Writers’ Dislike of Self-promotion
Impostor syndrome or genuine self-loathing?
Impostor syndrome or genuine self-loathing?
Did you hear the one about van Gogh?
OK, granted, that was not even cute in the late 1800s, but it is a fairly well-known fact that creators have been pretty hard on themselves all through the ages.
Their right brain creates faster than their left brain can balance the old checkbook. If there was a checkbook. If there was anything to put in a checkbook.
Creators are self-contained
Creators are fairly self-contained, and they like it that way.
I would never tell a musician that three chords and a bridge were boring. I would never tell an artist to round his trees off a little and they would look better.
I would never tell a writer to split fewer infinitives. Well, I would, but I'm sure I’d regret it.
Occasionally, creators can be less than confident about their work. They may worry about acceptance. They surely don't want criticism.
The starving artist
Somehow it may seem better to be the proverbial staring artist than to chase commercialism, and cave to popular demand.
There are things like a book signing, an art show, a mention in the newspaper or a hundred other items a PR person, or the creator acting as his own PR person can arrange. These things, though, are done in order to make more money and seem to be selling out. They are just not likely to do them.
Sell-outs are so base.
Time investment
That is why it is difficult to get a creator to spend such a good amount of their time promoting their own work, blowing their own horn.
But when there is a lot of competition, that’s a lot of traffic, and traffic is often when you need your horn.
Thanks for your time!
Want more exclusive content? Sign up for my Rough Crowd newsletter, to get even more writer tips, humor, stories, and announcements delivered straight to your inbox. Includes FREE PDF guide, “FIND THE WRITER IN YOU, GET IT PUBLISHED and GET IT PAID.”
Join Medium with my referral link - Don Martin
As a Medium member, a portion of your membership fee goes to writers you read, and you get full access to every story…medium.com