I love writing, and I love creating content that I hope brings value to others.

What I don’t love is promotion. More specifically, self-promotion. It tends to make me feel a little, how can I put it, icky.

This presents a conundrum for the writer that wants people to read his or her work, but doesn’t want to be seen to be banging on about themselves or their bloody book all the time.

However, needs must. If you feel that you have something of worth to say to the world, you write. But writing is the easy part. Getting your work in front of potential readers who will enjoy and learn from your talents… that’s a whole other ballgame. And the bottom line is that you’re going to need to promote, promote, and promote some more, if you want anybody to actually read that book that you have put your heart and soul into creating.

Extending your reach

Something I’ve been keen to do for a long time is to learn how to become better at using social media to extend my online reach and engagement. To get more eyes, and hopefully hands, on my books.

Up to now I have had very little know-how, but with more available time – thanks lockdown – I have been able to start addressing this.

I discovered a book, One Million Followers by Brendan Kane, that has made a huge difference to my engagement in just a few days. I am learning so much at the moment and am enjoying creating adverts, testing content and reaching out to new audiences. The results in just a few days have been amazing; one advert in particular has had around 5,000 likes on Facebook (and still counting!).

Sticking to how I’d been doing things before, I would have a) not created these adverts and b) even if I had, I would have had somewhere between 10 and 20 likes for them.

• 

• 

• 

Old dog, new tricks

You’re never too long in the tooth to learn and grow, and I would fully recommend taking a bit of time to learn more about how you can get your work out there.

Now that we are living in the age of lockdown, creative talents are needed more than ever. And a whole new audience could be waiting just for you.

How do you feel about promoting yourself? And what have you found that works for you?