The Hidden Costs of Publishing

Like an iceberg, there are hidden costs in publishing.



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 then give you some tools and basic
principles for your own writing life.



People look at my large twitter following 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 detailed the five every
day steps I take with twitter. I use a program called Refollow to help automate this
effort. Sometimes the program does not work. Every day I can use it to quickly
follow 800 people in my target market. Then I can also use this program to
unfollow people who have not followed me back. Some of these people I followed
years ago and I use Refollow
to automatically unfollow them. This unfollow process involves clicking and
unfollowing each person—up to 1,000 a day.



Recently several times the program gets stuck. The only way I've
found to get it working is to leave the site (stopping the process) and to begin
it again (and reclicking all those times). Other times error messages are thrown
up on my screen. Maybe Twitter has blocked the unfollow process or something
else. These stops and starts amount to some substantial time with zero or little
results. Yet I persist because I understand it is all part of the process of
continuing to build my audience and presence in the market.  I use these tools
consistently day after day.



Over the years, I've created a number of online information
products like Blogging for
Bucks or my Write a Book
Proposal course. 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. This 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 they are there and keep going in spite of
them



*Automate when you can. Investing in tools like Hootsuite, Manage Flitter
and Refollow allow me to
continually grow my presence and saves time



*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 yet often out of your control. 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. I've had it happen
numerous times. An author signed recently 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 you and 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 has 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. We have
to be the ones to tell the stories and complete the work. 



Do you recognize the hidden costs of publishing? What tips can
you give us about how you persist and get it done? I look forward to reading
your comments.



Tweetable:



Are there hidden costs to publishing? Read about some of them here with ideas to get beyond them. (Click to Tweet)