Blogger: Mary Keeley
What is your knee-jerk reaction to the concept of self-promotion? Negative or positive? In the coming year we’ll be surrounded by self-promotion of all kinds via the media until we do an eye roll and cover our ears. There’s no avoiding it, writers have to promote themselves and their books, too, if they want to help their sales reach the level publishers need to see before they’re willing to offer the next contract. But promotions can be done in a way that attracts readers rather than turns them away.
Some time ago my husband received an email attachment from his high school class reunion committee listing the profiles of those classmates who had submitted them. As he read through it, trying to remember names and faces, he came to one that was quite lengthy. Bought this company and sold it; bought a bigger one. World traveler…lived here, then there and there. You get the picture. It’s high school, mind you. That approach might be right for a resume, but not in this context. After so many years, most classmates simply want to get together and reminisce. Eye roll. The best approach to self-promotion that writers should take has nothing to do with that type of self-aggrandizement.
Self-promotion for writers is about letting the world know your book exists and that it will bless readers’ hearts and lives.
Rid your mind of negative connotations associated with the term, and shift your focus to investing in the readers you want to reach who will benefit from your book, either for pleasure or for improving their lives, and always spiritually. This is the purest motivation for the promotions you will undertake, and the returns on your investment are numerous:
- You will have clarity of purpose as you craft your social media promotions The publisher’s publicity team will write a press release to send to larger newspaper, magazine, and TV outlets, but ask to review it before it’s sent out to be sure it was written in the tone you want. Yours isn’t the only book the publicity team is working on. If there isn’t time to get thoroughly familiar with your book, they’ll try to do the best they can, but occasionally they can miss what’s most important. Create your own personalized press release to distribute to local media and newspapers.
- You will be prepared to pay full attention to individuals at book signings. A reader will never forget you took personal interest in him or her and will enthusiastically want to promote your book to family and friends by word of mouth.
- You will be more relaxed and natural as you speak to groups when you forget about yourself and fully invest your attention on your audience. You’ll make genuine connections with everyone present at each speaking engagement you have. Multiply those numbers by the many others to whom these people will rave about you and your book. Get the point? This personal kind of connection has a more powerful effect on book sales than social media.
- You will absorb important nuances, felt needs, fears, and hopes of your readers when your focus is on them at your events. This information will show you how to feed your readers what they need from you in your future books.
Plan your promotional efforts, not primarily for getting all you can out of it, but instead from the perspective of how you can care for and show genuine appreciation for your readers. That’s self-promotion at its best.
About that high school classmate I mentioned earlier? It turned out he was really nice in person and had contributed generously toward the lovely reunion event. How unfortunate that his profile had left such a negative first impression.
What kinds of promotions have turned you away from an author? Which of your promotional efforts reaped the best results? Why? What do you dread about self-promotion?
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Does Social Media Leave Us Over-Exposed?
> Its a good call Mary. My feeling is that it really isn’t about self-promotion at all. My wife complains that I shrug off attention, but then ask me to defend a principle or someone else, and I will not relent.
> The principles of scripture inform us on stewardship. That does not preclude us from using our name, for we know that Paul, Peter, James and John all wrote in their name, yet received the material from on high.
> God has always reserved a real place for us in His unfolding kingdom, so giving you a role and the right to a name, is honored by God. Indeed, David said, “I set the Lord at my right hand”, because it was David’s kingdom to rule, but he did so with reference to His God – and God honored that.
> Thus, when I promote myself, I feel awkward, but by being a steward of what I believe God has entrusted to me I am objectively emboldened and willing to defend that position – because it is not about me.
> I have known agents to disdain that view as being a presumption of authority, a kind of name dropping. I do not advocate that. I have faced too many twists and turns in my journey to speak so cheaply.
> Time and again I see issues raised here that trace back to “its all about me”, when it isn’t. If we own our own works, we will face harm when edited, when criticized and when rejected, but if we steward what God entrusts to us, then we assume as Moses did: “Unless you go with me, I will not go”.
