It’s good for your career. It’s good for the magazines where your work appears. It’s good for the readers who get to discover you. It’s even good for the planet!
Okay. Maybe not that last thing.
But it is undoubtedly a net good. At the very least, it is a necessary part of being a writer, finding an audience and connecting with readers.
Nonetheless, so many writers struggle with it.
I understand this. There is definitely an element of marketing one’s work that can feel a bit sleazy. Like you’re shaking someone’s hand and grabbing them by the elbow, inviting them to pick any poem from your dealership and take it for a test drive, go on, baby, just enjoy that leather couplet against your skin, feel that horsepower stanza purr.
Or, if it’s not sleaziness you feel, there just might be a general awkwardness about the whole thing. Writers tend to be shy. We work alone, we sort out our feelings privately, and the worlds we often feel most at ease in are our own imaginary ones. In other words, writers are generally not the type of people to inject themselves into a crowd and say, '“Look at me!”
Of course, social media has changed that to some degree. Every day thousands of writers scream on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and wherever else—Look at me!
But not every writer does. And the ones that do don’t always do it well (myself included).
How, though, do you do it well?
As much as we might wrestle with the PR component to our work, what we know for sure is that we want people to read it. Right? That’s certainly the point of working so hard to get published. There’s the recognition and validation, of course. But more than anything, we want to make that connection, that unique soul-to-soul contact that comes from another human being pausing in their busy day to listen to your innermost obsessions and ideas, and perhaps even feel slightly changed in some way for having done so.
So, then, how do we balance these competing impulses?
How do we get our work out there, while also not feeling, er, icky?
Perhaps part of it has to do with not thinking about it as “self-promotion” at all. When you share something you’ve written, you’re offering a piece of yourself to others. You’re inviting them in. “Self-promotion” sounds like you’re selling something from a store. And while there might be a financial transaction involved, what you’re offering when you share your work is much deeper than that.
Maybe, for those who are uncomfortable with the idea of “self-promotion,” what’s needed is simply better terminology. You’re not marketing yourself. You’re opening the door to your house and letting people inside. You’ve prepared a feast, and you’re inviting others to come and indulge in it alongside you.
You’re not promoting. You’re sharing, in the truest and deepest sense of that word. Sharing something you’ve made, sharing a part of yourself for anyone who cares to know it.
Or…does this not help at all?
What do you think?
For those that are marketing-shy, would a new way of thinking about the whole enterprise make a difference?
Tell me all about it, friends.
Do you struggle with “getting out there”?
Do you resist the concept of “self-promotion”?
When you have something published in a magazine, are you comfortable sharing it?
Are you actually great at promoting your work? What drives you forward?
What methods have you found successful? Which methods have you found most meaningful?
Just forced myself through about 3 months of promotion for my debut novel. Gawd I am not a natural at this. Can't I just eat sand for a week instead? Or maybe tar somebody's roof in Phoenix during August? You know, something funner and easier?
Nov 19, 2022·edited Nov 19, 2022Liked by Becky Tuch
Now you're talking my language. A perk of writing in earnest at 65 years old is I'm the queen of shameless self promotion. Last week I saw the amazing new To Kill A Mockingbird play here in LA. I wrote one of my reviews and on a whim sent it to stageandcinema.com. although not a 'real review' as the editor said, he loved it enough to edit it a bit for me and publish it here.. Since then I just add the link to every Facebook ad on seeing the play that the theater, production company, news link reviews post. I never have a problem with promotion. I'd make the mailman read it if I could get him to hold still enough. Besides my personal essay writing, I've branched out now to music and theater reviews. Some kids in Florida who run the botheringtheband.com music podcast site loved what I sent them so now I'm their regular writer, albeit with zero pay. But same day last week I got my very first PAID writing from a Canadian magazine Esoterica. Now that was a thrill, especially since I did it as a pitch first as they request. I NEVER do pitches, I mean seriously, my pieces run less than 2000 words, seems like a waste of time to pitch when they can read in the time the process takes. But I really wanted to be in this magazine so I did, got a response to the pitch in 24 hours and then an acceptance 24 hours later. So they paid me but still waiting on the publication!! So yes I LOVE it. When I do my posts on my site, besides the Wordpress subscribers, I always do FB Posts and then email to those pesky people I know that dont do social media so they don't miss it either. But I have been told I am a total outlier in this respect. Most artists I know musicians, etc, cringe at self promotion. I just happen to really enjoy it. I do a lot of promo for my musician friends as well , whose music I love. I love this theater one though. I look sooo pretty in print! LOL https://stageandcinema.com/2022/11/11/commentary-to-kill-a-mockingbird-tour/
So far Substack in a month has given me more readers than I ever had before. I love it! Fishclamor.Substack. Com very short stories, poems, prose poems.
