You write a book, you get it published, you sit back and let the royalty cheques roll in. No? Have I got that wrong? What did you say? You’ve got to PROMOTE it too?
For many writers – no, for MOST writers – that’s the difficult part, where you’ve got to be all big-headed and tell people why they should read your book, what’s so great about it and how clever you are to have thought it all up.
Many writers – no, MOST writers – just can’t do that. It isn’t in their nature. Help!!!!
Sidle up to the internet and casually search for ‘how to promote my book’ and you’ll be inundated with information and advice, check lists and formulae. You need a website, a blog, a vlog, a mailing list. You should be getting yourself on the radio, on television, on YouTube.
It’s enough to make even the bravest, most big-headed of writers scurry back into their writing corner until it all goes away.
If you’re not really into DIY and you’ve once or twice found yourself – perhaps for a friend or partner, perhaps by accident – stumbling into B&Q, you will recognize that overwhelming sense that you don’t know where on earth to start, what half of these things are for and why anybody in their right mind would need them. Ever been into a betting shop? Know how they work? It’s that awful dread, that self-doubt that assails you: ‘Everyone else knows what they’re doing – but why don’t I?’
A tiny mouse in a huge, threatening, overbearing forest. There could be dragons!
Help is here! A friend – real or virtual – takes you by the hand and guides you, sorting out the widgets and grommets you need to worry about and the ones you can leave on the shelf. A friend like a writing buddy or simply someone who’s been this way before and was wise enough to leave a trail of breadcrumbs so they’d know which way to go next time. (As long as the dragons haven’t eaten them. The breadcrumbs, that is…)
Frome Writers’ Collective started Silver Crow Books as a way through the maze. Follow this blog for more advice on how to promote yourself (without being big-headed).
Nikki Copleston
Photo Credit: https://www.seo-plus.co.uk/promote-your-blog/
silvercrowbooks.wordpress.com 
I prefer to think of it as not so much blowing your own Trumpet but waving a brightly coloured scarf in a crowd, letting everyone know you’ve arrived at the party, then circulating and mingling to get to know who else is there, swapping compliments,chatting and sharing knowledge.
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That’s a beautiful way to think about it!
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