Selling Yourself

It's been a very long time since I posted here, and I'm pretty sure it had been quite awhile without a post before that one as well.  There are lots of reasons, but most are just incidental and shouldn't stop me from blogging once a week or so. 

-Family
-Full time job (you know, for a roof and food and pants and all of that stuff you need once in a while)
-Also, I've been spending most of my writing time trying to write.  I have three manuscripts that are well on their way, but also nowhere near finished.  I'm excited about all of them, but I keep jumping from one to the other when the mood strikes.

But really, these things should not stop me from posting here, or Facebook or Twitter or blah blah, etc...  I've been remiss in all of my social networking duties for quite some time.

And I think I know why.

I'm not fond of selling myself.  I feel bad when I post on Facebook or Twitter, telling people about my work.  Telling them why and where and how they should buy something that I made feels like begging.  I'm not a huge fan of writing about myself at all, especially when I'm not sure it's something people want to hear.

I'd rather write about other people, the folks that live in my head.  They're all exciting and have stories that I'm happy to share.  The deal with magic and evil and zombies and robots, expensive booze and stalkers and cannibals.

But me, I read the news and I watch Scrubs so much that I know pretty much every episode by heart.  I work a normal job, and eat bagels whenever I get the chance.  Oh, and I write.

I write fiction.  I love fiction.  I have no problem telling people to go buy a book that I love.  Neil Gaiman, Stephen King, any random thing that i pick up to read on the Kindle app on my phone.  If I like it, I tell people about it, and I'm not ashamed.  But it's not the same as telling them to read something that I wrote.

Of course I think they should read it, I wrote it!  But do I want them to read it because it's worth reading, or because it's mine?

Both, but how do I say that?  That's what I'm trying to figure out here.  How do I tell someone about my own book, without feeling like I'm begging them to support my writing habit?  If you have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them.  But until I get it figured out, I'll just keep trying different things.

This latest thing, you know, not saying anything to anyone, not even letting people know that I still exist and am still writing...  It doesn't work at all.  I don't recommend it for anyone.

So, it's on to something new.  Maybe I'll rent billboards and put my face on them, or find the newest, greatest viral marketing scheme and put it to use.  Or maybe I'll just try to keep in touch with people, and let them know what I'm up to.

Yeah, that sounds pretty good.  I think I'll try that.

Let me know what works for you, so I can steal your idea. :)

Oh yeah, just in case you didn't know, I have two books out right now.  One is a young adult fantasy about faeries that eat people.  I'm hoping the second book in the series will be out this year.  The other is a novella about a private detective who loves strip clubs and finds himself on the search for a cannibal that is terrorizing and killing teen girls.

They're pretty good and they're cheap, you should go buy them.

The River Runes at Amazon.com
To The Bone at Amazon.com

Thanks for reading,
buh bye then.

See you next week.