I got three amazing blurbs for my chapbook, ABOUT TIME (published by Cathexis Norhwest Press). Doing so took as much emotional energy as writing the 40+ poems, sending them out to journals and sending out the whole manuscript. The writing part felt "natural," the submitting felt "noble," and "necessary," and the blurb requesting just felt awkward, but at that point I was all in and it was worth it. Since the book is out I've had fun celebrating it! I feel like I am celebrating all of literature and all who support it, as well as my own efforts. I want to encourage everyone and I am happy to celebrate others in the same spirit.
While we all understand that self-promotion is necessary, I'm not sure we all get that it is also a way of offering a gift to the world. Think of yourself as the gift-giver in the sense that you have something to share, an offering that could bring a reader joy, enlightenment, or value in an unexpected way. Maybe your work lends a perspective, sparks someone's creativity, shares a writing style they may want to emulate, reminds them of a valued memory, or brings up a topic they’d like to research further.
You’re a writer, which means you’re a thinker, which means you have something to say. Self-promotion is simply the process of helping people find you and your ideas, because there’s a good chance they will benefit and appreciate whatever you have to offer. Oh, yeah!
I'm ok with representing my work to others as worthwhile and interesting. I can do that without feeling debased or demeaned. I'm not sure I can "market myself" or "brand myself" or "sell myself" or "niche myself" or "monetize myself" (or any of those other shticks that supposedly distinguish a "professional artist" from an amateur) without breaking character and collapsing on the floor in wild hysterics.
Nov 19, 2022·edited Nov 19, 2022Liked by Becky Tuch
As someone who's worked as an arts professional for nearly twenty years and has never had an agent/manager/publicist, yeah I'm into self-promotion! When I was a performer, there really was an emphasis on the self, as I was my own commodity. Now with writing, it's more about the work, and I enjoy that focal shift. To any writers who feel shy about putting your work out there: be grateful you don't have to share photos of your physical being in an effort to try to entice people to come to your shows, where they'll then be watching your every move. Talk about the antithesis of the shy writer archetype!
It's wonderful when others share my work (say if someone really enjoys one of my pieces and reposts the link), but the only one I can rely on to share my work consistently is me. To quote Dolly Parton: "Sometimes you just have to toot your own horn. Otherwise, nobody will know you're a-comin'."
I also want to mention: I love when others share their work! Never do I think "ew, look at that person self-promoting." I'm so grateful they put their stuff out there, in this very saturated mediascape, so that I have the opportunity to enjoy it.
Only one book out so far and I had to do most of the promo. The publishing house (Spuyten Duyvil) was (is) well-known but small and basically puts you in a catalog for distribution, a blurb on their website, and then to Amazon. I arranged for a few podcast appearances, made myself available for readings, and did the usual "look at me" Facebook things. But not much else. I just take the lead from the publisher and get on with the next project. I don't obsess about it. My plan is to have a cult following 50 years after I croak so not a lot of groundwork has to be done right now. :-)
Nov 19, 2022·edited Nov 19, 2022Liked by Becky Tuch
Some writers have a novel, anthology or chapbook out there they wish to sell, and self-promotion is mandatory, even with the larger publishing houses these days. For those of us who are writing mainly for the pleasure of it and wish to share our work, there is nothing wrong with promoting it or the magazines / sites where that work appears. As we promote ourselves, we are promoting all the other contributors and the publications as well. It's a win-win for everyone.
