My rule is simply pretty much to not self-promote, period. While I’m human and have been known to slip sometimes, I go out of my way more than anything else to actually downplay my stuff. In the end I believe that my fiction will-- must!-- eventually speak for itself. If it sells it sells, and if it doesn’t it doesn’t. My status as a fur and the wonderful, life-changing friends I’ve made among furs to me mean far more to me than all the sales in the world, and I try to remember this at pertinent moments.
I’ll note in passing that here in this forum-- and whenever the nature of the discussion is such elsewhere that I need to speak the truth in order to back up a point-- I tend to be less reticent. I’m among my fellow authors here, and talking business. Thus, sales figures and the like are often relevant, and in the interest of helping myself and others seek truth in whatever we’re discussing I’ll neither downplay nor exaggerate. But out in the open world…
I have given probably about a hundred writing panels on various topics within the fandom at probably a dozen different conventions-- more likely I think north of that number than south. When doing so I very scrupulously never even mention that I’ve written and published roughly twenty books, etc unless point-blank asked. Even when I do a writer’s meet and greet, for example, I begin by introducing myself as a furry author “who writes a lot”. Above all I never, ever promote my books in the course of giving a panel. I do mention them, yes, but only when I sort of have to in the guise of problem solving. “I was writing a book once called “Resisting Arrest”, and had that same difficulty. Here’s how I solved it…” Other than that, well… After a panel is over if I have free promo books to give away-- which I often do-- then as the room empties I’ll pass them out to whoever. People like ‘free’, so that steps on no toes. But I never, ever actively sell or encourage purchases or even announce new titles in my panels-- if my panel-guests had wanted to watch commercials they could have stayed home and saved the reg fee.
In a similar vein… I try not to say “I’ve been ‘x’ successful” even here, because it’s tasteless. However, it’s sort of difficult for me to make my point that an author can treat the fandom with respect and not go out actively turning himself and his life into a walking ad campaign and still sell over a hundred thousand books, which I have done, without informing y’all that I have indeed sold over a hundred thousand books. Recently I was in a discussion on the Guild chat-thingie and the subject of writing for a living came up-- I mentioned that this was hard in part because of instability of income, and that I’d made $20k one year in sales and next to nothing the next. The true figures are important for others to know, in that context. Some have accused me of being immodest, but again here I’m talking business with fellow authors and only the truth will do. Where I’ve quoted such facts and figures elsewhere, it was under the same general principle. Otherwise a low profile is always for the best, at least if keeping and making friends and being a good fur is what’s most important to you. Or so I’ve always felt.
My advice-- Don’t self-promote at all. Find other ways that don’t alienate and annoy your fellow furs. Your product’s quality will either stand up in the competitive marketplace, or it will not. In the end quality always tells.
In the end, though, I’ve realized that in this fandom, if I don’t speak up for myself and my work, there’s no guarantee that anybody else will do it for me. So I balance the risk of seeming egotistical with the risk of people not knowing my stuff exists.
