This post by Chuck Wendig originally appeared on his terribleminds site on 8/10/14.
In my experience, most authors dislike self-promotion.
Some downright despise it.
And they detest it for good reason: becoming a marketing or advertising avatar for your own work feels shameless. It feels adjacent to the work — like it’s something you didn’t sign on for.
I JUST WANT TO WRITE BOOKS, you scream into the mirror around pages of your manuscript, the pages moistened with saliva and tears. I DON’T WANT TO BECOME A HUMAN SPAM-BOT, you cry as your teeth clatter into the sink, as your ear plops off, as your nose drops away. In all the gaps, a faint glimpse of whirring machinery, gears turning and conveyor belts churning, all of your mechanisms pink with the slurry of Spam…
Thing is, you’re probably gonna have to do it anyway.
Reasons?
First, publishers expect it, to some degree.
Second, if you’re an author-publisher, it becomes wholly more necessary.
Click here to read the full post on terribleminds.