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

Comments

[nynaeve_sedai]

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.

[jennickels]

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.

[nynaeve_sedai]

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).

[jennickels]

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. :)

[campylobacter]

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]

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

[campylobacter]

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]

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.

[ami_ven]

(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!

[jennickels]

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.

[thothmes]

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

[jennickels]

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.