Some truths about self promotion

Terrific read on the need for self-promotion from Herbert Liu (linked by the always interesting Tim Prebble). I'm squarely in the I shouldn’t have to do this and it sucks and I’m lousy at it anyway camp. I also know full well that I need to get over that. But there’s also a part of me that tacitly thinks along these lines, which Liu quotes from a commenter.

Looking down on people for “shameless self promotion” means that you only want art from people privileged enough to have a job that can support it, or that are passionate enough to make significant sacrifices to their quality of life.

In addition to a lot of commentary and analysis, Liu makes the case for “a course about self-promotion, specifically for experts who particularly loathe the process. It would involve making the case for a stronger, more courageous, positioning, so that a person feels better about their work … This starts a self-fulfilling prophecy in which confidence begets more success, which begets greater confidence.”

I’d sign up, if it weren’t too expensive, and I appreciate that I am undercutting the point about rewarding creators. But Liu makes an even more trenchant point.

There’s also the separation of self-promotion and what’s really happening; which is promoting your work, or promoting your skills, or promoting something you love.

That is what I need to remember. It isn’t about me. It is about the work I do which, as it happens, I believe is good and worth promoting.

So, even though I am currently taking a break, perhaps you will find something of interest in Eat This Podcast.