Thanks for your thoughts. I agree that, rather than self-promotion, it is sharing of yourself. Our inner work is to believe that what we share will have value to other people.
I think AE Stallings strikes a good balance on her Facebook page. It always feels like a real post from her, more or less to the point with a small bit of humor or point of interest thrown in, but rarely much. https://m.facebook.com/100063477635363/
I writhe just thinking about self promotion. Can’t get the image of a carnival barker in a sleazy tent show calling everyone in the already hyped up audience to see the “freaks” !
Becky, you pick good topics to write about. This one hits home, too. I'm not a natural and have to force myself and begrudge the time it takes to self-promote as a distraction from what I'd rather be doing. I like your idea of better terminology, though. I have found that by calling it a different name I'm more comfortable with it.
Becky, thanks for bringing this up. In an ideal world, publishers and readers would be the ones promoting our work, but that's not the world we've got. There's no one answer. Whitman shamelessly self-promoted and even wrote reviews of his work under pseudonyms, but Dickinson resisted publication because she didn't want to be "advertised." I regularly use social media to promote publications because no one will be noticed or read automatically. Readers have to know you exist. That said, there is a new practice out there of announcing when you've had a work accepted somewhere, not published yet, just accepted. In most instances, I don't see the point of this. It may be months before I can read the poem or story referenced, and by then, I certainly won't remember that Facebook post. I'll admit that if one of my social media friends got something accepted in one of those big, less than one percent shot at acceptance magazines, I would be excited for them and would want to know about it. Otherwise, I'd prefer to wait to hear about it until publication.
I have no qualms about self-promotion, and I think being a translator has a lot to do with that. When I spread the word about pieces I've translated, it feels like a fairly even split between self-promotion and sharing something I love, by someone I admire, with people who previously wouldn't have been able to enjoy it. Similarly, when I started my Substack about writing, translation, and language acquisition, I framed it for myself as a cross between showing off what I do and answering questions from friends and colleagues in each area of my career about what's involved in my other endeavors. I'll have some fiction of my own coming out soon, so we'll see whether my penchant for self-promotion holds up!
Nov 20, 2022·edited Nov 20, 2022Liked by Becky Tuch
I’m surprised to not see a deeper discussion about self-promo done wrong. The optimistic reframings—sharing, gift giving, inviting guests in—ring hollow when they don’t consider the audience. A social media post to your published work is irrelevant if it mostly reaches random folks who may not even be readers, much less looking for something to read. Most of the self-promo I see for short stories, poems, and essays is of this variety. Simple bragging with no context. I’ve tried it, because it’s expected, but always felt it was a crude tactic and not real marketing.
Can we talk about targeting and finding actual prospective readers? How that may be its own massive time investment? How journal editors and publishers seem too overwhelmed with other duties to kickstart this process beyond sending something to print or clicking publish?
Promoting myself makes me feel like the bad dog who just peed on the carpet and now is getting his face rubbed into it: “Look at what you did!” This is how I feel since joining Linkedin last week, my first social media account. So much “humble” bragging on there—I barely understand the language. I am also new to Substack as a reader and author.
Look at me go, nearly putting myself out there. I’m ashamed of all this talking about me. I.must wash my hands now. Something must be cleaned.
Becky nailed it with "Every day thousands of writers scream on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and wherever else—Look at me!"
I've recently given up on FB and Twitter (never started with Instagram) to promote my writing because (a) they didn't generate a single new follower for my blog and (b) after the first few posts most of my 'friends' stopped reading my posts about my writing. ;-)
While Substack is clearly a major player, many reviewers question its costs and limitations.
Finally, harking back to recent conversations on LitMag News about what constitutes previous publication, just be careful what you wish for and what you share on these platforms.
