Furry Writers' Guild Forum

Self Promotion of Collections

General Writing Discussion
#1

I’m pretty sure there’s a thread about this somewhere, though it’s also probably pretty ancient by now.

I’ve accidentally started a habit for promoting the submission call for CB2016. I say accidentally, only because I was cleaning out my personal twitter account of people I follow when I came across a poet. I liked what was on their page, so on a whim I decided to let them know about the submission, and not only were they interested, but they promoted it in turn. Even with how awkward I felt afterward, I was also more than a little happy to see the extra advertisement, so repeated the process this week. I’m still a little anxious because it feels kind of, I dunno, annoying? Obnoxious? Other unpleasant words? Thus far the reaction has been very positive, but I’m curious, how much would be too much? Is once a week okay? Should I drop it down to less? Should I be doing this at all? I know it’s a little different from, say, promoting my own book, but I still feel rather awkward doing it.

#2

What’s the question, exactly? If you mean ‘how often should I tweet about the call for submissions?’, there probably isn’t a right or wrong answer. Once a week or so is probably what I’d go for, varying the time of day to catch different people.

As for reaching out and contacting individuals who might be interested, I think that’s a great idea. I often do it both for anthologies I’m involved in and those I think people I know might be a good fit for.

#3

Both, actually XD And okay, cool! Sounds like I’m on track then. Still feels awkward XD Does it always the first time you do direct contacts or self promotions? Does the awkwardness ever go away? I know I’ve self promoted plenty on my own page. Just feels different going about it this route.

#4

I always feel awkward when I contact anyone about anything whatsoever, but that’s just me.

I try to think how I’d feel in the circumstances, and conclude that I’d be flattered and touched that someone thought of me!

#5

My partner likes the idea of hearing about a projects, either an update or direct link tweet, once per day. He says that’s enough to keep the work or project fresh and it seems to have worked well for the gentleman he used as an example.

Direct messaging? I think it’s OK but target the audience exactly as you did with the poet above. A musician will likely be annoyed and so will the everyday furry. But a writer will love it!

#6

Husky, I’m glad it’s not just me on all accounts XD I initially did it because I thought it would feel really cool, personally, to be contacted like that :3

Mabe, I’m definitely being careful XD I think the most I strayed was a writer of children’s book who still had some prose in their tweets. Please thank you partner for that advice for me? <3 Much appreciated.