No one said this would be an easy climb.  Let’s get started!  (Image credit: imagebase.net)

When one works Tech Support, one tends to develop a dim view of salespeople.  Many of them are the former jocks who gave you hell in high school, now sporting fake tans, classy suits, and leased BMWs.  They care more about meeting their quotas than actually assisting people.  When their customers call Tech Support to complain that what they bought isn’t appropriate for their needs, they’re thousands of miles away on another Tahitian vacation, paid for by the company.

Overly pushy sales-beasts in other realms- cars, retail- only add to one’s negative image.  One tends to prefer e-commerce, where one can better ignore these pitches.

And then one decides to focus on writing- and realizes she has to be come her own salesperson.

I’m starting out as poorly equipped for this as one can be.  I’m a shy, soft-spoken introvert whose anxiety issues flare up in social situations.  Hell, I’m still at the stage where just sharing my writing with other people requires deep breaths and a big leap over an emotional hurdle.

But, I’m determined to get better.  A few things that make it easier:

• I don’t have to go from newbie to pro right away, all at once.
• Self-promotion isn’t anything like what the average corporate or retail salesperson does.

What actually sells books?  According to many who are doing it, it’s not about mass emails, hard sells, or spamming everyone’s Twitter feed.  It’s about making connections with people like yourself, who enjoy what you do.  It’s something that takes years to cultivate.

To be fair, I don’t have much to promote right now, except in the interests of getting read!  (Which I’m definitely interested in.)  There’s one short story I’ve sold that’s now free, and my Daily WTF articles are also free to read.  Even when I’m done with my novel, I don’t need to have a huge marketing machine in place for it.  I’d rather do heavy-duty promotion after I finish the whole Sword and Starship series I have in mind.  Why kill myself selling one book now when I can sell a box set one day?

However, I have started taking a few small steps toward being more comfortable with self-promotion:

• I’ve set up a mailing list for folks what want to know what’s up with my work.  In return, I give them freebies and special heads-ups- but only when stuff actually happens.
• I spend a fair bit of time on Google+, getting to know cool new people from all over the world.  I have profiles set up on a few other social networking sites as well, but G+ is what I like best.  Besides, if I spent too much time on all these sites, I’d have none for writing.
• I’ve tried to share smaller bits of writing more often, like with SaturdayScenes on G+, and these very blog posts.  I want to convince readers I’m worth taking a chance on, once I have books out.
• In public, I make more of an effort to talk about the fact that I write.  It’s my job now, after all!  If people express an interest, I tell them more about what I write.

Here’s stuff I want to start doing in the near future:

• Meet more people- not necessarily other writers, but also sci-fi and language enthusiasts via Meetup.  This is especially important as I no longer work full-time, and would gladly bunker in my house without human contact for the rest of time if not prodded.
• Find more online communities/blogs where people might be interested in the kind of stuff I write- NOT so I can spam these communities with sales pitches, but so I can interact with the members and get to know them.
• More free stuff!  I eventually want to polish up and release more short stories.  Maybe I’ll sell collections of them one day.

All of these steps nudge me out of my comfort zone a little bit at a time, which is both scary and wonderful.

What advice might you have for me, someone who’s just starting out with self-promotion?  Please leave a note in the comments!