Just curious: what self-promo tactics do you dislike?
Mine would have to be promising something, like “I guarantee you’ll be (verb)ing after you read my story.” Confidence is a good thing, but that is off-putting arrogance for me--it’ll probably work if someone else gives the guarantee. Word of mouth is more believable, and giving a guarantee about your story seems like putting the cart before the horse, because what if your story fails to elicit the reaction you said I would have? This has happened to me a couple of times already. I like going into the story with only the barest expectations because that’s what keeps me interested in the story and invested in the characters.
Another is plugging your fic/inserting your OC at every possible conversation or thread. That one reeks of desperation. Sometimes, it works, especially if you’re trying to make a point about something and couldn’t find any examples except your story, but there was a time when I started a thread about what could possibly happen in my fic when someone shoehorns a discussion about her OC. It was seriously annoying.
One phrase in this article stood out at me: “The key is to not bombard people with so much sharing of your work.” You know why advertising is annoying? Because they bombard you. It’s also tiring.
A variation of above would be flooding group chats about your fic/OC and when someone else tries to talk about theirs, the author goes “I’m not yet done” or “Sorry, can’t relate to what you’re saying, carry on” then tries to steer the attention back to them.
There’s also the guilting tactic, which I admit I fell into myself. For example, going, “nobody’s paying attention to my stories anymore!” I did this by posting one of those “review people’s fics” posts and adding my tale of woe, and then I got a slap to the face, which made me realize how whiny I was being. As it turned out, all I needed were friends who I know enjoyed my stuff. The realization shifted my perspective, going from “nobody likes my stuff so I won’t write anymore” to “ah to hell with it, I’ll post it and I don’t care if it gets one or two reviews, so long as my friends enjoyed it.”
It was liberating.
I guess I’m going on about this because I’m curious what makes a fic popular. I mean, sure, there’s the writing, of course, and the promotion. When someone self-promotes, what grabs your attention? What makes you go “I think I’ll skip that”? There’s also probably finding your niche, or being fortunate in terms of timing (like, being the first to produce fic for a certain fandom). If you’re late to the party, you’re most likely out of luck. Another tactic could be getting a big name of a fandom to voluntarily promote your work.
If a fellow writer reviews your work, would it be too much of a stretch to give back a review? I mean, it’s not as if you’re obliged to do so, but you know, as a courtesy. Especially if perhaps you’ve asked that fellow writer to look at your work and for feedback. Of course, if the fellow writer’s work is from a fandom you’re not familiar with, I think you could be excused. What are your thoughts about this?
And that question also popped in my head because I’m sick of staring at documents that talk about IT requirements--wanted a change of pace, even for a bit, and that’s where my train of thought led me. I took up advertising and wanted a career in market research, but I ended up doing market research for a completely different industry, LOL.
Addendum: look, an article about self-promoting for writers!