The Cynical Reality of Self-Promotion in The Age of The Internet

Apologies in advance for this week's topic. I usually try to bounce back and forth between Craft and Business, but this is something that's been digging its way under my skin for a while, and I felt a need to just get it out before the frustration builds any higher.

If you are going to be a professional author (or really a creator of any type), you're going to end up doing the majority of your own promotion. You're the one who makes your social media posts, who shares links to your content, who makes videos and blogs talking about your book, who sets up interviews, etc. And because there are so many of us out there all trying to get a little bit of attention, it's understandable that a lot of groups, pages, forums, etc., want to set ground rules for when and how someone promotes their own work.

The problem you'll run into (and that it feels like I get clocked by at least once a week) is that no one out there seems to have an intuitive definition of what, exactly, self-promotion is. Instead they treat it like the infamous definition of pornography... they can't tell you what it is, but they can call it when they see it.

And that doesn't help anyone... but there is more to it than there seems to be on the surface.

Words mean things... but do they matter?

Before we get into the nitty gritty this week, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Lastly, to be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree!

Why Is This So Damn Difficult?

To begin with, I don't want to get into the particular schedules or requirements different parts of the Internet have regarding how often creators can promote, what kind of promotion they're allowed to do, etc. That is a different topic for a different day, and honestly not one I really want to weigh-in on. If you manage a FB group, a Twitter page, a forum, a Discord, etc., it is entirely up to you how often you allow self-promotion, or even if you allow it at all.

However, before we ever touch on that topic, it's important that we all come to a functional definition of what self-promotion actually is, because it feels like a lot of folks just use it as a catch-all for, "Stuff I don't want to see."

And that isn't a definition that helps anyone.

Since I brought the topic up, I think I have a fairly simple definition of self-promotion that we can all agree on. In short, self-promotion is when someone promotes their own work. It doesn't matter if it's a free-to-read article, a blog entry, a YouTube video, a podcast, or a link to the sales page for your book; if you made it, then it's self-promotion when you talk about it.

I don't think there's a lot of folks out there who would argue with me on this topic, as it seems pretty cut-and-dry. If you're trying to get eyes on your own work, or work that you had a hand in helping create if it was a team effort, that should be considered self-promotion. I would even concede that you could stretch the definition slightly to include affiliate links to other projects, because those are directly meant to help you earn a commission, even if you're boosting the signal for something you didn't work on, which would make it "promotion" without the "self" part.

However, here's a short list of other stuff I've seen struck down as "self-promotion" that doesn't fit that definition:

- Sharing the work of someone you know.

- Sharing too many articles/videos from the same creator in a row even if you don't know them.

- Sharing the work of someone who was published by a company you were also published by in the past.

The list gets more ridiculous after this point, but I think that most of us would agree that sharing content made by your friends is not, by definition, self-promotion. Sharing content made by strangers isn't self-promotion either, especially if you stand nothing to gain from doing it. And if you use the argument that any time you share a publisher with someone then you're essentially promoting yourself by boosting their signal, you may not know just how small and inbred the independent and third-party publishing community actually is. If we followed that logic, none of us would be allowed to talk about anything, because there's probably no more than 3-4 degrees of separation between a lot of us.

At End of The Day, Though, It Doesn't Really Matter

I don't think there is some legion of moderators and page managers out there who are looking over all of the posts creators make with a magnifying glass, trying to find out when we violated the rules just so they have justification to bust us. Nor do I think this is a simple case of people not knowing what basic words mean, or who need to have a nuanced discussion on the challenges and difficulties that come with surviving as a creator. I don't even think the problem is people just interchangeably using "promotion" and "self-promotion" when it comes down to it.

Does all of that happen? Sure. All of these options imply something kind of ridiculous, though; that human beings ever operate on rules when they are given discretion and authority to just do whatever the hell they want with minimal-to-no consequences.

There is no 5D chess... you're just depending on other people's good mood.

Think about that time a cop pulled you over. Maybe you were speeding, but you told a joke that got him to laugh, so he let you go with a warning and told you to have a nice day. Maybe you weren't speeding, but you reminded him of his ex that he was still mad at, so he wrote you a ticket and threatened to do more if you said anything other than, "Yes, sir," or "No, sir," when he asked you a question. Think about that friend of yours who managed the local restaurant who always gave you the "friends and family" discount when you ate there, or the boss at the gas station who said that if he didn't see the food go missing, then he was going to write it down as properly thrown out. Or on the other end of the coin, think about that I.T. guy who decided he didn't like you, and so he always "lost" any reports you made to him, or dropped your calls when he went to "transfer" you to someone else.

