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I think there's a lot to unpack in this article. I really struggle with self-promotion[1] - or, as my Mother still insists on calling it, "boasting" (with all t

I think there's a lot to unpack in this article. I really struggle with self-promotion[1] - or, as my Mother still insists on calling it, "boasting" (with all the negative baggage associated with that word) - but, as the article says, there really isn't any alternative to it if you want to get your product/work noticed. The internet has super-saturated the marketplaces for ideas, opinions and all the art/code/writing that accompanies the need to be heard/respected by peers/etc. In my view the Gold Standard for promotion is not self-promotion or paid promotion. It's the elusive word-of-mouth promotion done on your/the work's behalf by complete strangers telling their friends about you/it and encouraging them to go check it out. My evidence for this is based on the number of downloads of my books from Apple Books, Google Play and similar online venues over the past 10 years. I gave up trying to self-promote my writing many, many years ago. Being rejected hurts; being ignored hurts more. Still, over the past 10 years people have downloaded my books over 40,000 times. The only plausible explanations have to be word-of-mouth, and trickery. Trickery? Yes. One book in particular[3] gets downloaded far more often than the others - it accounts for around 70% of total downloads. Why? When I first published it I gave it a title that turned out to be pure clickbait. A happy accident! The book does its own self-promotion without any need need for my help. [1] - Most of my contributions/comments on HN centre around my attempts to self-promote my work in ways that try not to look like marketing spam[2]. I'm sure if I work hard enough at developing this skill I will, eventually, get better at it. [2] - https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=rikroots https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=rikroots [3] - You can read and/or download the book for free, with no added tracking, from my website: https://rikverse2020.rikweb.org.uk/book/poems-to-quote-to-your-lover https://rikverse2020.rikweb.org.uk/book/poems-to-quote-to-yo...

herbertl 4y ago
Totally agree on word-of-mouth promotion. Rob Fitzpatrick writes about getting your book into the hands of 1,000 readers (Tim Grahl's number is 10,000 https://booklaunch.com/book-launch-numbers/ https://booklaunch.com/book-launch-numbers/). Fitzpatrick's four ways, and I'm quoting: - Digital book tour via podcasts and online events (most scalable) - Amazon PPC (pay-per-click) advertising (easiest but unscalable) - Event giveaways and bulk sales (fastest if you have the contacts) - Build a small author platform via content marketing and “writing in public” (most reliable and valuable, but time-intensive) Congratulations on your books! (You also make a great point on the pain of being ignored or rejected that comes with promotion. Something to consider for a future post—definitely one of the most significant, overlooked, pains imho.)
winternett 4y ago
>In my view the Gold Standard for promotion is not self-promotion or paid promotion. It's the elusive word-of-mouth promotion done on your/the work's behalf by complete strangers telling their friends about you/it and encouraging them to go check it out. My evidence for this is based on the number of downloads of my books from Apple Books, Google Play and similar online venues over the past 10 years. It's an impossibly imposed elitist standard on someone who is unknown to get to the point where word of mouth sustains them. It's a very Marie Antoinette attitude. No one reaches that level without self promoting as well, they just secretly use veiled methods like botting, the buddy system, and paid advertising to get there. Each person involved in promoting themselves has a different product, service, or goal involved in their work. A resume is self promotion that is unavoidable in finding work. I think if the truth was to be told properly, it's mostly people who have audiences already, people who own a stake in platforms, and wealthy/popular people that want to protect their dominance that are pushing the "anti self promotion" campaign, so that they don't have to compete against undiscovered talent. When people are forced to veil the promotion of their work, it makes it very easy to use negative and controversial tactics like psychological manipulation, disinformation, racism, sexual suggestion, and many other negative tactics to promote their work and products as well. It destroys integrity of art and business because accountability is not upheld by nature in the process. For example, many music artists are literally posting triggering content and exposing themselves in posts just in hopes of developing their user base, and that's why doom and gloom trends so often on social media now, because of the convoluted state of things. Many artists buy social accounts that already have followers on them, and they enlist promo services for bot views on their music videos... Veiled promotion only encourages corruption and deception in my opinion. The platforms themselves should be the ones managing and equally promoting undiscovered creators and contributors (as they often promise on sign-up), but they don't do it at all without being paid.
- rikroots 4y ago
  > It's an impossibly imposed elitist standard on someone who is unknown to get to the point where word of mouth sustains them. It's a very Marie Antoinette attitude. No one reaches that level without self promoting as well, they just secretly use veiled methods like botting, the buddy system, and paid advertising to get there. Perhaps for many, or even most. All I can say is I've never resorted (secretly or otherwise) to the veiled methods suggested. Equally, none of my books have appeared on the NYT bestsellers list, or earned me a Pulitzer, so my word-of-mouth anecdote has clearly failed if the aim of the endeavour is fame&fortune/etc. Which, for me, it isn't.

