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Shameless self-promotion. Author, artists, and many others use this term, like self-promotion should be shameful. Yet, when you are your brand – you are the marketing department – promoting yourself is required.
Every sale is a job interview, whether at a convention panel or at the signing table. Authors go on book blog tours, with a ton of behind the scenes begging to market the book. Job interviews are about self-promotion; sales are all about marketing.
Should something be shameful when it is an essential part of your job? Does a chef shamelessly wash dishes after cooking? Does the mechanic shamelessly change oil? Does a teacher shamelessly return graded papers back to students? No, they simply wash dishes, change oil, and grade papers. Authors should be able to self-promote without embarrassment.
Catie Murphy covered the topic in more detail at Magical Words under “shameless self-promotion”.