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Why As Authors We Absolutely Must Overcome Our Fear of Self-Promotion
If We Don’t Do It, Who Will?
One of the worst-kept secrets about writers is that most of us are far more comfortable communicating on a page and at a distance than verbally and in person. This introversion is just as evident, and ultimately self-defeating, when it comes to the only thing we hate more than editing our work: promoting it.
Looking around social media today, you wouldn’t think that self-promotion is something anyone struggles with. From YouTube to Instagram to TikTok, we are awash with creators screaming “Look at me!” But for most writers this just isn’t the case.
We can agonize for weeks, months, and even years over a novel, short story, poem, or article before mustering the confidence to show it to another person, let alone publish it on any platform. When we do publish it, far too often we do so almost apologetically, as if we are blatantly infringing on people’s valuable time by even letting them know we wrote something.
I realize that built into this hesitance is the fear, even dread, of negative criticism. No writer likes hearing that a reader didn’t like their work. We spend so much time with it before it ever sees the light of day that it’s very much like our child, and we are very protective of that child. But…