Excellently articulated, Peter. This is a keeper for all of us to use as our guide. Thank you.
Take the job interview: when I was in my 20’s, I treated it as “What kind of person do you want? I can be that person.” Later on in life, my approach became “This is the kind of person I am. Does that work for you?” No job is worth maintaining a false persona.
* I don’t see it as self-promotion; it is self-description. “This is who I am (the best side of me, yes, but still true).”
* Point well taken, Mary, about reviewing the publicity team’s press releases. Who they expect me to be and who I am might not align. And that could be a set-up for disappointment. Maybe the reunion classmate’s profile was written by a publicity team–I’m glad it turned out to be a delightful surprise, not a disappointment.
Shirlee, your job interview parallel rings so true.
I don’t recall any promotions that have turned me away from authors. I think the idea of a street team is wonderful, where you have people offering to help promote your works. Any self-promotion can be embarrassing … and when others step in who believe in you … well, that sure would seem to be a blessing. The promotional tool that has worked best for me is public speaking. Every time I share my life, my testimony, gut-honest … it has a sweet way of causing those I’m speaking to to want to share their stories with me. I love it. I ask God to help me minister to them … they minister to me. After my last speaking engagement, I had to return to that church for a funeral (this was my hometown, home church, and my mother’s dear friend had passed away) … when I walked in the door, there stood some five to ten women from the retreat, all of whom I had never met before that retreat. And I looked up to hear, “Shelli!” Smiles. They took me by the hand and reeled me into a hug … passed me down the line, hugging me. I had never felt so loved. That’s when you feel like you are truly following God’s call. 🙂
Shelli, I can picture those women hugging you with love. You are one of the sweetest people I’ve met.
I wonder if somebody like you who has a speaking ministry in place might continue speaking and at the end of your talk, promote your book and have books available for sale?
Jackie, thank you! Sure, I can sell any works at the places I speak at, especially if they deal with my speaking topic. 🙂 They can be given as door prizes, etc, too. 🙂
Shelli, would you able to post links to some of the talks you’ve given, perhaps on your website? I’m sure I am not alone in wanting to see you speak (having seen your wonderful interview on Jennifer Major’s blog was a joy).
Andrew … I still don’t have a taping of me. It’s hard to ask my husband to go sit in a room of women. I want my daughter to tape me … she almost did this last time, but she didn’t really want to go, so I didn’t force her. I’ll get it the next time … I’ll really try. I want a video to put on my website.
Shelli, you are an example of listening and caring for your readers or audience. The best kind of self-promtion comes naturally to you. You still have to do your own promoting too–a lot of it–but you can be confident you know the best way to approach it.
Thank you, Mary. 🙂 I can’t believe I stand in front of a group of people … public speaking has always been my worst fear since childhood. 🙂 But … I really sort of love it. 🙂
Hi Mary,
I like the thought of having something to offer readers in addition to selling our books.
It turns me off to see an author promote their book on Twitter every thirty minutes. It almost seems desperate.
Jackie, your comment about Twitter is spot on. I stopped following someone who constantly lauded her own books instead of sharing a balance of her material and others. I have a lot of learning to do in that space myself.
I agree with you, Jackie. I wonder how many followers un-follow as a result of that approach. Desperate promotion, yes. Possibly also just plain lazy.
I LOVE your thoughts about putting our focus on our readers. That’s so much easier to do. Knowing what my book offers, being comfortable with that and then focusing on readers makes the idea of “selling books” so much easier because the focus is on the people, not solely on me or on what I’ve written.
*One kind of promotion that has turned me (and I’m sure many here) away is the continual “Buy my book!” posts you see on Twitter and Facebook. When someone follows me on Twitter, I always look at their feeds before following back. If the majority of their tweets are “Buy my book (or other product)!” I don’t usually follow back. I don’t want those sorts of tweets filling up my feed.
