Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Why Shouldn't I Promote Myself on Twitter?

I read so many blogs and posts on the Internet that say things like "stop posting links on Twitter" "stop selling yourself on Twitter" "enough with the buy my book tweets" etc., etc.

Look, I understand what these folks are trying to get across, but who are they to say? In fact, who are they period? Just folks like me. I'm an independent author. No big publishing house cares about me or my books. Even book bloggers don't care. And I don't care if they don't care. I love self-publishing. But why shouldn't I promote myself on Twitter? No giant corporation is going to promote me. No publishing house. No big time editor or publisher or agent is in my corner. So I have to promote myself. And Twitter is a great place to do it. But I don't post tweets that beg or demand others to "buy my book" or "like my FB page" (I don't even like my own FB page. It's boring!) - I agree that those tweets are wrong. I tweet something about my books and post a link. If anyone wants to follow that link and check out my book that's up to them. And if they want to buy a copy that's up to them too. I appreciate anyone that does but I won't ask anyone to do it. If the book sells, awesome! If not, that's cool too. But I don't see the harm in my tweeting about it. I tweet about other things too, and I promote other indie authors and other folks' stuff on Twitter as well. There aren't many places we can do it so why not? Oh, and I quote my own novels too. One blog went so far as to say something like "You're not Abe Lincoln, stop quoting yourselves." What does that even mean? Abe Lincoln's been dead for 148 years! He doesn't quote himself either. Nor did he do so when he was alive. He just said stuff. Other folks may have quoted him in his lifetime, and they sure do it nowadays. And why not? Abe said a lot of stuff that had great insight, meaning and impact. It should be quoted. But as for me or other indie authors quoting excerpts or dialogue from our own books, I say: You don't need to be Abe Lincoln, you just need to have your own stuff. Indie Authors, if you've got it, quote it! And promote it! There are folks out there who love to read great books. If you think you've written one, tell them about it. Don't ask them to buy it. That's up to them. But if they choose to, maybe they'll read it and love it. And you've done your job as an author.