ON THE OTHER SIDE!

Well, I crossed that bridge, and got to the other side. And I survived my first contract negotiation! I did get a higher advance—not as much as I had asked for, but a higher one at any rate; I got to keep some of my subsidiary rights; didn't get royalties on cover price, but two out of three ain't bad! The question for me was: how much back and forth does one do in a contract negotiation? Do you just accept the counter? Or try to negotiate more? I decided that for my first time in this realm, once was good enough, and successfully navigating the negotiations and getting some of what I asked for is a coup d'etat in itself. There's so much else to look forward to—finding the illustrator, final revisions of the manuscript, marketing and publicity (not my forte, but it means the book's out!). So, onwards and forwards!