Publishers! If you’ve got one, they’re involved in all the parts of making a book — from negotiating a book deal to contracts, editing, design, marketing, publicity, sales, and all the bits where you work to get the book out to readers.

How do you make sure that your relationship with your publisher goes well — and that they’re on the same page about what you want to happen with your book that you are?

Today we talk to Dwayne McDuffie Award-winning comics creator Nilah Magruder about just that! Having done picture books, chapter book illustration, cover illustration, and graphic novels, Nilah brings her expertise from various publishers (and lots of different kinds of work) to the discussion.

Interested in learning more about Nilah Magruder? You can find her on her website, or on Twitter at @nilaffle.