Author Topic: Self-Promoting  (Read 3211 times)

Offline Thrythlind

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Self-Promoting
« on: October 29, 2010, 01:10:59 AM »
Okay, I do a lot of this for the simple fact that I don't have anyone else to do it for me.

My question is...how the hell do I promote myself and my work without sounding and feeling like a self-important twit.

I hate saying that I believe that I write better than the majority of published, full time writers out there, but I do.  I don't like comparing myself that way, even if I do hear it from other people.  I hate tooting my own horn. 

I always feel tempted to mock myself or approach things from a self-deprecating sort of humor.

But that has the chance of making you look like whiny in addition to being a twit.

Granted, I think whining is a very funny sound to listen to, even if its me doing it, but that's not a good image to present.

I make a lot of attempts to put my book into conversation online or otherwise and I know that puts some people off, but I feel like I'm cheating myself and simply ensuring failure not to do it.

I also know that I have a fairly large readership when it comes to fanfiction...which is why I'm offering some parts of my books for free viewing on my website...I'm trying to get those guys who are used to reading my stuff for free to look at my new stuff, stuff unconnected with anime or manga or other novels.  And then hoping they'll extend that interest to purchase.

Just where is the happy medium where I can promote myself and it doesn't feel selfish every time?
Thrythlind Stories and Games: http://Http://thryth.webs.com
Original Fiction: Bystander, Greenwater, Zodiacs, Choice and Consequences
Fan Fiction: Chi and Chakra, Divine Blood, others
Games: The Unnamed System, Lycan Life
Fan Art
Blog on Writing Technique and occasional rants

Tbora

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Re: Self-Promoting
« Reply #1 on: October 30, 2010, 03:14:04 AM »
Talk to your local bookstores and see if you can arrange a signing/publicity event with them to generate interest.

Then invite your local news people to the event to get the word out.

Give some free copies to the media folks to review and raise the awareness, worst that happens is you get some critism so you know how to improve yourself, people never complain about free stuff, after all its not as if they lost anything on it.

Get your friends to read the books so they can tell your friends, etc, etc.

Find yourself an agent who can help you promote the book.

And I ran out of ideas, but if I have more I'll post them.

Offline Thrythlind

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Re: Self-Promoting
« Reply #2 on: October 30, 2010, 03:57:24 AM »
Talk to your local bookstores and see if you can arrange a signing/publicity event with them to generate interest.

Then invite your local news people to the event to get the word out.

Give some free copies to the media folks to review and raise the awareness, worst that happens is you get some critism so you know how to improve yourself, people never complain about free stuff, after all its not as if they lost anything on it.

Get your friends to read the books so they can tell your friends, etc, etc.

Find yourself an agent who can help you promote the book.

And I ran out of ideas, but if I have more I'll post them.

Thanks for the ideas, I'm doing some of the first one, got my second event tomorrow...just feels aggravating at times...
Thrythlind Stories and Games: http://Http://thryth.webs.com
Original Fiction: Bystander, Greenwater, Zodiacs, Choice and Consequences
Fan Fiction: Chi and Chakra, Divine Blood, others
Games: The Unnamed System, Lycan Life
Fan Art
Blog on Writing Technique and occasional rants

Offline jeno

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Re: Self-Promoting
« Reply #3 on: October 30, 2010, 08:48:35 AM »
Most authors do their own self-advertising. Only the creme-de-la-creme get major backing for their books, and sometimes only after they've made it big.  C'est la vie. :D


An easy way to advertise yourself, especially in a forum like this, is to make good use of your sig line. It's the perfect advertising place, but right now yours is dominated by a series of letters and plus marks that make no sense to outside readers.

Instead, try posting direct links to where potential readers can buy your books. Use a thumbnail of the cover. Do the same on all the forums you visit that allow customizable sigs. It's free and it saves you the trouble of awkwardly trying to bring up the topic of your book in conversation.