Thanks Becky! I have only have like 25 followers (i have s very small network) but I have a couple hundred reads in my month here, and good rates of opening/reading! And every time i post I get more followers. A lot read me twice. Interesting. It seems to me that people are more I tersted in more substantial work like my real poems than my fun stories, so I am going to try that. I would love to write for you one Thursday after I have more followers. I just cannot believe though how many readers I have gotten. I love that. I mean I don’t make any money but at this point the little darlings are just thrilled to be read! Thank you for the invitation! Let’s wait till I have I don’t know more followers? I don’t know how to get them but one at a time from twitter….but they are coming from somewhere. 25 is a lot to me. Thanks for the invite I will absolutely do it! —fishclamor.Substack.com (jennifer Woodworth) @fishclamor
Becky, this topic hits home! I like using the term "sharing" instead of self-promotion; it's a better way to look at it, but it's still hard for me. With a novel coming out early in 2024 (with a good indie publisher), I'm already trying to learn about marketing tactics, particularly what's doable for me without spending a fortune (which I don't have!). Thanks for the encouragement! I'm enjoying the responses in the thread, too.
Thanks for raising this subject, Becky. I am enjoying and learning from the different perspectives I am seeing in the comments. As an older writer who has published hundreds of poems in lit mags as well as chapbooks and full-length poetry collections, I have to say I would still much rather promote someone else's work than my own. Self-promotion does not come naturally at all, so I do a certain amount and then stop when I feel exhausted. And I confess that when a real-life writer friend does tons and tons of self-promotion, I begin withdrawing from the friendship, even though I totally understand why they are doing that and am cheering them on, sincerely, at the same time!
I can't help feeling this is part of a wider debate about validation, how appearing in one of the magasines - particularly of the literary type - bestows axiomatically upon any writer a sense of authenticity. To appear in print especially, but also no-line is a source of recognition, although when I look back at some of the pieces I've had published in the past, the only thing they bestow is a source of acute embarrassment which I have tried to hide over the years. Nor - and you'll no doubt pardon the suggestion - would I be alone in this. A writer must possess above all things self-belief: seeking publication and promoting your work are just part of the job. I do however, have a possible remedy for those who might be a little nervous before the cameras. A noted writer of the last century was so shy about reading in public he would pay someone else - an actor or a radio presenter naturally spring to mind - to read his work at literary gatherings while he sat at the back, taking notes I can only assume. The main drawback is having to split the fee! The polar opposite would be the Norman Mailer approach: he obviously found it impossible to turn down an appearance on a tv chat-show, radio interviews, writers' conferences, etc., much of it available for posterity on YouTube. It remains a mystery how he ever found the time to write!
I'm not shy, not do I work alone, I participe in online groups, run workshops and have written a small amount of collaborative poetry but I do have this little voice just behind my write shoulder that says "Who do you think you are?" I've had quite a lot of poetry and some flash fiction published in online & print journals and anthologies but when it comes to blogging or sharing on social media I've completely frozen.
I like the idea of seeing it as 'sharing' in the best sense of the word so I will try to see it as giving a gift to someone from now on. Thank you for sharing this post. I'll pass it on.
Love this post! While I admire writers who are shameless about self-promotion and know quite a few who do it well, I personally always feel like grabbing a potential reader by the elbow (such an astute visual!) and forcing them to drive home a lemon when I share a link to a published story (with friends, and only close friends). Do I lack confidence or am I overly precious about my stuff? Both! Either way, it's not worth the aggravation for me.. Que sera, sera.
Our co-written chapbook has 24 poems -- "Messengers of the Macabre: Hallowe'en Poems" [Audience Askew, Oct. 18, 2022] -- and 10 book blurbs + 7 reviews + 4 award nominations. My next book, a hardcover with 66 poems [Beacon Books, 2023] will have 12 book blurbs before it is released. Nothing happens by chance. As I'm writing, I select pieces that will be a good fit for my Book Trailer, my YouTube channel, my press release, my interviews. The promotional process is factored in and noted in my journal before the book is out. Not sure why "MARKETING" is a dirty word when I see "influencers" promoting things far less worthy than finely crafted literary output. Value yourselves, pls, and value what you create.
I don’t know anything except when I started putting my stories and poems up here, i got a lot of reads. Way more reads than subscribers if I understand the stats right. And obviously no friends and family I mean that’s by definition. Just writing friends and a pile of strangers, but they do come by and the stranger factor feels amazing.
I wonder if people would prefer just to stop by the website over emails too and wonder if that’s why so many more reads than subscribers? Thanks for seconding that! Appreciate it!