The unfortunate truth about self-promotion online, or even just helping signal-boost other creators, is that you are entirely dependent on people, and their whims. No matter what the rules are, people who like you are going to bend or ignore them to help you out, and people who don't like you are going to do the same in the other direction.

I say this because I have been in the game for a while, and this is the reality you're dealing with when it comes to self-promotion in online spaces. Are there going to be some spaces where moderators, page managers, etc., will look at your behavior and make a reasoned choice about whether your posts are allowed by the rules set forth in the group? Sure. I'd even venture to say that roughly half the places you try to promote your work will have that kind of attitude. The other half? Well, best-case scenario is that your work catches the eye of the folks who run the place, and they decide they're going to help you boost your signal. Worst-case scenario, they slam the door in your face and ban you because... well, just because.

Should you follow the rules when it comes to self-promotion? Yes, because much like blatantly violating the speed limit, it's going to draw attention, and get you pulled over for cause. But just as with the highway patrol, keep in mind that following the rules and minding your own business is also no guarantee that you're going to be able to get ahead if someone decides you, "look suspicious," or, "they don't want you doing what you're doing in this neighborhood."

And I say this not to rag on people who manage social media pages, or to try to paint moderators with a broad brush. I say it because as someone who tries to follow the rules as they're laid out, it is much less frustrating when you understand that those rules are a paper shield. You should follow them if you expect to be a good member of an online space... but at the end of the day, those rules don't have any weight to them, and you can't appeal to those rules. All you can do is appeal to people, and hope that you end up making more friends than enemies.

If You'd Like To Help, It Would Be Appreciated

Now, after saying all of that, I think I've made it fairly clear just what a challenge it is to get anywhere as a creator who has to do a majority of their own promotion. That said, if you wanted to help me out, please consider some of the following options:

Things That Cost Money
- Buy a Book From My Amazon Author Page

- Buy an RPG Supplement

- Become a Patreon patron
- Buy me a Ko-Fi

Things That Are Free
- Subscribe to my Daily Motion Channel
- Subscribe to the Azukail Games YouTube channel
- Browse through my Vocal archive (I get roughly 1 cent per every 3 reads)
- Subscribe to my social media channels (found at the bottom of the blog)

Thanks in advance!

Like, Follow, and Stay Tuned!

That's all for this week's Business of Writing!

If you'd like to see more of my work, take a look at my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife as well as my recent collection The Rejects!

If you'd like to help support my work, then consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi, or heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page! Lastly, to keep up with my latest, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now on Pinterest as well!

For Better Results, Always Include Links To Your Archives

It takes a colossal amount of time, effort, energy, and luck to get someone hooked on a piece of content you made. Whether it was a blog entry, a gaming guide, a short story, a video, a novel, whatever you made, people don't seem to appreciate the sheer amount of Predator-like hunting savvy you need to have in order to sink that hook.

But sinking that hook is only the first step. Once you have someone's attention, you need to reel them in so they'll check out more of the stuff you made.

That was a tasty worm... got any more?

That's why anytime you create something, you should be sure to tell your audience exactly where they can get more of your stuff. And, in this digital age, that means you need to always include, at the very least, a link to your archive.

More By This Author...

Do you remember, in the time before smartphones and common-place Internet, when there would be a "More By This Author" page in the front of practically every book you picked up? It didn't matter if it was a hard-boiled crime series, romance novels, Westerns, or young adult books, if that author had other books on the market there was a list that told you their titles all the way in the front. And if the book was a second or third printing, and that author had released other stuff in the interim? You bet that list was updated.

Huh... seems like each of the ducklings got a spin-off book. Put a pin in that, mom.

The reason these pages exist is that publishers know something very important about consumers... you can't depend on them to meet you halfway. If someone reads a book, they might very well enjoy the experience. They may even tell themselves that they'll look for more of those books at some point. But unless they loved that book, they aren't going to remember the name of the author or the series. And in the time before the Internet, they couldn't just ask Google to find the relevant information for them. If the local librarian or bookstore staff didn't know the book, series, or author the reader was talking about, then they were out of luck.

Worse, as any marketing professional will tell you, the more frustrated someone gets in the search of a product, the more likely they are to just walk away instead of making a purchase.

