So you've written your book, and you've wowed a literary agent. He or she has decided that your writing is good enough that he or she is willing to spend his or her time on it, and is confident that the time will be paid back when a publisher buys your book. Now is your time to relax, and wait for the big advance check, right?

No.

Now is the time to take that manuscript that the agent sees so much potential in, and turn it into fourteen different kinds of sparkly. The agent is a being of the market, and hopefully has his or her finger three inches inside of it. Move this scene, cut this out, make this more exciting, and could you remove a line here? It's time to send your manuscript to the gym for some weight training, aerobics, and maybe some yoga, because you don't want an ounce of shabby on it when it goes in front of the publishers.

It's hard work, but, unlike most of your hard work up until now, you're doing it with a coach, and that can make all of the difference.

This page is a work in progress, so visit now and then as the page gradually loses ounces of shabby.

Beyond The Bestseller; A Literary Agent Takes You Inside the Book Business by Richard Curtis
By the look of it, this book might be out of print, which is a crime. When it comes to books for writers, this one might be right up on top for me. Richard Curtis writes with a lot of humor (which is always priceless) and a lot of insight that comes with experience. To read a book about publishing, you want to read one by a literary agent, who have a good vista of nearly every step of the process, from the writing of the book to recieving royalty payments. If you do me only one favor, buy yourself this book. And then read it.