Yes, Jeanne. Forgetting about oneself and focusing on the readers does make the whole self-promotion easier because the spotlight pressure is off of you.
You are wise to check out someone’s feed before following back. It would be interesting to hear a statistic on the success rate and follower gain vs. loss rate as a result of “Buy my book!” tweets.
Great post on an important topic, Mary.
* My starting point is that we can’t really dislike self-promotion – if we claim that, we’re just embracing false humility, because no one who ever dated and married ever avoided self-promotion, either by exaggeration or omission. (Do you REALLY think that I told Barbara that I rode a horse through a ballroom at my first formal party…naked? If she’s reading this, now she knows.)
* And we continue it daily. Do you dress to accentuate the good, or to showcase the bad?
* Yes, what we’re working on, to start with, is the creation of a Pyongyang Personality Cult. We want readers to like US, because then they’ll be predisposed to buy more of what we write…think of it this way, would you prefer that a reader have one of your quotations on her refrigerator, or your picture? Which sort of regard would bring more sales?
* Sounding crass and commercial? Good, because as Lindbergh couldn’t fly the Atlantic without money, so too your message in the community…and he had to put his personality and confidence up as the first collateral, to have a chance of securing the money that let him soar. McLuhan, in this case was right, and you are the medium; at least to begin with, your message has to be you.
* And I WAS wearing a gorilla mask. I may be dumb, but I’m not stupid
I am not sure Drew. I don’t think I dress to promote, maybe unconsciously, but not otherwise. I dress out of respect for self, my clients and my colleagues. If I wanted to impress I would dress up and we know where that would lead. I am also not sure my wife fell for my awesome looks, else she would have been pretty disappointed soon afterwards. We married each other because of our content i.e. how we came across, our shared values, what we stood for, etc. I was always taught that in social media, content beats style – I still believe that. Bad style, sure that is stupid, just as clueless as it is to go on a date without grooming, or with stuff between your teeth, or without first showering, dressing for the moment, etc. But that just conveys respect and character – its a kind of hygiene factor, not an aspirational consideration. Its what we talk about that reveals each other. I am not convinced about self-promotion in the overt sense. I far prefer to promote what I represent, stand for, etc. I see pastors planting their faces on church billboards and I wonder, would I go there for the face or for the content? If the former, it won’t last, if the latter, it already did. Well, its just my view. I feel far better having a higher cause than allowing it to become subjective.
Pete, your point is well-taken; the point at which I was driving was that while content is vital, it’s the presentation of that content through personality which can often bring people ‘through the door’, so to speak.
* Perhaps Joel Osteen is a good example; while I don’t have much truck with the Prosperity Gospel, Osteen’s winning personality and sincere good nature are indeed a draw, and I’ll often watch his televised sermons. He’s a person whom I’d like to meet, and I draw both optimism and cheer from his presentation, notwithstanding theological differences.
Yep I get that Drew, fair point. However, someone once wisely said, “you’ll have to keep them the way you won them”.
You’re right, Andrew. Whether consciously or not, writers are themselves the first self-promotion for their book, because that is how they are perceived by the writer’s potential readers among their social media community, the agents they sit across from in pitch meetings, and by publishers. There is no getting away from self-promotion. It is an integral part of the writing life. Authors are living, breathing, vocal representatives of their work. It’s the attitude and approach to it that make all the difference.
In an interesting bit of serendipity, I just read about a useful self-promotion tip in D’arcy Greig’s delightful memoir, “My Golden Flying years”.
* Whist serving in Iraq in the early 1920s, he relates the story of a meeting with a rather disheveled gentleman, Hippolite Martinet. martinet had been a dentist in Seattle, when he was diagnosed with what was apparently TB, and was advised to spend time outdoors…so he decided to walk across the US. Upon reaching New York and finding himself quite fit again, Martinet resolved to walk around the world.
* Taking a steamer to Cherbourg took the last of his money, so Martinet financed his onward journey as a Sandwich Man; he wore signboards inscribed ‘Globe-Trotter’ front and back, and sold signed postcards of himself. The last D’arcy Greig heard of him, Martinet had reached India.
