The reason so many people cringe when you mention self-promotion is because they mistakenly think it means bragging. You don’t want to tell people “I’m great, my book is great.” Instead you want people to know that you wrote a book and what it is about that book that will interest them. You have to make people aware of your book and make sure they know who you are.
A popular form of promotion for authors and their books is blogging, but you don’t want very blog to be simply “read my book” or “look at all of the great reviews”. A blog post should raise some interest in you, in your writing, and sometimes in your book. Instead of always posting excerpts, reviews, or the terrific bargain your book is, you might want to write a thought provoking post about a subject dealt with in your book, perhaps find a connection between the story and something in the current news, anything that will provide interesting reading. At the end of the post, add your web-site link, a graphic of a book, or a buy link for one of your novels. Just don’t make people think they are listening to constant bragging.
Participation on social networks is another popular method of promotion. Again, not everything is about you or your book. Post frequently as part of ongoing conversations, post a witticism here or there, and always make sure that the YOU people are seeing IS the you that you want them to see. If you come off being a pretentious bore, self-absorbed, nasty, argumentative, then folks will avoid you and they will not be interested in learning more about you. Be real, be nice, be informed and people will want to be your “friend” – if people are interested in knowing you, then they will learn about you as a writer. Always keep it a “soft-sell” and you won’t scare potential readers away.
Writing exercise: Write YOUR elevator speech – a 2-sentence statement that introduces you and tells people why they should buy/read your work. If you need help, start by making a list of what makes your story unique and interesting.
Writing Prompt: Make a QUICK list of 10 products you’ve seen advertised on TV lately. Try to write at least one thing about each ad that makes it memorable. Have you bought any of the products after seeing the ad? Why?
