By W. Terry Whalin @terrywhalin
Because we have computers and can produce stories, everyone assumes writing is easy. From my experience, any skill (including writing) takes hours of practice to become excellent. For example, one of the most successful basketball players of all time is Kobe Bryant, the winner of five NBA championships and two Olympic Gold Medals. He accomplished this success through deliberate practice with a purpose. Bryant was on the 2012 Team USA. One of the trainers, Robert, talks about his first experience with Bryant, who started his conditioning work at 4:30 am. He shot baskets for several hours, then did conditioning work for the next hour, then made 800 jump shots between 7 am and 11 am. Bryant was a skilled professional yet took nothing for granted in his practice and work outs. His work showed because Bryant knew how to grind then grind some more. This type of effort in sports is generally lost in the writing world. There are hours of work and effort behind the scenes that no one sees but is necessary to achieve success.
There are many things in the world of publishing which simply add to the cost and effort to happen but are never documented or talked about. In many ways, these elements become some of the hidden cost of publishing. In some ways publishing is like an iceberg. We can see the top on the water but don’t realize all that is below the surface. In this article I wanted to tell you about a couple of these hidden costs and then give you some tools and basic principles for your own writing life.
People look at my large X/Twitter following (over 175,000) and would like to have that ability to influence and touch others. Yet are you willing to do the work to build that following? I’ve written in my blog about the five actions I take every day. I use a program called Hootsuite (other people use Buffer) to schedule 12 to 15 posts every day. I’ve developed a pattern or system which I use repeatedly to handle these posts—and it only takes about 30 minutes a day to handle.
Many people have started on X/Twitter but have given up the consistent posting. It’s the same with my blog on the Writing Life. I’ve been writing my blog articles each week since 2004. It has totaled over 1,700 articles. About two years ago, I found an article which estimated there are over 600 million blogs and named the top 27 content producers. My name and my blog were one of those listed. You can get my new articles on your email with this form. The consistent effort pays off.
Over the years, I’ve created a number of online information products like Blogging for Bucks (http://bucksforblog.com/ ) or my Write a Book Proposal course (http://bit.ly/wbkpro). I’ve automated many of these products through autoresponders and other tools. Each of these products include my 100% Love it Or Leave It Guarantee. If the buyer isn’t satisfied in a period of time, they can send an email and ask for a refund. This guarantee is a key part of selling products online and it is rare that someone will ask for a refund. One email arrived at a time when I was challenged with other things—yet I took the time to make the refund. Carrying through with your promises is a key part of having an online business and successfully selling products online. It doesn’t make it simple or easy.
Here’s some basic principles for every writer to get beyond the hidden costs of publishing:
* Understand the costs and keep going in spite of them
*Automate when you can. Investing in tools like Hootsuite allows me to continually grow my presence and saves time. I’ve recently added PodMatch and in two months I have booked or recorded over 30 podcasts with almost 3,000 downloads.
*Keep growing in your craft of writing, attending conferences, taking online courses and reading books. I’ve got shelves of how-to books I’ve read over the years and continue to read them.
*Timing is critical and often out of your control. Numerous times I’ve had authors who have looked for an agent for years (not found it) then return to Morgan James and ask if they can sign our book contract. A recent author signed, who I have been speaking with off and on for three years about her book.
*Take the long view of success yet keep doing the little things and working to promote your writing.
Over and over, I speak with authors who continue promoting yet have stopped telling their publisher about their promotion (big mistake in my view). The publisher is going to assume they are not promoting and have stopped talking about the author with their sales team and the sales team to the bookstores since it is tied together. Yet if the author continues to promote and tells the publisher, then the communication and promotion to the bookstores can continue. Consistent communication matters. No little elves come out and write this material for us. Active authors are the ones to tell the stories and complete the work.
W. Terry Whalin, a writer and acquisitions editor lives in California. A former magazine editor and former literary agent, Terry is an acquisitions editor at Morgan James Publishing. He has written more than 60 nonfiction books including Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams and Billy Graham. Get Terry’s newest book, 10 Publishing Myths for only $10, free shipping and bonuses worth over $200. To help writers catch the attention of editors and agents, Terry wrote his bestselling Book Proposals That $ell, 21 Secrets To Speed Your Success. Check out his free Ebook, Platform Building Ideas for Every Author. His website is located at: www.terrywhalin.com
The Conversation
I tried a huge marketing campaign recently which cost a lot of money. When I told my publisher, the response was, “You should have checked with me first. You will never make that money back.” So I’m not sold on the idea of talking to my publisher about my marketing efforts.