* And now I know what to do at the next (and first) writers’ conference that I am sure God will grant me the strength to attend.
The thing is, I don’t want to be Herb Tarlek in Vegas. I also don’t want to be a beige mouse in sensible shoes who’s afraid of her own shadow.
I don’t think I’ve ever been turned away from an author because of a promotion, although I do not think Snooki (the molecular biologist from Jersey Shore…or was she into thermodynamics?) should’ve gotten a book deal.
But that’s just moi.
The promotions I’ve done involving prizes seem to have done very well. And I’m hoping the goodies I’m offering for my website launch will help increase traffic.
See what I did there?
Nicely done, Jennifer.
This reminds me of the old country western song: “Oh Lord, it’s hard to be humble when you’re perfect in every way.”
Self-promotion is so against the grain for a Christian. Like many here, I am very proud of my humility. The whole idea of platform before product for fiction runs counter to what feels natural. Promoting myself as a “brand” is a very uncomfortable thought, although I realize it is essential for an author to do it. Promoting a product like a book that I was sure someone would love reading would be the most natural thing in the world for me to do.
I like how you are stressing that self-promotion should focus on satisfying a need or interest for my future readers. I can do that comfortably. I have plans for the author website I’m designing now that I hope will be fun and useful for anyone visiting it long before my first book comes to market. I am having a hard time figuring out how to start a Facebook author page because I can’t see yet how to make it worthwhile and interesting in a way that will attract followers who don’t actually know me and have no reason to want to.
I hear you about the bio for the high school reunion, but what’s a person supposed to do if they really have been highly successful by the world’s standards? I guess the head of Ford Motor Company could say he sold cars. I have very good friends at church whom I’ve known for years who have only the vaguest idea about what I’ve done in my work life. When meeting people, I answer the question “What do you do?” with “I work(ed) at XYZ” instead of telling them ”I’m a scientist working on ABC.” Lady scientist stereotype = weird. I decided this blog was a real community of friends where I could tell some personal details, even though they may make me seem a bit strange. (Well, maybe I am a bit strange, but I like the word unique better. God made us ALL unique, and life’s more fun because of it.)
Carol, what you say certainly resonates with me; I had that dislike of self-promotion, and it was only after thinking about it for a good while that I realized that I was reading Christianity dead wrong.
* We’re enjoined to place the lamp on a stand, and not to put a basket over it, but that’s only the beginning. We’ve been made, individually, by God, not because He was desperately bored on a wet Sunday afternoon in Glasgow, but because He wanted – and needed – the individuals we are. Not only as reflectors for His glory, but as lights that shine the individual glory He’s given us.
* When “Blessed Are the Pure Of Heart” came out, I didn’t do much in the way of promotion, partly from not understanding how, but perhaps even more because I really loathed blowing my own horn…”Here, I wrote this…it’s a good book, you should read it!”
* Dead wrong again. The book was only part of the package. I was the other part, and in preferring to stay humble, I took away from the mission to which it seems the Almighty set me. Those who read it liked it, and even loved it (with the exception of a brother-in-law who equated ghosts with necromancy). They wanted to know more; they wanted to know ME.
I hear you, Andrew. Actually, one of my personal temptations is to think too highly of my own abilities even when I don’t want to talk about them. Why do you think I know the lyrics? They help me keep me in proper perspective.
I think my problem isn’t going to be sharing myself after a book is out. I’m going to love talking with fans of my novels. My dear, sweet husband has to hear about them all the time now. He’s a good sport about it, poor thing. (He’s actually the model for major parts of three of the romantic leads and my checkpoint to make sure men always act and talk like real men.) What bothers me is the chest-beating before there’s a love for my characters and plots to share with fans who’ve read them.
I’m reading Blessed is the Pure in Heart, and I really like what I’ve read so far. Is it semiautobiographical?
