Great advice, Mike.

dspence, did you speak with the "publisher" on the phone? If not, they aren't serious, that you can bank on. You say you are new to the business, but not to songwriting itself so perhaps your songs are ready, but a legit publisher who is really interested would no doubt call you or ask you to call him/her and talk it over and they would surely ask to hear more songs if they liked the three they heard and wanted to offer you a contract.

Someone said signing away all your publishing is a bad idea and that you should get an advance if you do. All I can say is, if you are a songwriter with no cuts you have no leverage period, try negotiating for a copub with a legit publisher and see where it gets you. This just isn't the way things are done, Any legit publisher is going to almost always insist on 100% of the publishing, unless that is you have a track record of hit songs and are offered a staff writing deal in which case you do have leverage and can negotiate, but you will not, in 99% of situations, be offered an advance on single or multiple song contracts, at least not in Nashville. The only way you are going to hold on to all of the publishing is if you pitch your songs yourself or hire a reputable song plugger with credentials who actually believes in your songs and in all likelihood the best independent pluggers will want a small part of the publishing or a bonus should they secure a cut. There are legit plugger out there, make no mistake, but there are probably fifty times as many sharks so be careful.