As your writing career progresses, you'll build a reputation with your agent and with editors inside your own publishing house and even in other houses. Editors, like all of us, talk among each other. With your first book, word will get around the publishing house about both the quality of your writing and how easy or difficult you are to work with. Because editors often switch publishing houses, your reputation can spread around easily, and this can either help or hinder your future writing efforts.

How You Deal with Rejection

Even published pros receive rejections. How you handle rejection is just as important as how you handle acceptance. Agents and editors generally don't like to turn down authors. When they have to do it, most of them try to do it gently, and many of them, through experience, consciously or unconsciously, brace themselves for the potential maelstrom of ill feeling from the author.

If you can develop a philosophical attitude toward rejection, understanding that it's a business decision and not a rejection of you personally, you'll polish your image as a professional in the business. No matter what your private reaction is, a calm and reasoned reaction to the agent or editor preserves your image and relieves a lot of stress for those who have to tell you “no.”

How You Handle Criticism

Agents and editors offer suggestions and constructive criticism with the goal of improving your work, of making it more salable and more likely to succeed in the marketplace. Certainly, you can — indeed, you are expected to — defend your point of view. But it is unprofessional to resort to insults or abuse when you disagree with the criticism. Step back from your writing and make a genuine effort to see the issue from the other's perspective. If you still disagree, take care to focus your arguments on the criticism, not on the agent's or editor's taste, style, or personality.

How You Cope with Problems

Like that of true love, the course of publishing rarely runs smoothly. Inevitably, there will be delays, questions, disagreements, and misunderstandings. Whether you're a beginning writer or well-established, one of the most useful survival skills you'll learn is how to roll with the punches. Be patient with delays, even if they make you crazy inside. Answer questions quickly, honestly, and kindly, even if you think they're silly. Detach yourself from your emotional investment in your work and try to resolve disagreements amicably. Do what you can to clear up misunderstandings quickly and with minimal unpleasant residue. These skills not only will enhance your image as a professional writer, they will help you avoid the more extreme lows that come to every author sooner or later.

How You Deal with the Deal

Negotiating a contract is a delicate business, and many new authors expose their inexperience and egos with the demands they make. Some will try to horn in on the publisher's rightful territory, wanting the authority to choose trim size (the size of the book), paper stock, even the font for their book. Professionals know these things are the proper purview of the publisher and are willing to let the publishing house apply its expertise. Professionals also know that there are other things that are more important from their perspective, such as billing, payment terms, which rights are covered, and maybe even having a say in choosing cover art.

When you're ready to negotiate a book contract, either yourself or through an agent, organize your requests and present them all at the same time. Know which items are non-negotiable and which have some wiggle room. Know, also, which items are deal-breakers for you, and which are perks that you would like but don't need in order to sign the contract. A professional approach during the negotiations makes life easier for everyone involved and is far more conducive to a deal everyone is happy with.