I’ll bet your husband feels honoured, Carol. And yes, ‘Blessed Are The Pure Of Heart’ is in large part autobiographical.
I don’t know if he feels as honored as he should. When I tell him it’s because he’s kind, honest, brilliant, strong, humble, and has a great sense of humor, he counters with it’s because he’s ugly and scarred. That just proves my point about him being humble and having a great sense of humor.
Carol, I hear you. Some of the business aspects of the writing life feel counter to our Christian perspective. Andrew’s response is so well founded. I couldn’t have said it better. We have content the world desperately needs, and writers must radiate it–promote it–in the best way.
It’s encouraging that you sense our blog is a community of writing friends because that’s our goal here…to be a place for writers to learn, connect, share, and support each other.
What I think you’ve done here, Mary, is remind us that we exist to serve others by our writing and speaking, and in so doing we ‘self promote’ a real human that people will be attracted to (and possibly want to buy a book from). It seems to me that the emphasis you’ve suggested is our message, not ourselves, and that is attractive. I am thinking about how I do this with my current blog and how I can find new ways to do this in the future.
Exactly, Jen. And what a privilege and joy writers have in this role.
This sounds less scary. Focus on them, what can I give readers. Good suggestions, Mary. Thank you.
Thanks, Kristen. Focusing on the readers takes the pressure of self-consciousness off of the writer. It’s a win-win for both readers and the writer.
I like the emphasis on the reader. The message is more important than the messenger. The message received will endure. Good books with strong messages resonate with their readers. Self promotion gets out of hand when it detracts from message. Even the humble brag has its dangers. A well known, much published author recently wrote a facebook post about the number of books she had written despite her lack of education and wrong choices as a teenager. I realized she was sharing her amazing story because she is truly surprised it has turned out this way. Someone called her on it and said it was a humble brag. I saw myself in it. I, too, am amazed at what has happened in my life….even though I don’t have the writing “proof” to document it. What I learned from that one facebook exchange is that what we mean by sharing our happiness at the success of our book(s) may be misunderstood by the reader. It’s best to celebrate in a non-public/self-promotional way. Then it is easier to give God the glory for what He has done without the ‘humble brag’ possibility.
It seems sad to me, Norma, that the author you mentioned was called on the ‘humble brag’. She was sharing something important, exactly the kind of witnessing that we’re supposed to do, and the response you mentioned strikes me as singularly mean-spirited, an attempt to bring the author down a notch.
* Strong messages endure, sure, but message alone is a hobbled horse without a rider. Look at the Gospels; if we divorce Jesus’ personality from the message (as many try to do), it becomes, to paraphrase C.S. Lewis, “good advice…a bit more makes no difference”. The whole point is that of a loving and above all personal God.
* Not missing an opportunity to compare myself with Jesus, and metaphorically stepping into His sandals (and hoping He has a sense of humour), I’ve found that in my own writing. I’m sure that there are many who take my open sharing of terminal illness as either self-aggrandizement of some sort of ‘heroic endurance’ or a play to the audience for pity (“Please feel sorry for me and buy my book!”). To say those don’t come into play would probably be naive, but they’re certainly not a conscious part of the effort.
* The thing is, my story is me. I want to share the faith that in spite of really awful things that are happening, I can still see the hand of God in my life, and that there really IS a reason to keep going, to keep hoping, to keep dreaming…and above all, not to break faith with those who have shown such love and support. It’s hard to do some days; it’s very hard to do today. I’d rather take the next dose of morphine and light up a cigar than try to focus on writing coherently.
* But that isn’t who I am, it isn’t that which I am either trained, or driven by nature to do. If the story were shared without my personality and being in every word, it would become more good advice, and probably come across as unrealistic gas.
* The ‘story’ is happening to me, and through me. I’m no hero, and have faced the past few mornings in tears, but nonetheless…it’s ME who’s doing the enduring, and making the choice to try to keep the light of faith alive. Self-promotion? Yes, but when you’re given a crown, be it gold or thorns, it’s incumbent upon you to hold your head up, and wear it proudly.
