As an author, your credibility depends on burnishing your image as an expert in your field.
Show me a writer who doesn’t practice blatant self-promotion, and I’ll show you a writer headed for oblivion and failure. If you don’t toot your own horn, you’re not going to be heard. Self-promotion isn’t unethical or egotistical, it’s part of the writer’s job.
Shameless self promotion works. It shows your audience and you believe, and they should too. But self-promotion is a challenge for many writers, who tend to be a shy lot. If you want to be a successful author, you’ll need to work around any shyness. In the beginning at least, your job of letting people know about your book is just as important as having written it.
Get started now. There’s no law saying you have to toil in obscurity for years working your way up the food chain. The sooner you start acting like you’re in “the club”, the sooner you’ll be a member.
For sure, you’ll run into folks who believe it’s unseemly, or somehow unethical for a writer to plug their own work. Pay no attention to them. If you’re proud of your book, it’s your duty to let others know about it.
On your book’s back cover, explain why you’re qualified to write the book. Say exactly why people should listen to you. Your “About the Author” copy is your job resume — it’s your job application you’re submitting to your prospective readers. Present yourself in the best possible light. For example, are you publisher of the Internet’s most popular blog on fly-fishing, furniture refinishing, or laser eye surgery? Then say so! Are you president of your local writer’s group? Put it on your resume! List every pertinent award you’ve ever received, and write it as if you’re a journalist who’s discovered the next great author.
After all, the point of writing is for others to read your work. If your potential readers understand you’re passionate about your book, they’ll be infected with your enthusiasm.
Above all, get your book into the hands of the opinion-makers in your field, let them become your evangelists. That’s the advice of author Justine Larbalestier on author self-promotion.
Continue reading this blog, and you’ll read more about the tools — the nuts and bolts — of publicizing your writing. But first, make sure you have the inner confidence, strength, and commitment.
Your key to book sales: Shameless self-promotion
As an author, your credibility depends on burnishing your image as an expert in your field.
Show me a writer who doesn’t practice blatant self-promotion, and I’ll show you a writer headed for oblivion and failure. If you don’t toot your own horn, you’re not going to be heard. Self-promotion isn’t unethical or egotistical, it’s part of the writer’s job.
Shameless self promotion works. It shows your audience and you believe, and they should too. But self-promotion is a challenge for many writers, who tend to be a shy lot. If you want to be a successful author, you’ll need to work around any shyness. In the beginning at least, your job of letting people know about your book is just as important as having written it.
Get started now. There’s no law saying you have to toil in obscurity for years working your way up the food chain. The sooner you start acting like you’re in “the club”, the sooner you’ll be a member.
For sure, you’ll run into folks who believe it’s unseemly, or somehow unethical for a writer to plug their own work. Pay no attention to them. If you’re proud of your book, it’s your duty to let others know about it.
On your book’s back cover, explain why you’re qualified to write the book. Say exactly why people should listen to you. Your “About the Author” copy is your job resume — it’s your job application you’re submitting to your prospective readers. Present yourself in the best possible light. For example, are you publisher of the Internet’s most popular blog on fly-fishing, furniture refinishing, or laser eye surgery? Then say so! Are you president of your local writer’s group? Put it on your resume! List every pertinent award you’ve ever received, and write it as if you’re a journalist who’s discovered the next great author.
After all, the point of writing is for others to read your work. If your potential readers understand you’re passionate about your book, they’ll be infected with your enthusiasm.
Above all, get your book into the hands of the opinion-makers in your field, let them become your evangelists. That’s the advice of author Justine Larbalestier on author self-promotion.
Continue reading this blog, and you’ll read more about the tools — the nuts and bolts — of publicizing your writing. But first, make sure you have the inner confidence, strength, and commitment.
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