herbertl 4y ago

Totally agree on word-of-mouth promotion. Rob Fitzpatrick writes about getting your book into the hands of 1,000 readers (Tim Grahl's number is 10,000 https://booklaunch.com/book-launch-numbers/ https://booklaunch.com/book-launch-numbers/). Fitzpatrick's four ways, and I'm quoting: - Digital book tour via podcasts and online events (most scalable) - Amazon PPC (pay-per-click) advertising (easiest but unscalable) - Event giveaways and bulk sales (fastest if you have the contacts) - Build a small author platform via content marketing and “writing in public” (most reliable and valuable, but time-intensive) Congratulations on your books! (You also make a great point on the pain of being ignored or rejected that comes with promotion. Something to consider for a future post—definitely one of the most significant, overlooked, pains imho.)

winternett 4y ago

>In my view the Gold Standard for promotion is not self-promotion or paid promotion. It's the elusive word-of-mouth promotion done on your/the work's behalf by complete strangers telling their friends about you/it and encouraging them to go check it out. My evidence for this is based on the number of downloads of my books from Apple Books, Google Play and similar online venues over the past 10 years. It's an impossibly imposed elitist standard on someone who is unknown to get to the point where word of mouth sustains them. It's a very Marie Antoinette attitude. No one reaches that level without self promoting as well, they just secretly use veiled methods like botting, the buddy system, and paid advertising to get there. Each person involved in promoting themselves has a different product, service, or goal involved in their work. A resume is self promotion that is unavoidable in finding work. I think if the truth was to be told properly, it's mostly people who have audiences already, people who own a stake in platforms, and wealthy/popular people that want to protect their dominance that are pushing the "anti self promotion" campaign, so that they don't have to compete against undiscovered talent. When people are forced to veil the promotion of their work, it makes it very easy to use negative and controversial tactics like psychological manipulation, disinformation, racism, sexual suggestion, and many other negative tactics to promote their work and products as well. It destroys integrity of art and business because accountability is not upheld by nature in the process. For example, many music artists are literally posting triggering content and exposing themselves in posts just in hopes of developing their user base, and that's why doom and gloom trends so often on social media now, because of the convoluted state of things. Many artists buy social accounts that already have followers on them, and they enlist promo services for bot views on their music videos... Veiled promotion only encourages corruption and deception in my opinion. The platforms themselves should be the ones managing and equally promoting undiscovered creators and contributors (as they often promise on sign-up), but they don't do it at all without being paid.

rikroots 4y ago
> It's an impossibly imposed elitist standard on someone who is unknown to get to the point where word of mouth sustains them. It's a very Marie Antoinette attitude. No one reaches that level without self promoting as well, they just secretly use veiled methods like botting, the buddy system, and paid advertising to get there. Perhaps for many, or even most. All I can say is I've never resorted (secretly or otherwise) to the veiled methods suggested. Equally, none of my books have appeared on the NYT bestsellers list, or earned me a Pulitzer, so my word-of-mouth anecdote has clearly failed if the aim of the endeavour is fame&fortune/etc. Which, for me, it isn't.