Tag Archives: marketing

On Shameless Self-Promotion

This may or not not be an artist’s depiction of one of my book signings. šŸ˜›

Iā€™ve made it no secret no secret that Iā€™m a shameless self-promoter. In fact, it could be argued that I sometimes flaunt it. However, this week I had two interesting thoughts related to that this week. Well, more like one thought and one realization.

First, my self-promotion got me in a bit of trouble. I shared my latest blog in a Facebook group Iā€™m in, and not one but two admins messaged me after deleting my post telling me not to do that since the group had a rule against self-promotion posts (because otherwise the members would be bombarding the group with them). It wasnā€™t the first time this had happened. Admittedly, it was kinda my fault since Iā€™d forgotten about that rule.

One admin asked me why I promoted myself. ā€œIā€™m a writer,ā€ I replied. ā€œItā€™s what I do.ā€ She said she wrote haikus but didnā€™t go around saying, ā€œLook at me! Look at me!ā€ I had to fight the urge to start an argument.

ā€œWhy?ā€ you ask. Because the difference between me and this admin isā€”at the risk of sounding rudeā€”Iā€™m a professional and sheā€™s a hobbyist (as far as I know). I donā€™t know if she has a blog where she posts her haikus, but if sheā€™s okay with only a few people reading her stuff, thatā€™s fine. I, on the other hand, want to grow an audience because writing is my trade and vocation. If I am to be (more) successful, I must get people to read my stuff. I figured that since Iā€™d built a community in this Facebook group, thatā€™d be a great place to generate interest. Apparently not. I understand why they have the rule, but I didnā€™t like the attitude I was getting from the admin. However, I can forgive it because she may not understand where Iā€™m coming from. I know promotion can come across as arrogantā€”just look at Donald Trump (yes, I went there)ā€”but itā€™s necessary in my line of work. If you have the right attitude, though, it can work. It may seem paradoxical that self-promotion and humility can go together, but I do believe itā€™s possible.

Ironically, I learned that even I have limits on my self-promotion, which brings me to my second thought. I realized that when Iā€™m trying to get people interested in books (or anything I make/do), Iā€™m filled with passionate adamancy. Iā€™m a one-man hype machine. But when people come back to me and say they loved my stuff, I almost want to refuse their praise. Butā€¦I have friends who are more talented and/or successful than me! I think.

Yeah, Iā€™m weird.

Iā€™m not 100-percent sure why I think like this. It might be because I feel like Iā€™m the lesser of my peers. Iā€™m in awe of their talent and think theyā€™re more deserving of peopleā€™s attention and adoration. Or I think that if I was as talented and/or savvy as my more successful peers, then Iā€™d deserve the praise. In other words, I see a disconnection. Does that make sense?

What do you think, True Believers? Do you have similar struggles? How do you deal with these thoughts?

Writing is More Than Writing

Many people think writers spend all their time sitting at their computers typing away, filling page after page with their thoughts, feelings, and stories.

As Lex Luthor once said, ā€œWROOOOOOOONG!ā€

Anyone can jot down their daily thoughts and activities. Thatā€™s what a journal is. Iā€™ve known many people whoā€™ve written short stories or even whole books that remain unpublished. Plenty of ā€œnon-writersā€ participate in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) every year just to take on the challenge.

No, there is much more to writing. And honestly, I feel like thatā€™s the part that eats up more of my ā€œwriting timeā€ than actual writing. Writers have to promote their work, often on their own. They search for literary agents and query them. They research publishers and submit work to them, which requires writing query letters, among other things. Networking is a huge facet of writing, so writers must stay in touch with those they know in the industry, always looking for new opportunities.

In other words, writing isnā€™t just a craft. Itā€™s a business.

A profitable business.

A needed business.

An annoying business.

While Iā€™m a writer and a shameless self-promoter, I find the business side of writing frustrating. Marketing is difficult in this age of bad economics and constant noise. Iā€™ve run into several walls along the way: 1) (Perceived) Inexperience. 2) Being told my stories arenā€™t ā€œtrendyā€ enough (Iā€™d rather be a trend-setter). 3) I donā€™t have an agent. Agents and publishers want material that they think will sell. They want to make money. I have no problem with that. But I think the bad economy has made them less interested in taking risks on something and/or someone new. Thatā€™s why, for instance, you saw lots of vampire novels in the young adult section of bookstores and hordes of zombies popping up in the sci-fi section. Those are ā€œhotā€ now. My stories, though I think theyā€™re good, donā€™t seem to necessarily fit the trends.

Even if one gets past those walls, new ones crop up. Depending on the size of your publisher, your (perceived) marketability, and the current economy, publishersā€™ may or may not be able or willing to invest the money in promoting your work. This means youā€™ll have to do much of it yourself. In this age of the Internet, the possibilities for promotion are nearly endless. But itā€™s also saturated the world with noise. Ads flare up on every website. Countless authors are starting blogs, going on blog tours, and appearing on podcasts. While many people ā€œliveā€ on the Internet and read webfiction, thereā€™s so much of it out there, itā€™s overwhelming. If you want to get noticed, you must first have a quality product. The cream will always rise to the top. You must also distinguish yourself from all the other voices shouting in everyoneā€™s ears. Either that or yell louder. Personally, I think the former is more pleasant. But what makes the Internet work to your advantage is word-of-mouth. Thatā€™s always sold anythingā€”especially booksā€”better than anything else.

I think Iā€™m rambling a bit now. šŸ˜›

All this to say that while I wish I could just write all the time and instantly have it read by millions, thatā€™s not the case. Writing is a craft and a business. If you want to be a writer, you have to deal with both aspects, whether you enjoy everything about them or not.

But as Michael Stackpole said at Gen-Con, ā€œNow is the best time to be a writer.ā€