I saw! I clicked your picture found your stack and subscribed to you! Translation theory using Biblical Hebrew to English as example languages was my last mfa class I took, while pregnant, and maybe my favorite class i ever took. Teacher was an absolutely inspiring genius. Anyway. Since then I read all translator’s intros and just found a magnificent translation just from what I learned in that class and what I know as a poet (it must be translated to preserve poetry for me! ). I found amazing translation of Anna karenina by Marian Schwarz. It is so wonderful. All these 100 years of other translators *really* thought the old man with ten handwritten copies of AK was making stylistic *mistakes* when he was using the repetition obviously for effect? And they didn’t get that he was making a political statement at the same time with the “roughness” of his language???? Sheeesh. I could tell it was wrong when I started Barrett. Then I found Schwarz. Just saying, I love the whole set of ideas and philosophies to be considered.
Look forward to reading you and nice to meet you! —jennifer
The biggest obstacle to self-promotion is the publisher's definition of "previously published." I might want to tantalize possible readers with a poem. If I do that, it limits where I can submit that poem. That is ridiculous.
Just forced myself through about 3 months of promotion for my debut novel. Gawd I am not a natural at this. Can't I just eat sand for a week instead? Or maybe tar somebody's roof in Phoenix during August? You know, something funner and easier?
Now you're talking my language. A perk of writing in earnest at 65 years old is I'm the queen of shameless self promotion. Last week I saw the amazing new To Kill A Mockingbird play here in LA. I wrote one of my reviews and on a whim sent it to stageandcinema.com. although not a 'real review' as the editor said, he loved it enough to edit it a bit for me and publish it here.. Since then I just add the link to every Facebook ad on seeing the play that the theater, production company, news link reviews post. I never have a problem with promotion. I'd make the mailman read it if I could get him to hold still enough. Besides my personal essay writing, I've branched out now to music and theater reviews. Some kids in Florida who run the botheringtheband.com music podcast site loved what I sent them so now I'm their regular writer, albeit with zero pay. But same day last week I got my very first PAID writing from a Canadian magazine Esoterica. Now that was a thrill, especially since I did it as a pitch first as they request. I NEVER do pitches, I mean seriously, my pieces run less than 2000 words, seems like a waste of time to pitch when they can read in the time the process takes. But I really wanted to be in this magazine so I did, got a response to the pitch in 24 hours and then an acceptance 24 hours later. So they paid me but still waiting on the publication!! So yes I LOVE it. When I do my posts on my site, besides the Wordpress subscribers, I always do FB Posts and then email to those pesky people I know that dont do social media so they don't miss it either. But I have been told I am a total outlier in this respect. Most artists I know musicians, etc, cringe at self promotion. I just happen to really enjoy it. I do a lot of promo for my musician friends as well , whose music I love. I love this theater one though. I look sooo pretty in print! LOL https://stageandcinema.com/2022/11/11/commentary-to-kill-a-mockingbird-tour/
So far Substack in a month has given me more readers than I ever had before. I love it! Fishclamor.Substack. Com very short stories, poems, prose poems.
I got three amazing blurbs for my chapbook, ABOUT TIME (published by Cathexis Norhwest Press). Doing so took as much emotional energy as writing the 40+ poems, sending them out to journals and sending out the whole manuscript. The writing part felt "natural," the submitting felt "noble," and "necessary," and the blurb requesting just felt awkward, but at that point I was all in and it was worth it. Since the book is out I've had fun celebrating it! I feel like I am celebrating all of literature and all who support it, as well as my own efforts. I want to encourage everyone and I am happy to celebrate others in the same spirit.
While we all understand that self-promotion is necessary, I'm not sure we all get that it is also a way of offering a gift to the world. Think of yourself as the gift-giver in the sense that you have something to share, an offering that could bring a reader joy, enlightenment, or value in an unexpected way. Maybe your work lends a perspective, sparks someone's creativity, shares a writing style they may want to emulate, reminds them of a valued memory, or brings up a topic they’d like to research further.
