Self-promotion doesn’t come naturally. I’m more likely to
make apologetic noises than positive ones when talking about myself and my work.
This approach is not ideal for a writer. I need to be able to say,
“Hey
everybody, I’ve just written a hilarious story that would make a brilliant children’s
picture book.”
*cringe, cringe, squirm*
It makes me feel conceited. I can hear lots of imaginary people telling me that it’s not nice to... Blow Your Own Trumpet!
I can hear them saying that... I’m Too Big for my Boots!
And to watch out because... Pride Cometh Before a Fall!
Writers are meant to promote their work and I should be used to that sort of thing because we’re surrounded by advertising all the time. It's on the TV, the
radio, in the newspapers. They’re all promoting themselves. Some of the things
that we buy continue to promote themselves even after we’ve bought them. I’m
thinking here about a pair of jeans that I bought yesterday. I had a most
enjoyable shopping expedition with my daughter, a Bank Holiday treat, and a
helpful shop assistant asked me,
“Have you tried not your daughter’s
jeans?”
I was confused because I didn’t at the time know that Not
Your Daughter’s Jeans is the name of a make of jeans. My daughter and the shop
assistant were amused because obviously they did know.
The jeans were amazing. I treated myself to a pair and when
I put them on today I found a label stuck to the inside one of the legs. It
said,
“NYDJ
cannot be held responsible for any positive consequence
that may arise due to
your fabulous appearance when wearing our jeans.”
My first thought was, “How funny!”
My second thought was, “How cheeky!”
My third thought was, “Yeah, that’s how to promote yourself!
I’m going to blog about that.”
