Are You an Author or a Fulfillment House?

Congratulations, you’re an author. Maybe you’ve just finished your first book, or maybe you’ve just completed your 10th book. As you work to build your author platform you probably find you’re wearing many hats. Probably too many hats.

Now let’s ask the tough question. How many of the following hats should you be wearing?

– writer
– cover designer
– speaker
– proofreader
– editor
– customer service manager
– order taker
– travel planner
– shipping clerk

So you’ve got to ask yourself which of these hats should you be wearing? Where should you be applying your time and efforts to maximize your business? When you’re first starting out you may have to, and some would say, probably should do it all yourself. You need to have an understanding of what is involved in producing and delivering your products to your customers.

But what is you’re spending a lot of time packaging books, running down to the post office, etc.? It means you’re not spending your time where you get the biggest bang for your buck – building your author platform and marketing your book.

When is the right time to outsource your book fulfillment requirements? Ultimately, you’ll have to decide when that time is for yourself. But what do you value your time at? $100 per hour, $200 per hour, more? Then how long does it make sense for you to be spending your time doing $10 or $20 per hour tasks?

If you’re spending an hour per day running products to the post office that’s an hour you’re not investing in your real bread and butter. And what is your opportunity cost?

When you’re spending time working in your business rather than working on your business then opportunities will slip by without you even noticing them.

There is a time when outsourcing your fulfillment requirements makes sense -both from a time management and a financial standpoint. When is that time right for you?