You’re a writer, which means you’re a thinker, which means you have something to say. Self-promotion is simply the process of helping people find you and your ideas, because there’s a good chance they will benefit and appreciate whatever you have to offer. Oh, yeah!
I'm ok with representing my work to others as worthwhile and interesting. I can do that without feeling debased or demeaned. I'm not sure I can "market myself" or "brand myself" or "sell myself" or "niche myself" or "monetize myself" (or any of those other shticks that supposedly distinguish a "professional artist" from an amateur) without breaking character and collapsing on the floor in wild hysterics.
As someone who's worked as an arts professional for nearly twenty years and has never had an agent/manager/publicist, yeah I'm into self-promotion! When I was a performer, there really was an emphasis on the self, as I was my own commodity. Now with writing, it's more about the work, and I enjoy that focal shift. To any writers who feel shy about putting your work out there: be grateful you don't have to share photos of your physical being in an effort to try to entice people to come to your shows, where they'll then be watching your every move. Talk about the antithesis of the shy writer archetype!
It's wonderful when others share my work (say if someone really enjoys one of my pieces and reposts the link), but the only one I can rely on to share my work consistently is me. To quote Dolly Parton: "Sometimes you just have to toot your own horn. Otherwise, nobody will know you're a-comin'."
I also want to mention: I love when others share their work! Never do I think "ew, look at that person self-promoting." I'm so grateful they put their stuff out there, in this very saturated mediascape, so that I have the opportunity to enjoy it.
Only one book out so far and I had to do most of the promo. The publishing house (Spuyten Duyvil) was (is) well-known but small and basically puts you in a catalog for distribution, a blurb on their website, and then to Amazon. I arranged for a few podcast appearances, made myself available for readings, and did the usual "look at me" Facebook things. But not much else. I just take the lead from the publisher and get on with the next project. I don't obsess about it. My plan is to have a cult following 50 years after I croak so not a lot of groundwork has to be done right now. :-)
Some writers have a novel, anthology or chapbook out there they wish to sell, and self-promotion is mandatory, even with the larger publishing houses these days. For those of us who are writing mainly for the pleasure of it and wish to share our work, there is nothing wrong with promoting it or the magazines / sites where that work appears. As we promote ourselves, we are promoting all the other contributors and the publications as well. It's a win-win for everyone.
Hi Becky,
Thanks for your thoughts. I agree that, rather than self-promotion, it is sharing of yourself. Our inner work is to believe that what we share will have value to other people.
Joe
I think AE Stallings strikes a good balance on her Facebook page. It always feels like a real post from her, more or less to the point with a small bit of humor or point of interest thrown in, but rarely much. https://m.facebook.com/100063477635363/
Of course, it helps to be AE Stallings.
I writhe just thinking about self promotion. Can’t get the image of a carnival barker in a sleazy tent show calling everyone in the already hyped up audience to see the “freaks” !
Becky, you pick good topics to write about. This one hits home, too. I'm not a natural and have to force myself and begrudge the time it takes to self-promote as a distraction from what I'd rather be doing. I like your idea of better terminology, though. I have found that by calling it a different name I'm more comfortable with it.
Becky, thanks for bringing this up. In an ideal world, publishers and readers would be the ones promoting our work, but that's not the world we've got. There's no one answer. Whitman shamelessly self-promoted and even wrote reviews of his work under pseudonyms, but Dickinson resisted publication because she didn't want to be "advertised." I regularly use social media to promote publications because no one will be noticed or read automatically. Readers have to know you exist. That said, there is a new practice out there of announcing when you've had a work accepted somewhere, not published yet, just accepted. In most instances, I don't see the point of this. It may be months before I can read the poem or story referenced, and by then, I certainly won't remember that Facebook post. I'll admit that if one of my social media friends got something accepted in one of those big, less than one percent shot at acceptance magazines, I would be excited for them and would want to know about it. Otherwise, I'd prefer to wait to hear about it until publication.
