Self-Publishing Means Self-Promotion · 11 February 2023
In this new world where anybody can write a blog or publish a book, self-publishing means self-promotion.
I hate self-promotion. It is not that I cannot build myself up or brag on myself. I can. We all can. I just do not like to do it. I do not like to point to myself and say, “Look at how great I am.” Part of that is because I do not think I am that great. (Still trying to make it to mediocre.) And part of that is because it is much easier for me to point out my flaws than my accomplishments. Self-deprecation is much easier for me than self-promotion.
So maybe that should be my tack. My shtick, as it were.
The problem with self-deprecation as self-promotion is that it might not work. I can and do use self-deprecation in the classroom because it is easy for students to see that I really am not the brightest person in the room. Unless I am the only one there (which is another story). They see me make mistakes and be out of sorts. They see me when I am unorganized. They hear me when I try to add humor to my repertoire. And they hear the crickets when I try out some new joke or even an old one.
But when I am on the internet, nobody sees those things. Oh sure, they can tell that nobody comments on my blog posts. They can see that only my relatives seem to comment on those blog posts when I put the link on Facebook. But Twitter followers and Facebook fans and browsers who just happen to click the link that gets to my page do not get to see my foibles and follies with just a quick glance. So they may not get that self-deprecation is my form of self-promotion. Or that it is at least what I am trying to do.
Then again, it does not really matter, does it. It does not matter if a casual browser happens to see that self-deprecation as something it is not. In fact, it might be beneficial. If a person says, “Who is this guy who puts himself down so much?” and then reads a little more, isn’t that a good thing? Of course it is. Anything that gets a new reader (real or imaginary) is a good thing.
Well, maybe not anything. Then again… No. Not anything.
So here goes.
I currently have just over half of my published books out there in print-on-demand form. I know. Self-publishing is what they used to call vanity publishing. For me though, it is just a matter of how many books can I put out there and still have nobody read them. Whether they are the seven books in my series Autobiography of a Sixth Grader or some of the stories from my childhood that did not make it into those books (Long Walks Home) or my couple middle grade fiction books about murder (The Dart Gun Murder) or hijacking (D.B. Cooper and Me) or my three books on Christian Apologetics and theology (here is a link to one), those thirteen books are out there for everybody to continue to ignore. With that occasional person who happens to buy one just for the heck of it.
(By the way, there was one person who bought D.B. Cooper and Me when it was in digital form only. That person found out that I sometimes or at least one time released a book before it was complete. I had a place where I told myself that I needed to figure out something, plus I had notes at the end of the book with the fictional history of my characters and some history of D.B. Cooper. I fixed those things. Both in the digital and print forms. So if that one person wants to redownload the digital book, it is finished now. Sorry you got that not-ready-for-prime-time version.)
Oh. One other thing.
I am not a professional holy man, nor do I have any formal theological training. So if you read my apologetics or theology books, just remember that I am a mediocreman (at best), and use those books as they are meant to be used. Starting points for conversations on important topics.
Well that is about all I have for now. I suppose I could mention that I have other stuff out there that people can ignore in their perusals of books, blogs, songs, poetry, and the like. But what is the point? If people want to look at my stuff, they will ignore my advice to just ignore me. And if they do not want to look at my stuff, they probably did not get to the point where I said that they could ignore my stuff and just clicked right on by.
I know I am not very good at self-promotion, but that is okay. Even though self-publication in this day and age means that we must be self-promoters. So I hope that being a self-deprecator is just as good.
[P.S. All the links go to my books, so I guess they are technically ads.]
© 2023 Michael T. Miyoshi
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