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dancingsingingIt has recently become clear to me that, at some point (when I decide to stop sitting on my short stories and instead start subbing them), I will want to come here (and on FB and twitter) and in some way try to induce you all to read/buy/review/link to my work. The idea of which makes me fret and feel awkward and nauseated.
In my head, I get into all these layers of inauthenticity. Like, hey, I should have more internet presence *before* I sub anything, so that it looks like I am on the internet posting things for non-self-promotion reasons! Which kind of horrifies me when I catch myself thinking it.
This whole thing would be a lot easier if I had a lifestyle which included being on the internet for fun a lot. I mean, I love surfing around, reading DW and Shakesville and Tiger Beatdown and the Fat Nutritionist. And every time I spend even a little time poking about on the internet, there are fifty million things more I want to watch/read/listen to. But I've mostly triaged internet time out of my life, to make room for parenting and householding and writing. So, really, any more posting that I do beyond the occasional DW/LJ entry like this one would truly be for self-promotion, not because I love FB or Twitter or whatever so much that I'd be there anyway.
The self-promotion thing seems important, and I've seen people (frex, Jay Lake) do it in a way that is totally not annoying. And I think I could pull it off OK by making it a regularly scheduled thing (say, every Tuesday at 11:00 or something) with a timer to remind me to stop. But I worry about alienating my internet friends--I care about you all and your good opinion of me. I hate the idea that I might write something that makes people feel like I don't care about them or that I'm trying to use them.
What do you all think? I'd love to hear opinions and anecdotes from y'all, either from the perspective of trying to promote something or from the perspective of the promoted-to.
In my head, I get into all these layers of inauthenticity. Like, hey, I should have more internet presence *before* I sub anything, so that it looks like I am on the internet posting things for non-self-promotion reasons! Which kind of horrifies me when I catch myself thinking it.
This whole thing would be a lot easier if I had a lifestyle which included being on the internet for fun a lot. I mean, I love surfing around, reading DW and Shakesville and Tiger Beatdown and the Fat Nutritionist. And every time I spend even a little time poking about on the internet, there are fifty million things more I want to watch/read/listen to. But I've mostly triaged internet time out of my life, to make room for parenting and householding and writing. So, really, any more posting that I do beyond the occasional DW/LJ entry like this one would truly be for self-promotion, not because I love FB or Twitter or whatever so much that I'd be there anyway.
The self-promotion thing seems important, and I've seen people (frex, Jay Lake) do it in a way that is totally not annoying. And I think I could pull it off OK by making it a regularly scheduled thing (say, every Tuesday at 11:00 or something) with a timer to remind me to stop. But I worry about alienating my internet friends--I care about you all and your good opinion of me. I hate the idea that I might write something that makes people feel like I don't care about them or that I'm trying to use them.
What do you all think? I'd love to hear opinions and anecdotes from y'all, either from the perspective of trying to promote something or from the perspective of the promoted-to.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-24 04:04 am (UTC)