I have no qualms about self-promotion, and I think being a translator has a lot to do with that. When I spread the word about pieces I've translated, it feels like a fairly even split between self-promotion and sharing something I love, by someone I admire, with people who previously wouldn't have been able to enjoy it. Similarly, when I started my Substack about writing, translation, and language acquisition, I framed it for myself as a cross between showing off what I do and answering questions from friends and colleagues in each area of my career about what's involved in my other endeavors. I'll have some fiction of my own coming out soon, so we'll see whether my penchant for self-promotion holds up!
I’m surprised to not see a deeper discussion about self-promo done wrong. The optimistic reframings—sharing, gift giving, inviting guests in—ring hollow when they don’t consider the audience. A social media post to your published work is irrelevant if it mostly reaches random folks who may not even be readers, much less looking for something to read. Most of the self-promo I see for short stories, poems, and essays is of this variety. Simple bragging with no context. I’ve tried it, because it’s expected, but always felt it was a crude tactic and not real marketing.
Can we talk about targeting and finding actual prospective readers? How that may be its own massive time investment? How journal editors and publishers seem too overwhelmed with other duties to kickstart this process beyond sending something to print or clicking publish?
It’s a game, a tediously awkward game against yourself, other players notwithstanding.
Promoting myself makes me feel like the bad dog who just peed on the carpet and now is getting his face rubbed into it: “Look at what you did!” This is how I feel since joining Linkedin last week, my first social media account. So much “humble” bragging on there—I barely understand the language. I am also new to Substack as a reader and author.
Look at me go, nearly putting myself out there. I’m ashamed of all this talking about me. I.must wash my hands now. Something must be cleaned.
If you don't take yourself too seriously, it can be kind of fun.
Becky nailed it with "Every day thousands of writers scream on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and wherever else—Look at me!"
I've recently given up on FB and Twitter (never started with Instagram) to promote my writing because (a) they didn't generate a single new follower for my blog and (b) after the first few posts most of my 'friends' stopped reading my posts about my writing. ;-)
I've been looking into a newsletter option and I found this article very helpful. https://www.marketermilk.com/blog/best-newsletter-platforms
While Substack is clearly a major player, many reviewers question its costs and limitations.
Finally, harking back to recent conversations on LitMag News about what constitutes previous publication, just be careful what you wish for and what you share on these platforms.
I truly deeply struggle w/ this. Was in Entertainment biz for too long, and now have major blocks!
Thanks Becky! I have only have like 25 followers (i have s very small network) but I have a couple hundred reads in my month here, and good rates of opening/reading! And every time i post I get more followers. A lot read me twice. Interesting. It seems to me that people are more I tersted in more substantial work like my real poems than my fun stories, so I am going to try that. I would love to write for you one Thursday after I have more followers. I just cannot believe though how many readers I have gotten. I love that. I mean I don’t make any money but at this point the little darlings are just thrilled to be read! Thank you for the invitation! Let’s wait till I have I don’t know more followers? I don’t know how to get them but one at a time from twitter….but they are coming from somewhere. 25 is a lot to me. Thanks for the invite I will absolutely do it! —fishclamor.Substack.com (jennifer Woodworth) @fishclamor
Becky, this topic hits home! I like using the term "sharing" instead of self-promotion; it's a better way to look at it, but it's still hard for me. With a novel coming out early in 2024 (with a good indie publisher), I'm already trying to learn about marketing tactics, particularly what's doable for me without spending a fortune (which I don't have!). Thanks for the encouragement! I'm enjoying the responses in the thread, too.
Thanks for raising this subject, Becky. I am enjoying and learning from the different perspectives I am seeing in the comments. As an older writer who has published hundreds of poems in lit mags as well as chapbooks and full-length poetry collections, I have to say I would still much rather promote someone else's work than my own. Self-promotion does not come naturally at all, so I do a certain amount and then stop when I feel exhausted. And I confess that when a real-life writer friend does tons and tons of self-promotion, I begin withdrawing from the friendship, even though I totally understand why they are doing that and am cheering them on, sincerely, at the same time!
