Baby doesn't like shameless self promotion

[jennickels]

"I'm uncomfortable with this on so many levels..."

Anyone else have a thing against advertising their fic?  It just seems weird to paste links to my stuff all over (like in the rec comms and stuff).  I don't know why.  If I ever became a published author I'd be screwed with all the publicity stuff.  I hate it.  Maybe I'm just weird.

Of course, I also get very few reviews on my stories but oh, well.  Just wondering if I was alone?

Also because I wanted an excuse to post this video from iCarly.  It cracks me up.

Yes, I'm easily amused.

Comments

[nynaeve-sedai.livejournal.com]

I feel weird about it too. I generally will post it on my personal stuff and I'll drop a note in the S/J Appreciation thread on GateWorld, but that's about it. I think that's why I don't get a lot of hits either (or rather, it takes foooorever to get hits). Plus, getting reviews these days is like pulling teeth. Just not a lot of people reading I think.

[campylobacter.livejournal.com]

I have NO problem pimping my own fan works or the fan works of others. My Twitter/LJ pimping is about a 1:10 ratio of my stuff to the works of other fen.

If haters think spreading the fandom squee is shameless, I say let them flounce themselves into obscurity.

[jennickels.livejournal.com]

I post my fic to LJ, DW, ff.net and Ao3 but I just don't promote it so people only see it if they happen to look the day I posted. Or they get author alerts at ff.net.

I read the S/J rec thread at GateWorld but I don't post. That's how I find all the good fics to read.

[jennickels.livejournal.com]

I don't think I've ever heard anyone say anything bad about self-promption, I just feel weird about it.

[nynaeve-sedai.livejournal.com]

Haha, you should post over in the Appreciation thread, they're always fic hungry over there (and it's normal for people to drop off their new stories there - I don't drop of my stuff in the rec thread, I let other people do that for me).

[campylobacter.livejournal.com]

SELF PROMOTION UR DOIN IT RONG
1. 'Please read & review! Reviews are LOVE! =)'
2. 'Please let me know if you liked this chapter n i will rite more if there's enuff commentz <3'
3. 'I don't know if this is allowed on this Sam/Jack community but I wrote a Maybourne/MarySue plz read & let me know you love itttt!!111!!'

FUCK YEAH SELF PROMOTION
1. Completely linked story header with spoiler & content warnings at relevant communities whose readers CRAVE the content you're posting
2. A Tweet that links to your latest blog entry or archived fan work
3. A Tumblr post announcing your latest fan work
4. Providing links to your latest fan work to a relevant fan newsletter/bulletin board
5. Archiving fan works at multiple sites in case one of them fails (I'm looking at YOU, LiveJournal)

[jennickels.livejournal.com]

I used to post there a long time ago but didn't have time to keep up with it. Maybe I'll go back to checking that thread, too. I'm justanotherjen over there. :)

[jennickels.livejournal.com]

LOL, I hate it when people do those first 3. Ugh.

My public LJ posts automatically get sent to my twitter so I guess I have that. Maybe I should start posting to the Sam/Jack comms here.

[campylobacter.livejournal.com]

Nothing makes me wanna smack someone like those 1st 3 do. Especially the "blackmail readers for praise by not posting the next chapter of a WiP" ploy.

The other 5 have never bothered me, and are sooohelpful if you're a community mod.

[ami-ven.livejournal.com]

(sorry, deleted and reposted because I can't type *g*)

Anyway...

A lot of what I write is for prompt-challenges (like ncisdrabble100) so I post the stories at my journal, then a link at the origial community. For stuff like 24_times (I'm doing a table of Abby/McGee from NCIS) or 100_tales (another table, Sam/Jack) I post to those and an appropriate fandom-based community.

If somebody asks something like, "does anybody know any stories with ___?" and I've written some, I'll share the links, but that's usually in a reply to one person's entry.

I know some people expect dozens and dozens of comments on their writing, but I feel pretty darn special to get eight or ten!

[thothmes.livejournal.com]

My dad is a professional author, and the self-promotion aspect of that is the one thing about the job that he HATES, HATES, HATES, even though for him it really is a determinant of how much income he will make from his work.

Have you ever heard of him, you ask? Probably not. He's published several novels, a half-dozen volumes of poetry, and a book of short stories, but he frantically quashed his agent's scheme to get a single paragraph review of his first novel published in People magazine before it could come to pass. I knew then that he was not going to be following his buddy John Irving into the land of fantastic commercial success!

I have a terrible time pimping my own work. If I write comment fic, I view it as a bit of a gift to the recipient, and I kind of feel funny directing people off to their space to see my work, so I'd say about half of what I've written is known to only a select group of the author, and those people who came along to comment after I did.

I admire lolmac's ability for cheerful (and never OTT or in bad taste) self-recommendation, but that's just not my strength. I guess growing up in my father's school, I'm like an Olympian from the early part of the 20th century when faced with the possibility of having my face plastered on the Wheaties box. I'm gratified to see others there, but it just doesn't seem like my personal style. I'm glad when others let me know that their stuff is out there, I just don't seem to be able to turn that around and assume that others want to hear that from me.

[thothmes.livejournal.com]

WORD about those first 3. Blackmail is just wrong, but then I think of my writing as a gift to people, and saying I won't post unless people review would be imitating my daughter (she of my default icon, seen here) at 18 months. We tried to teach her to say thank you at a tender age by playing the "Thank You Game" where we would take turns accepting a toy from her and saying "Thank you!" and handing it back to her, so she could do the same. The result was that at 18 months, if you had something she wanted, she would march up to you, hold out one hand, frown, and say "Thank you!" in increasingly demanding tones until you handed it over. Not the manners success we were hoping for, although a tendency to develop sudden deafness when faced with this tactic soon rid us of that obnoxious (but adorably earnest) behavior.

The other kind of self-promotion is the sort that I try to follow through with (minus the Tweet or Tumblr, since I don't maintain accounts) if I'm doing a ficathon/Five Things post/or similar. It seems only polite to pimp your host.

*********
Edited for egregious spelling errors!

[jennickels.livejournal.com]

I know some people expect dozens and dozens of comments on their writing, but I feel pretty darn special to get eight or ten!

I don't expect anything either. I'm thrilled if I get like 2 or 3. I usually get a couple on my LJ from friends but most I get at ff.net but still I only ever get like 3 or 4. I still wonder how people end up with hundreds of reviews. Shrug. I'm not in it for my ego so I really don't care.

Getting excited squee from my friends on LJ is the best. I prefer that over a hundred "good story" at ff.net.

[jennickels.livejournal.com]

I'm glad when others let me know that their stuff is out there, I just don't seem to be able to turn that around and assume that others want to hear that from me.

Yep, exactly.