ahead?

It was a great day out. All was well. I got to the summit late morning, and there was no one else about. Most importantly, I got back safely and on time, so thankfully the mountain rescue folks weren’t needed.

For sake of argument, disregard the comfortable study and the peripheral luxuries that often accompany the writer’s life. Consider the following circumstances in comparison. If a writer starts out his or her journey in a lackadaisical fashion, then only failure can be the result. If I had started out on the climb up Scafell Pike without proper planning or management or the right equipment then perhaps I might not have returned. I might have encountered many pitfalls on the way for which I had made no contingency plans and thus suffered the consequences.

To avoid the rocky road, the apprentice writer must plan ahead carefully.

A daily timetable is a very good idea. Work out which part of the day is the most creative and productive for you. Don’t fall for the ‘you must get up at dawn to be a serious writer’ jab. If you are a nocturnal creature, write at night. But remember most bad novels were written just after a good lunch.

If you must, put a ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign on the door, so you can concentrate while you are being productive.

Make sure your ‘climbing’ materials are all in good working condition and you have all of the necessities.

Here’s a last tip. A trio of guys, Dibell, Scott Card, & Turco, wrote a book called How to Write a Million and it has helped me a lot over my years as a writer. Check it out!

How have you overcome ‘rocky road’ experiences as a writer? In life?

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Creative Venue Planning

If bookstores are the only place you’re signing and talking about your books, then you’re missing the boat.

Perhaps even literally.

In the last year, in addition to bookstores, I’ve talked and signed books at gift shops, diners, book club gatherings, Rotary Club breakfasts, libraries, senior community dinners, and summer festival booths. Since my novels are about a bird lover, I’ve also signed books at bird feeding supply stores and an annual birding meeting, not to mention an international owl festival, a regional hummingbird celebration, and the National Eagle Center. At every venue, I’ve sold more books than I have at any bookstore signing, not to mention the new readers I’ve found and the publicity such events generated.

So how do you pack your calendar with venues that will work hard for you? The answer is Creative Venue Planning, and here’s my three-step recipe:

  1. Look past your story, and instead, brainstorm your book’s topics. Like trying to identify keywords or tags for a blog, pulling out the topics, and even specific characters, in your book can lead you to new audiences and venues. Since my protagonist began birding as a child, I give talks about the importance of nature education for kids at family-oriented programs. A restaurant I included in one book happily hosted a signing for me, and displays my books in a prominent place. HINT: Does one of your characters run a small business? Your local Rotary Club or Chamber of Commerce might be delighted to have you come speak to them about how that plays into your novel. Many groups are eager for new ideas and personalities to book for their meetings. Find a link between them and your work, and you’ve got a foot in the door.
  2. Research opportunities. What groups in your community need speakers? My current goldmine is senior living communities who have busy activity calendars for their residents. Since many of my readers are older and enjoy birdwatching, speaking at these venues is a perfect fit for me. I’ve learned that many communities have on-site book clubs, too, and having an author (you!) available to join a gathering can mean a shortcut to your book being selected for reading. HINT: Would you be willing to talk to a high school class about something related to your book? Teachers are generally thrilled to have a guest speaker, and while you may not make any sales in the classroom, you can bet on word-of-mouth publicity (and perhaps a small fee from the school field trip budget!).
  3. Pick up the phone. Nothing beats personal contact when it comes to booking events at creative venues. Find the right person to ask (research on the internet or by phone) and prepare a short, convincing, sales pitch as to how they’ll benefit from your visit. Offer to email your photo, a brief bio, and talk description for their use in promotion. Take your bookmarks to hand out, and books to sell and sign.

What’s on your creative venue plan?

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Everybody’s Talking at Me

While preparing a class on dialogue recently, I came across a concept I hadn’t noticed or considered before: our character’s voice may change based on the situation they’re in.

Consider our own daily lives and the various situations we find ourselves in. If we have a day job, we speak in a different manner to our boss than we do our co-workers. If we’re in customer service, we often react differently with different customers. Some we can be playful and joke with. Others are strictly business and we maintain the professional decorum they demand, even if only non-verbally.

We take our cues from the situation and the person we’re talking to. Notice how polite and differential we are when a police officer pulls us over for speeding. And then how we complain to our friend about how unfair the cop was to give us a ticket.

Our attitude when speaking with our pastor is different from our attitude when working on an outreach with fellow church members.

If you’re a parent, your voice changes depending on the situation and the child. If we have several children and they span age groups from pre-school to adolescent, our kids start thinking we must have multiple personalities. We go from the loving parent taking care of bumps and scrapes to the red-faced tyrant wanting the bedroom cleaned to the strict disciplinarian who dares expect our teens adhere to a curfew. If the kids get into a dispute, they quickly learn that, as Bill Cosby said, “We don’t want justice, we want quiet!” And we frequently don’t care how we get it.

In my first novel, Journey to Riverbend, my female lead, Rachel, used different voices depending on her situation. I didn’t discover this until I was struggling to develop a stronger character arc for her and she revealed her voices to me during an interview I had with her. This sweet (I thought) young lady told me, in no uncertain terms, to go back and read the story. Rachel is a former prostitute trying to establish a dressmaking business while seeking to put her past behind her. At the same time, she’s finding her way as a new Christian and struggling with whether to let a man into her life.

As a businesswoman, her voice is polite and deferential, even as she steers customers away from choices that make her cringe inside. But her old way of speaking comes out when the mayor tries to get too friendly and take advantage of her. She whispers to him, “Remember, I’m making dresses for your wife. I can make her look like a clown and convince her she looks like Queen Victoria.” It’s the voice of a woman who won’t be messed with.