I can't help feeling this is part of a wider debate about validation, how appearing in one of the magasines - particularly of the literary type - bestows axiomatically upon any writer a sense of authenticity. To appear in print especially, but also no-line is a source of recognition, although when I look back at some of the pieces I've had published in the past, the only thing they bestow is a source of acute embarrassment which I have tried to hide over the years. Nor - and you'll no doubt pardon the suggestion - would I be alone in this. A writer must possess above all things self-belief: seeking publication and promoting your work are just part of the job. I do however, have a possible remedy for those who might be a little nervous before the cameras. A noted writer of the last century was so shy about reading in public he would pay someone else - an actor or a radio presenter naturally spring to mind - to read his work at literary gatherings while he sat at the back, taking notes I can only assume. The main drawback is having to split the fee! The polar opposite would be the Norman Mailer approach: he obviously found it impossible to turn down an appearance on a tv chat-show, radio interviews, writers' conferences, etc., much of it available for posterity on YouTube. It remains a mystery how he ever found the time to write!
I'm not shy, not do I work alone, I participe in online groups, run workshops and have written a small amount of collaborative poetry but I do have this little voice just behind my write shoulder that says "Who do you think you are?" I've had quite a lot of poetry and some flash fiction published in online & print journals and anthologies but when it comes to blogging or sharing on social media I've completely frozen.
I like the idea of seeing it as 'sharing' in the best sense of the word so I will try to see it as giving a gift to someone from now on. Thank you for sharing this post. I'll pass it on.
I found an example of a "leather couplet":
No cheesy Naugahyde, ersatz and clammy,
Choose nubuck, suede or sweat-absorbing chamois.
Love this post! While I admire writers who are shameless about self-promotion and know quite a few who do it well, I personally always feel like grabbing a potential reader by the elbow (such an astute visual!) and forcing them to drive home a lemon when I share a link to a published story (with friends, and only close friends). Do I lack confidence or am I overly precious about my stuff? Both! Either way, it's not worth the aggravation for me.. Que sera, sera.
Anyone have an good book or online class recommendations for self promotion for writers? Book marketing and PR?
Correction: “Can’t get the image out of my head….” The subject is so awful it makes me forget what I want to say. :-)
Our co-written chapbook has 24 poems -- "Messengers of the Macabre: Hallowe'en Poems" [Audience Askew, Oct. 18, 2022] -- and 10 book blurbs + 7 reviews + 4 award nominations. My next book, a hardcover with 66 poems [Beacon Books, 2023] will have 12 book blurbs before it is released. Nothing happens by chance. As I'm writing, I select pieces that will be a good fit for my Book Trailer, my YouTube channel, my press release, my interviews. The promotional process is factored in and noted in my journal before the book is out. Not sure why "MARKETING" is a dirty word when I see "influencers" promoting things far less worthy than finely crafted literary output. Value yourselves, pls, and value what you create.
I don’t know anything except when I started putting my stories and poems up here, i got a lot of reads. Way more reads than subscribers if I understand the stats right. And obviously no friends and family I mean that’s by definition. Just writing friends and a pile of strangers, but they do come by and the stranger factor feels amazing.
I wonder if people would prefer just to stop by the website over emails too and wonder if that’s why so many more reads than subscribers? Thanks for seconding that! Appreciate it!
I saw! I clicked your picture found your stack and subscribed to you! Translation theory using Biblical Hebrew to English as example languages was my last mfa class I took, while pregnant, and maybe my favorite class i ever took. Teacher was an absolutely inspiring genius. Anyway. Since then I read all translator’s intros and just found a magnificent translation just from what I learned in that class and what I know as a poet (it must be translated to preserve poetry for me! ). I found amazing translation of Anna karenina by Marian Schwarz. It is so wonderful. All these 100 years of other translators *really* thought the old man with ten handwritten copies of AK was making stylistic *mistakes* when he was using the repetition obviously for effect? And they didn’t get that he was making a political statement at the same time with the “roughness” of his language???? Sheeesh. I could tell it was wrong when I started Barrett. Then I found Schwarz. Just saying, I love the whole set of ideas and philosophies to be considered.
Look forward to reading you and nice to meet you! —jennifer
The biggest obstacle to self-promotion is the publisher's definition of "previously published." I might want to tantalize possible readers with a poem. If I do that, it limits where I can submit that poem. That is ridiculous.
Speaking of self promo!