“Self-promotion gets out of hand when it detracts from message.” Good point, Norma. It’s also evidence that the wrong approach to self-promotion was used. And yes, “humble brags” can be dangerous because some will take it the wrong way, and sometimes, too, the brag actually is cloaked pride. On the other hand, it’s good to celebrate successes, albeit without a lot of bravado, because they’re a validation (positive self-promotion) of a writer’s work. Again, it boils down to the writer’s approach.
Hi Mary,
Excellent post. Several authors seem to take a genuine interest in their audience…they respond to posts on blog sites or FaceBook, they respond when I’ve shared a post from their website or shared a contest they’re promoting or when I’ve featured their book in one of my posts. I’m learning from them about what makes me feel good!
You’re the perfect person to make these suggestions!! After an interaction with you, I always feel cared for and genuinely appreciated!!
Have a tea-riffic day!!
Hi Kathryn! It’s so good to see you comment on our blog again. It’s been a while. Thanks for sharing your experience of what those several authors are doing so everyone here can learn from them too. If you care to share their names, you’ll be giving back to them. And thank you for your kind feedback. You have a tea-riffic day too.
Love this post! It’s a keeper. Great advice about connecting and listening. I tend not to read purely promotional emails and blogs. With my newsletter I created in anticipation of someday publishing, I try to offer material that entertains or connects with my group of followers.
Janet, your approach to your newsletter is sure to attract readers. Well done.
Book-promotion is an easier pill to swallow than self-promotion, but it can also go haywire when we are always sending out “buy-my-book” messages. Considering promotion as a way to meet our readers’ needs is an idea I like, Mary, but not one I understood as clearly as I did after reading this comment from a reader about my books: “I like that they are about how women should be loved and not treated like test drives on cars! Thank you! I wish I had read these kinds of books as a teen. Could have changed my entire life path.” When I read that, I was amazed at the impact a simple romance could have on someone’s life. It’s a humbling reminder that God has indeed given us His messages to proclaim, whether in fiction or nonfiction.
Just think of how many people had that feeling and didn’t tell you! What a gift to know your novel had such impact. If one wrote it, at least a hundred probably felt it. I would love to get such feedback after I’m in print. There’s no point in doing any of this if it doesn’t turn on a light in the dark, help lift someone’s burden, or bring someone closer to Jesus.
Davalynn, that reader’s comment about your books is deeply moving. It should go on your website, not as bragging but as reader feedback for others who visit your site or blog and need that message for their lives.
Writing exposes the hidden chambers of our heart. Plot twist in my stories are often inspired by events in my life. If anything I write is worth reading, I know it’s because of God’s hand on me and I’ve received help from talented people he has sent to help me. May He be glorified by everything I do. And I pray that I will always be humble. Most writers I’ve met are kind and generous, but a couple have been entirely too full of themselves, and I didn’t bother to stay and hear them speak.
Shelia, thanks for the reminder that we all can apply. It will keep us humble and grounded.
In the past, as a spoken word artist, I struggled to not make it all about me. I regularly began my set by praying that like John the Baptist, I would decrease while Jesus increased. But pride blinded me and before long, I found myself doing my will in Jesus’ name. God gave me a heavy chastisement, which led to deep repentance and an understanding for His will in my life. Now as a first time author, I struggle to balance the idea between self-promotion and promoting God’s assignment for my life. Sometimes, I feel that if I don’t write and share what He has blessed me with, I am burying my talents. But other times, I fear falling back into the trap of taking over and setting the counsel of the Holy Spirit to the side. Day by day, I sense my inadequacy upon self reliance and His mighty hand in leading me in the path of righteousness for His name sake. So what does that mean? Whatever I do, do it as unto the Lord. Understanding that I will make mistakes but that He is faithful to steer me back to where I am called to be, closing the wrong doors and opening others before me that no man can shut.