As such, the burden is on you to make your stuff as easy to find as possible. If you create videos, always put a link to your channel in the description, and in the end credits. You can find examples of this over at Dungeon Keeper Radio, if you're a fan of fantasy and gaming. If you write books, include a page of author works (and make sure those previous works are linked in ebook files, so readers can just tap their finger, and be off to the checkout). And if you write a blog, you need to be sure you give your readers all the information they need so they can find more of your work.

Take a look at the top of the page. Both halves of my archive are easy to see. Additionally, I have a link to my Vocal archive, since people who enjoy my work here might be curious enough to see what I write over there. There's also a link to my Amazon author page, for those who want to check out more of my work. And, if you dig back through my previous entries, you'll see that every post ends with a list of links for folks who want to connect with me, follow my work, and see all my updates as they happen.

Because sometimes you just need to offer the fish a hook. If they're interested, they'll chomp down on it themselves without a second thought.

That's all for my Business of Writing post this week. Hopefully it helped some folks who forget to mention they've got a whole mountain of other stuff their readers could come and check out. To stay on top of all my releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter. And to support my work you can either Buy Me A Ko-Fi as a one-time tip, or go to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. Every little bit helps, and there's free books in it for you!

Getting People's Attention Builds Your Base (And Fills Your Pockets)

Have you ever seen A Nightmare on Elm Street? Even if you haven't, you're probably familiar with the series' villain, the infamous Freddy Krueger. A horribly burned phantom, Krueger haunted the dreams of an entire generation of characters, dispensing brutal, vicious death as they slept. The challenge for the heroes became fighting sleep itself, staying out of the murderous ghost's realm as long as they could.

That setup was a lot of fun on its own, but there was something else that made Krueger unique as a villain; the source of his power. While some spirits drew power from their rage, or from the blood spilled in their haunt, Krueger's power was drawn directly from his own legend. The more people who knew his name, and his story, the stronger he became.

A silly story, maybe, but it still has a hold on your imagination.

While that's an essentially inspired twist on the Don't Say His Name trope, it's also a handy way for me to explain what it's like being an author. Because, for the most part, we tend to be ghoulish creatures with strange gimmicks who play on the emotional sensitivities of a particular brand of victim. Also, our power grows in direct proportion to how many people know who we are, what we do, and who talk about us.

Spread The Legend

In all seriousness, though, this is how you maintain your career as an author. Publish or perish is not just something we say to sound cool. Because as soon as we stop putting out content, and people stop talking about us, we fall out of the public eye. And in the darkness of obscurity, with no one reading our books, checking out our blogs, or stopping by our channels, we wither and die.

Put another way, being the center of attention is what puts you bucks up.

How many times did they say your name today?

Note that I say attention, but don't qualify it as good attention or bad attention. Because, at the end of the day, there really isn't such a thing as bad press. Especially when you consider that the Internet seems to run on outrage.

So, on the one hand, it's nice to sit down on a popular show to talk with a host who is cooing over your latest release to their thousands of fans. On the other hand, you can get shot to the top ten on Amazon's bestseller list if you're slapped with a viral cease and desist order by Jack Daniels (more on that story in Will Self Publishing Work For You? Maybe... If You're Lucky!).

Because whether you're getting glowing praise, or you're an Internet-wide trash fire, people are going to show up to see what's going on. And if they're already standing there, chances are good they're going to tell their friends about you, and they might buy a tee shirt and a copy of your book while they're at it. Even if it's just to see what all the fuss and hype is about.

Keep The Whisper Stream Going

If you have an author you love, and whom you want to keep coming back time and time again, then take a moment to follow the advice I put out in Care and Feeding of Your Author. You should, of course, buy their books. However, there's other stuff you can do to help keep the legend alive. Follow their social media pages, for example, and like the posts they make. Share their work with family and friends, and leave reviews on all the big websites telling everyone how much you like their books.

Also, feel free to reach out to the authors you like with some words of encouragement. Let them know they aren't just screaming into the void; you're listening, eagerly, for what they put out next.

Seriously, that's more important than we let on a lot of the time.

That's all for this week's Business of Writing. Hopefully it got your attention, and gave you something to think about. If you'd like to stay up-to-date on all my releases, then follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter. Lastly, if you want to show some love, head over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to put a few bucks in my tip jar. For as little as $1 a month, I'll even send you some free books as a thank you!