I’m lucky enough to have people in my life that want me to succeed.  They are the friends and family that push me to work harder not only on my writing, but on my marketing and branding, my career-focused persona.  This has always been a hard move for me, to share myself with others I don’t know on a personal level.  Even then, I prefer to talk about them, not me.  So the idea of blabbing on about me and what I do out to the formless ether composed of digital avatars that find my site, perhaps on happenstance, and stay to see what I’m all about, that action?  Yikes.  This scary thing is called self-promotion and I’m trying to make peace with it.

Granted, my opinion on the world of self-promotion improved once I realized that it didn’t center around talking ad nauseam about my accomplishments, but about letting people into my life, letting people see what makes me happy, what inspires me to write, what I stand for and what I believe in.  Instead of gabbing about how awesome X piece of writing is, proper self-promotion will have me peeling back the curtains of myself (that’s a weird mental image and a horrible metaphor but I think I’ll leave it) to let you see why I wrote it, ask if it resonates with you and your life, and let me tell you what I’ll do next.  Self-promotion is all about you who you are, not what you’ve done.

What’s that adage about the hard things being the things you’re supposed to do or some such malarkey?  It’s sort of true in this self-promotion realm.  I aspire to make a living off my writing, one that brings in money for late night Taco Bell runs AND hot yoga (yeah, weird combo, I know…).  So I can’t be like all the staid stereotypes of Writer with a capital W: introvert, navel-gazer, fastidious to the point of self-sabotage.  Whatever the reasons and goals behind self-promotion, one needs to toot their own personality bassoon.  Wait, bassoons don’t really toot do they?  Well, whatever.  Here’s my reasons for talking up yourself instead of your end goals, related via the framework of…me.  Hey, I’ve got to get the practice in.

3 Reasons for Self-promotion

1.  Other people are neat and I’m pretty neat, too.

Okay, number one makes me sound like an egotist.  But that’s not really it at all.  See, in order to get anywhere in this realm of marketing and branding of personality, you’ve got to share.  And when I stepped back from my own hangups about talking (typing, in this case) about me, me, me, I realized that I generally like to know about others.  I like to look up folks, be they other creative types or acquaintances, and learn something about them.  There is no shame in this desire to know.  So now I get it.  Others might want to know about me as well, once again, not so much of what I’ve done but who I am.  And that’s okay.

2.  Let’s not call it networking because we aren’t servers.  But connections are good. 

This one pertains to that “joyful human” part of my schtick.  Part of that joy comes from fostering human relationships.  I love to write, but I love other people more.  By putting myself out there, by telling people who I think I am, and who I’d like to become, I can foster relationships.  Aren’t all connections initially the product of self-promotion, explaining why you’re a cool cat to get to know?  I’m excited to build relationships with other online folks, via my own website and their own modes of connection.  If I don’t tell you all who I am, why would you want to build a relationship me?  Without the act of self-promotion, I would be a shell, a vague concept of a person that might be fun to exchange ideas and chats with, but how would people know that?  This way there is a foundation to help determine whether or not my brand of writing, travel tips and other shenanigans will resonate with you now and in the future.

3.  Selling myself sells my stories.  And I really want my worlds in your head.

Eek.  This one is a little creepy, right?  Imagine me crawling into your bedroom at night (not sure why I need to crawl but let’s go with it) and whispering about my characters and my plots and then plugging your ears with cotton so the stories don’t fall out.  It’s one of the first things you learn in those online courses on self-promotion (although I’ve never taken one, I bet this is one of the things you learn.  If not, I’m a fiction writer.  Just go with it), this mental hijacking.  Wait, no, I think they call it selling yourself.  When people like you, they tend to like what you do.  I do have an ulterior motive, friends.  I want you to read my stories.  Crap, now it isn’t an ulterior motive.  Just blatant.  If you don’t read my novels and shorts and comics and blogs, the murderers and heroines and talking animals and stevedores and street urchins stay in my head and get mad because I never take them anywhere.  I want to take them to you.  And if you start to get sweet on me (perhaps not sticky sweet, but a mild sweet, like a Mexican wedding cookie), you’ll let me put things in your brain.  It won’t hurt.  You’ll probably even like it.

I’ve had people tell me that while I’m a great writer, I’m a better person.  Usually I’m like, hey, what?  And then they backpedal and I quell the tears glazing my eyeballs and we all come to realize that getting me, getting Erica Crockett out to the world is good for everyone.  Do it yourself.  Get on that self-promotion and then tell me all about it.  I will be happy to listen.

Want some more tips on self-promotion?  Check out this great post over at copyblogger.