It’s all very well my coming along and saying: “Negotiate! They can only say ‘no’.”, as I did in the article entitled The Professional Writer: Negotiating. But how do you work up the courage to do so?

I should highly recommend two things which I’ve tried with good results. They are not mutually exclusive, and your homework is to practise these techniques — before you need to do so with regard to a publishing contract.

First, tell yourself over and over again that you deserve a better deal (whatever the deal is) because you’re worth it. This isn’t some sort of New Age affirmation approach (although try that if you wish), but grounded in evidence: if they are willing to offer you money in exchange for your writing, they clearly value your writing, in which case you deserve a decent deal.

Second, try negotiating on things that don’t really matter. For example, I always ask in bookshops if they do discounts for any particular reason, such as membership of the Society of Authors. I didn’t think to do that when I bought quite a few items from Skoob books the first time I visited, and later discovered while browsing their website that I could have obtained 10% off because of my SoA membership.

Before the great lockdown, I bought a pair of shoes and a shirt in a menswear shop. Just as I was about to pay, I asked if I could have a discount. The owner said he couldn’t give me any money off the shoes, because the price was fixed by the manufacturer — but he gave me a 12.5% discount off the price of the shirt — while my other half looked on in horror at my gall!

Now, I’ll admit to not doing this sort of thing consistently. Sometimes I think the total price is too small to justify asking for it to be even less, and sometimes I just lose my nerve. But I do try to do it at least occasionally. The worst that has ever happened is that they’ve said they can’t do it. Sometimes they’ve said they can’t knock money off but that they can throw in something for free.

Why not try it yourself?