As a side note, I wouldn't make your primary site deviant art. Trying to advertise and sell your written work from a free art site seems counter intuitive to me. I saw that link and thought it meant you drew fanart, which is not the impression you want people to have (and if it's not your primary site, I have no way of knowing because that's the only link in your sig.  :P) Try a blog if you can't get your own domain, but you should think seriously about moving away from deviant art.

And like Tbora said, get someone to review your work. It'll do one of two things - give you a review that will entice people to read it, or show you where you need serious improvement before people will be willing to buy it. Agents like Nathan Bradsford have weekly sessions where you can submit a page or two and have it critiqued. There's also Query Shark. Even if you don't plan on submitting to an agent, you can get your query worked by the Shark and learn how to write a really compelling summary - something that should also help with sales.

But above all, keep writing. Don't stop just because you have an ebook out. The more you write, the better you'll get and the more chances you'll have that people will buy your work.  :)

You think you know how this story is going to end, but you don't. -Christopher Moore

The kraken stirs. And ten billion sushi dinners cry out for vengeance. -Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman

Offline the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh

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Re: Self-Promoting
« Reply #4 on: October 30, 2010, 09:01:58 PM »
Doing your own publicity, other than very very carefully, is a really good way of getting major publishers to mark you as "amateurish wannabe" and be less inclined to take you on.  Most major publishers have fairly clear lines around which bits of the process are your job and which theirs, and these are not things it would be a generally good idea to cross.
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Offline jeno

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Re: Self-Promoting
« Reply #5 on: October 31, 2010, 12:42:15 AM »
I was under the impression Thrythlind was self publishing?
You think you know how this story is going to end, but you don't. -Christopher Moore

The kraken stirs. And ten billion sushi dinners cry out for vengeance. -Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman

Offline the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh

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Re: Self-Promoting
« Reply #6 on: October 31, 2010, 03:50:27 PM »
I was under the impression Thrythlind was self publishing?

I was not assuming that the desire to self-publish now ruled out ever at any future point being interested in being professionally published; if i have missed something to that effect my apologies.
Mildly OCD. Please do not troll.

"What do you mean, Lawful Silly isn't a valid alignment?"

kittensgame, Sandcastle Builder, Homestuck, Welcome to Night Vale, Civ III, lots of print genre SF, and old-school SATT gaming if I had the time.  Also Pandemic Legacy is the best game ever.

Offline jeno

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Re: Self-Promoting
« Reply #7 on: October 31, 2010, 06:04:32 PM »
Fair enough.   :P
You think you know how this story is going to end, but you don't. -Christopher Moore

The kraken stirs. And ten billion sushi dinners cry out for vengeance. -Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman

Offline Thrythlind

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Re: Self-Promoting
« Reply #8 on: November 03, 2010, 08:48:43 AM »
doh!  Sig...forgot about that.  Yeah, I have a website now...moment...a lot of the website is fanfiction, since I'm trying to divert my monthly readership in ff.net to my website...but some of my original stuff is there.

I'm operating there under the idea of showing some of the stuff and keeping the rest only for people who purchase the book.  Sort of the way webcomics add extras to the books, but most of the story is still publicly available.

With Greenwater and Zodiacs, that's most of the story (Greenwater doesn't display the four prologues and Zodiacs leaves off the backstory for the villain and the mentor).  With Bystander, I left out the main story and through in the episodic flashback backstory where you get to know the character.

Btw, I actually have five books out now, working on a sixth, not including the stuff I'm contracted for.

Thanks for all the advice.  I think mostly I was getting discouraged with the fact that some of this stuff I have to makes me feel like a twit.

And yes, I'd LOVE to have someone pick up my stuff so I can write and not worry about promoting.
« Last Edit: November 03, 2010, 08:53:02 AM by Thrythlind »
Thrythlind Stories and Games: http://Http://thryth.webs.com
Original Fiction: Bystander, Greenwater, Zodiacs, Choice and Consequences
Fan Fiction: Chi and Chakra, Divine Blood, others
Games: The Unnamed System, Lycan Life
Fan Art
Blog on Writing Technique and occasional rants