How do your characters speak when you put them in different conversations, especially with someone in a higher social status?

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Social Media Numbers: How Many Friends and Followers Are Enough?

Many Faces Numbers are everywhere. They count my blog followers, posts viewed, tweets tweeted, and comments made. Social sites record my friendships and display which and how many of my friends like my updates. To find a total calculation of my online worth, I have only to check my klout score. A writer can also count reviews, rankings, and sales figures. Numbers these days sometimes seem more important than people.

Is it just me, or has the entire connecting and networking world collectively reverted to one huge high school popularity contest?

In the Biblical book of 2 Samuel, King David directed that his fighting men be counted. Joab, the army commander, urged him to reconsider. David overruled Joab, even when his army commanders protested, too.  Why did they object? Perhaps they understood David’s motive as pride, the very sin that catapulted Lucifer from heaven.

David would listen to no one, and so 800,000 able-bodied men in Israel and 500,000 in Judah were enumerated. When David received the report, his conscience smote him, but it was too late to take back his sin. In the plague that followed, 70,000 of David’s people died as punishment for his sin and also for Israel’s rebellion against God.

Does this mean that keeping track of statistics is wrong? Yes, and no. Remember that at other times in the Bible, God directed the people to be counted. Knowing your numbers can be a useful tool, but pride in numbers does not please God.  He wants us to look to His strength and not our own. He’s the same God who cut the huge army Gideon gathered down to size just to prove that victory would come not from human might but from the hand of God (Judges 7).

Once my pastor lifted my small daughter into his arms and pointed out to the congregation that it was her birthday and she was now four. She turned an unblinking stare on him. “I am not a number.” Her pronouncement, spoken with conviction, reached to the back of the church. While the congregation laughed, my face heated, and I sank down in my seat. Now I wonder if my preschooler wasn’t onto something many adults fail to understand.

I am not a number, and neither are you.

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Be Your Agent’s Dream Client

One thing authors wonder about is how to “behave” once they have a working relationship with a literary agent. Especially if it’s your first agent, you want to be the kind of author an agent wants to keep as a client. Agents understand that—and we want to be the kind of agent you want to work with, too! In fact, I tell my authors that the best partnerships are when the agent and author are president of each other’s fan clubs. That takes time, of course, but it shouldn’t take years if you are intentional about making the relationship great.

The secret to a good agent-author relationship isn’t a mystery. It’s like any other relationship: kindness counts; communication is key; and sometimes it takes a little work to keep things running smoothly. If you follow this commonsense advice, you’ll be well on your way to a positive long-term association with your agent.

We’ll start with the negative: The single most difficult thing that agents deal with is authors’ unrealistic expectations. These expectations fall into lots of categories—everything from the size of your advance (usually compared to others you know) to the amount of marketing the publisher will pay for, to the speed of the process (or lack thereof). It’s important that you develop realistic expectations in all of these areas. How do you do that? By talking with your agent, networking with other authors, attending conferences, and keeping up with happenings in the publishing industry (through key blogs and other news sources). If your expectations are impractical, your publishing journey will be unfulfilling. You’ll be disappointed and likely end up resentful.

I’ve had authors wonder why their advance for their sixth book is smaller than the advance for someone else’s first book. They don’t realize that one or two bad showings in sales hurts a publisher’s enthusiasm. A sales guy makes a call to a retailer, the numbers are brought up on the screen for their last book, and if they’re small they get a tepid response. It doesn’t matter about the quality of the book, it matters what the computer says their last book sold. Sad, but true (and all too common).  A new author, however, doesn’t have one bad book to muddy the waters. The value of their idea and platform can be leveraged into higher advances.

That’s why it’s essential to always keep those expectations in check!

In addition to managing expectations, it’s extremely helpful to agents when you communicate well. There is a balance to good communication—we don’t want you to be afraid to call or e-mail if there’s an issue, but daily phone calls and emails can actually slow the process, stealing time from the things an agent does behind the scenes to get clients’ work to publishers. As a general guideline, check in once a week with questions and updates, if you have them. Most important, when bigger issues do arise (and they will), go directly to your agent rather than to the publisher, your critique group, your Facebook page or your blog. Keep the lines of communication open and talk things out. If you’re not happy with your agent, this may be hard to address directly, but it’s the best way. Always.

Trust is the essence of any relationship, and agents need their authors to trust them. Agents handle the business details so you can focus on your writing and marketing, and we appreciate when you allow us to do this without second-guessing every move. If you’re confused about something, always ask, but unless it’s proven otherwise, trust that your agent has your best interest at heart in all actions, negotiations and decisions.

Today, authors have to be marketers and promoters of their work, and agents are ecstatic when their clients understand this. Many agents offer advice and can steer a writer toward good ideas for platform building, but what we really want is for our clients to have a commitment to the self-promotion mindset, and a desire to learn more about it and get better at it as time goes on. An agent rarely has the time to handhold you through every step of your marketing process, but your agent can be an enthusiastic partner and savvy advisor along the way.

Agents appreciate clients who care about the craft of writing and are always striving to learn and improve. Attend conferences and writing workshops, and work hard to learn from the editorial process. Your value to the industry increases as you improve as a writer. And this probably goes without saying, but we really like it when clients meet their publishers’ deadlines!

Don’t forget the basics: be kind, cordial and professional. And when it’s warranted, feel free to express gratefulness for a job well done.  And Starbucks cards are always appreciated.