Congratulations, you are now a publishing professional, working in your field of choice as a freelancer or full-time employee with a publishing house. Now, you get to work with authors to help create books that you can be proud of. Whether you are an editor, publicist, or project manager, communicating with the author is an essential part of book publishing. Even if you aren’t in the world of book publishing, effective communication is an essential management skill.

Every author is different and has their own communication style. You will benefit as a manager and professional by being able to be flexible with your own communication style enough to work with theirs. I don’t want to discourage you from understanding your own communication style and establishing boundaries to maintain a healthy work environment for yourself, but adaptability can be incredibly useful in this skill.

Determine how your author likes to communicate. You can ask them this straight up: “What is your preferred method of communication?” Creating a clear, intentional method for communication between yourself and the author is a great way to establish trust and get started on the right foot.

Your author could be someone who checks their email religiously, or they might never check their inbox. They might hate phone calls, or they might feel they are only able to communicate their needs clearly by hearing the other person’s voice in a conversation. If the author prefers in-person communication, but that doesn’t work for your schedule (very understandable), try to compromise by setting up Zoom meetings or a consistent, periodic in-person meeting that doesn’t infringe on your other obligations. If you prefer a certain method, like a weekly Zoom call, let your author know why you think it’s beneficial for both parties—they might agree with you. Don’t try to force your own style on someone else, but explain your reasoning and why it helps you and they will be more inclined to compromise.

Something else to consider is having different communication methods for different information. It might be easier to send a weekly check-in to your author via email, but host an in-person overview meeting once a month or every six weeks.

There is also a possibility your author isn’t great at communicating. This might be frustrating, but do your best to stay positive and professional when trying to get their attention. If you have to send multiple emails to get a response back, don’t lose your professional tone or get too aggressive in your language and frequency of emails. If it’s a truly urgent matter, make sure you put that in the subject line.

Communication sounds like it should be an easy and obvious skill, but it doesn’t come naturally for everyone. Learning to adapt to different people’s communication styles and understanding your own can help you a lot. Don’t be afraid to just ask someone how they like to communicate; it’s easier to get a straight answer from a straight question than from hedging around. Of course, maintain professionalism and be polite, just know that being direct can be helpful.