You will find a ton of information here in this blog about promoting yourself and your book. Building author platform, of course, involves promotion. Selling books involves promotion. However, most writers don’t want to take on the roll of promoter, marketer, PR specialist, social networker, or anything else along these lines–even though it’s necessary–because these activities involve wearing a business hat rather than a writing hat.
Some writers even say none of this is necessary. They argue that good writing and good ideas sell themselves. Sometimes that is true but not often in today’s publishing environment.
In fact, much of being a promoter involves writing, and much of wearing a business hat can be fun. Writers must be willing to change their mindset about these tasks. In other words, YOU must be willing to change your mind about taking on the job of promoter for yourself and your work. When you change your mind about being a good business person and promoter, you will start feeling good about this job. In fact, you’ll start enjoying it.This means you must change your thoughts about promotion and the business end of writing.
Yes, this is possible. I’m a testament to this fact.
I didn’t want to take on any of these jobs, and now I truly enjoy promoting myself and my work. And I spend a lot of time doing it. I don’t know that I’m the best at it or that I’ve mastered how to do it most effectively or efficiently, but every day I try to learn new methods and techniques to make this aspect of my work as a writer easier, less time consuming and more fun.
You can do this, too. Simply start by changing your mindset. Everything begins with how you think. Decide today to change your mind about wearing both a writer’s hat and a business person’s hat. Decide that you will wear both and that you will find a way to make this enjoyable.
I didn’t want to do any of the things necessary to build an author’s platform and to promote myself and my work. When I realized I had to do it to become a published author, I didn’t just resign myself to this fact, I embraced this fact. I decided I would do it, do it well and really go for it! I got excited about it. In that way, I changed my mind about this task. I changed my thoughts. I began thinking about promotion not as a chore but as an opportunity–a way to get published and to get my writing read. Actually, many more people read my blogs today because of my promotional efforts–because I wear a business hat a lot of the time. I find that extremely rewarding and fulfilling. That makes me want to wear my business hat more often.
Just yesterday I taught a client of mine how to use Facebook and Twitter to promote his book. He is, let’s say, “technologically challenged.” Yet, he came to me determined to promote his work on line every day and to find a way to enjoy it. Once he mastered the basics, he found he loved using Facebook! He like Twitter, too, but not as much. He perceives himself as a writer, but now he is a social networker, too. He’s a promoter, and he’s promoting his work with a positive attitude, which changed how he feels about the business end of being a writer.
You’ve got the tools to do the same. The information on how to promote yourself and your work lies within the posts of this blog. Combine that with your ability to control your thoughts. Your thoughts determine how you feel. So make promoting yourself and your book or other written products fun.
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