A Key Decision for Every Writer

For more than 20 years, I've devoted my energies toward learning to tell good stories and capturing those stories in print. I've learned how to write query letters or pitch letters to magazines in a way which garners a go-ahead assignment from an editor. I've learned the skill of crafting a book proposal which the editor reads, decides to champion, then issues a book contract. Also I've been training other writers on these insider insights through my teleseminars like Secrets About Proposals. I continue to work with many different writers through my work as a publisher at Intermedia Publishing Group. My commitment has not dimmed to the printed page and the power of magazine articles and books to change people and propel them into new directions.

Almost daily I speak with writers who struggle to pay their bills and provide for their family yet they remain passionate about getting published and each have dreams and ambitions which are haven't come true--yet.

I decided to write about a key decision for every writer. What is your passion? How can you get that passion out to the greatest number of people? Is it getting your words into a publication like The Upper Room which reaches millions of people each issue? My photo is on the back cover of the November/ December issue of The Upper Room and people have been writing and saying they spotted my photo. My devotion appears on December 20th this year and it was a thrill to be in this publication. Yet being in The Upper Room isn't the key decision that I'm talking about.

I'm suggesting every writer needs to make a key decision to have part of their business as a stand alone enterprise. Why? While there is value in writing for publications or writing books, when you are taking these steps you are dependent on others to issue pay checks. Many traditional book publishers only pay royalties once a year or four times a year (quarterly) is the best payment schedule for a royalty publisher. As the author, it is outside of your control and whatever system a publisher has, then you are stuck in that system if you want them to publish your book. The same issue is true in the magazine world. Some publications pay on acceptance of the article while many publications pay on publication (or a difference of months or years between when you write the article and when you receive payment). This payment system is neither good or bad but simply what exists in the marketplace.

In today's market with the Internet, every writer has the ability to sell directly to their readers--if they make this decision. Possibly you have no idea where to begin or you are floundering in your search for a beginning. My friend, Bob Bly (Robert W. Bly) has written an Ebook, Start Or Jump-Start Your Internet Marketing Business, How to Take Your Online Marketing to the Next Level of Profitability and Success. I've read this book several times and highlighted different sections of it. Each time I pick up on a different detail to apply to my own independent writing business.

I mentioned the payment from writing for magazines and books. How does payment work if you have your own business? When you sell a product, that money goes directly into your paypal account. You don't have to wait around for someone else because you've taken action. As Bob writes in his book, "When is the best time to start your new internet marketing bsiness? Quite simply, it's today. And here's how...First, decide to work on your new business venture at least five days a week, at least an hour a day. Second, make a list of 10 things you need to do to get the business off the ground."

If you work through the list of 10 things, your life as a writer will take off--provided you make this one key decision and take action on it.