Paying My Dues Trials And Tribulations Of A Newbie Publisher Part Two

Writen by Donesia Muhammad

In the beginning, things were difficult for me. Learning the techniques to be a good publisher.

I have learned through other publishers, ebooks, email courses, and websites. I learned all about content, formatting, and promotion. I then came to the realization that I can't mirror another publisher, another newsletter, or another concept.

I had to be myself, and take the good with the bad.

It wasn't about being a guru.

It wasn't about getting as many people as possible to sign up under you for the "Next Big Thing"

To me, it was about helping people. I tried just about every "method " out there, but when it all boiled down to it, I just wanted to help people.

In the six months since I've written the first "Trials and Tribulations" some of the same gripes are still there, those were just the inevitable everyday problems.

I got a lot of reality checks in those past six months:

>> It's not always a bad thing if you have available ad space. That can be a good thing. I'll just run my own ads instead. Some publishers prefer it that way.

>> It's okay to use reprinted articles. Sometimes when you are trying to write an article and you just can't get the words together, stop pressuring yourself and just find an article already waiting for you.

Reprinted articles are a good backup but Original Content still rules the roast.

Looking for Reprinted Articles?

Sign up for my Reprinted Articles Group and grab all the articles you need for your site or ezine. Send a blank email here

>> Trying to find a good quality list host or list software is about as hard to find as a good quality web host.

But once you find one, stick with it. Cheaper prices may mean cheaper quality. It all depends on what your newsletter needs, not what everyone is trying to sell you.

>> You truly have to learn and understand how email is delivered so you can then understand Spam, and understand why email bounces. Learn to read the headers in email so you can see not only who is really sending you mail but you can also be able to recognize what system is used to send out the mail, and what you can do about it. You can't just learn all the glamorous things about ezine publishing.

Understand all about spam filters and how it affects the delivery of your newsletter. How one simple word in the subject line of your email can stop your entire message from getting through.

>> Getting frustrated is natural, but you should not give up. You are not going to get rich from this your first year, maybe not your second year either. Everything always goes back into the business anyway.

>> Stop acting as if your name and business doesn't matter. Don't promote everything you see. What works for you may not work for me. Read the fine print. Forced matrixes, downlines, 2 tier,

Whatever..

I have come to love this world of publishing. It enables me to enjoy my love of writing and business skills.

Of course I still make my mistakes from time to time. I am still learning every day, still adjusting to the sting of a rude unsubscribe request, and as always people are still sending me unsubscribe requests with of course, the address that is not on your list.

As hype gets more professional, more slick, I have to think fast on the new schemes out there and the ones to come down the line.

I now realize why a lot of the big newsletters have more than one editor, because it is not easy to handle a weekly ezine by yourself sometimes. And trying to maintain your website and basic web promotion is a lot of work, but...

Just getting that one email from one of your readers saying "Thank you for helping me" makes it worthwhile. This lets you know that your ezine isn't hitting the trash folder as soon as they receive it.

You see I can finally stop calling myself a Newbie Publisher..

I am a Newbie No More....

Just call me the Gradual Publisher because aren't we all?

Note: If you have not read the original article "Trials and Tribulations of a Newbie Publisher" first published on January 11, 2002 you can read it here ==>http://ezineadhelper.com/donesia/trials.htm

Copyright (c) KDM Publishing

Donesia Muhammad has been doing business online since 2001. Sign up For her Newsletter My IBiz Weekly ==>http://myibizweekly.com The Business Ezine For All Netpreneurs. Learn how to start and maintain your internet business and ezine, and stay sane while doing it. Read Our Archives and Learn with Valuable Resources. Helping Readers Online Since 2001... And Counting.

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Ezines Vs Trade Journals

Writen by Lance Winslow

As many people know Industry Trade Journals in America have gone through a tough time in recent years due to slowing of advertising dollars. In many industries this is the case. Many of us use to get free Industry Trade Journals, yet many have now gone out of business and others are being a little more particular than normal. Some send you questionnaires every three months to make sure you are interested and reading their material. Most companies DO NOT advertise in such trade journals. A few do, mostly for brand name recognition, although in my opinion it is a lot of money considering the much lower costs of Ezines and Internet Advertising. Some believe paper trade journals or Industry Rags as they are often called are waste of advertising money, even worse than attending some under attended trade shows.

As advertising dollars continue to dry up and even with all the media consolidation, there seems to be a very aggressive approach to sales tactics of these salesmen/women and a touch of unnerving arrogance among the editors, publishers and self-important writers. I guess that arrogance goes with the job, however I think it is time for all Industry Journals and media for that matter to come back to Earth, realize their relative value in our society. Everything has an intrinsic value and an actual value and we need Industry Journals to find equilibrium. Why would any company in any industry waste money on such advertising when they are not getting relevant clients from those ads, yet continue to throw good money after bad? Perhaps they themselves want to see their pictures in the ads, perhaps if they advertise they can get the editors to go ahead and do a story on the company? Maybe we have just too big egos in business? What say you? Would you want to buy from a company that blows money on such advertising; money that could be better spent helping the customer succeed with their product? What does this say to the customer about the price they are paying for those goods are services?

It seems many companies are so busy doing things the old way that they rarely update their websites, never advertise in Ezines or bother to survey their customers as to how they discovered them in the first place. There is a time and place for Industry paper journals, yet so many companies use those advertising dollars incorrectly rather than diversifying those funds to get the most bang for their bucks. I pity such companies and am glad to say we are not one of them? Are you?

Lance Winslow

What Media Picks Up Articles From Online Article Submission Sites

Writen by Lance Winslow

Many online article writers put their creativity to work writing articles and putting them online. An easy way to do this is to find an online article submission site, which specializes in "Ezine Articles" or companies, which produce online newsletters sent out by email. You can find such sites by searching; Ezine Articles on the various search engines.

Having written many online articles and I have had my articles picked up everywhere. Ezines, Magazines, Newspapers, Industry Journals and used as web content. I have had people insert my articles into Blogs, Forums, Chatrooms online, as well as into stories of fiction and books. They have been put into E-books, regular books and educational literature. Used by NGOs to advance causes and political organizations to drive traffic and controversy or propel an issue. You name it.

If you are looking to drive traffic or something of that nature. My objective is none of what is listed above, just sharing my ideas and observations rather than running around with them in my head. JP Morgan said "know a lot, say little" and yes I did that for 20 years. Now I have taken a new tact; "know a lot; tell a lot"

I suppose such online article sites work differently for different people. I like it actually, I think it is very cool. But I imagine of the 170,000 articles online on one particular online article submission site that well, some do not get read much or used much elsewhere. And of the 20,000 authors who contribute, some probably do a lot better than others?

That's it basically. My goals there are not making money, promoting myself or any company, just expressing views, propelling thought and sharing observations really? So where as yes I have been getting that done in a very big way; results will vary for those who participate, but I very strongly recommend using such source for marketing, services, products or just plain ideas like me. Consider this in 2006.

Lance Winslow