In any case, the author is compensated in money or some other non-monetary gratification. A publisher accepts and publishes an authors’ work for the same reasons that the author writes. He chooses and/or rejects the authors’ work based on self-serving criteria, as does the author submit his work. The criteria for publication vary from publisher to publisher.

The criteria obviously depend on the publishers’ mission statement.  Nevertheless, unless the publishers’ assets are unlimited, the publishers’ overriding concern is profit, profit to continue publishing and to make a living.  That is not a bad thing. It is just a fact. I have met many poor authors and I have yet to meet a poor publisher.  Many poor authors have altruistic mission statements, consciously or unconsciously.

Just as a SCI-FI author would be foolish to submit his work to a home and garden publisher, so would such a publisher be foolish to accept it.  The publishers’ mission statement and policy dictates what is accepted and rejected based on the publishers’ assessment of profitability.

I believe these assumptions are valid online and offline.  The only difference that I see is that the online publisher delivers no hard copy to the public.  The author receives no up front compensation for his work.

The publishers’ responsibilities to the author are to state, outline, or dictate his mission statement or policy. The authors’ responsibility is to determine if his work fits the publishers’ criteria. If it is mutually beneficial, then both profit.  If it is not, then the publisher rejects the authors’ work or the author finds another publisher much like in the offline world.

This whole issue is complicated by the marriage between marketing and article writing. Marketing and writing are not necessarily mutually exclusive. All authors and publishers need both marketing and writing to exist. I am not referring to copywriting. To me that is another form of writing. Copywriting is advertising. It is not article writing.

So what is the emphasis and who determines the emphasis between writing and marketing? Both, the publisher and the author make that determination by choosing to participate in one another’s mission statement.

So what’s the problem? If an ezine directory sets certain policy, either I adhere to it or I find another directory. It has to be of mutual benefit to both the publisher and the author.  If the directory/publisher  does  not fit your style of writing, just move on and find one that does.

Are your article marketing sales suffering? Learn how to write, submit, and market your articles.

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What is it that holds us back? Fear? I think fear of the unknown is what holds most of us back.

We are afraid that our website will not compare well against the thousands if not millions of websites and web pages floating in cyberspace.  Well.  Get over it!

We fear that our writing will be criticized by our readers.  So what!   Are you afraid of some unnamed critic without a face?  Your high school teacher is not watching!

Newbies, unite!  Why do so many newbies fail?  There are many reasons.  You get discouraged because you don’t make a sale in the first few weeks.  You hear all the gurus telling you that you can or will make thousands of dollars, maybe hundreds of thousands, within days of using their secret formula.  Most of those gurus have been at this for ten or more years. How long have you been at it?

Do you remember your first car? Unless you were born with a silver spoon in your mouth, it was probably a clunker.  Were you proud of it?  Did you take your girlfriend or boyfriend for ride? Did that old clunker get you from here to there?  Were you afraid of what others would say about it?  No. You were on the road. You had freedom. You were moving.

When did you upgrade to a newer hotter car?  Probably after, you started making some money.  What is the difference between your old clunker of a car and your clunker website?  None.  You have to start somewhere.  The point is YOU have to start.

We fear that our readers will criticize our writing.  Are you afraid someone is going to send you an “F” for poor composition or grammar?  I do not mean to say that you should throw grammar or composition to the wind.  I am saying that you can express yourself much more freely than when you were in school.  Besides, that is what editors are for.  (Note the “for” at the end of that last sentence.  I think it is called a dangling preposition.  I would get an “F” for that.)

I just received an email a few minutes ago from a fellow internet marketer, David Saeger  (The Home Biz Guy) on the same subject!   Here is what he said, “Ready, FIRE, then aim … This is the operating philosophy you MUST adopt to succeed with a home based business. That’s backwards for most people who like to aim before they fire.”

In Internet marketing, that is a good philosophy.  You have to start.  You have to move.  The Internet changes daily.  What you learn today, what works today, may not work tomorrow.

Most businesses struggle their first year before they see a profit not to mention the initial monetary investment to start the business.  In internet marketing, you don’t have that concern.

Give it a year.  If after that time, you still are not making money maybe you should reconsider.  However, that assumes that you have really done something other than study and read about it.

Take action! Just do it!

Read this review of “Conversations With Travis Sago“,the 4-Day Make Money Blueprint.

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