I received a question via email today from one of my loyal readers and I thought I would answer it here on my blog.

Question for you: You’re a published author. And you keep a blog. Has an editor or potential publisher ever objected to your keeping a blog about your work, not liking the way you promote it and/or yourself, for example?

Has anyone ever said “Kill the self-publicity, and leave the PR to us?”

Just wondering…

My answer:
Oh, how I wish someone would say, “kill the self-publicity, and leave the PR to us.” Unfortunately, that’s not how it works these days. It’s all about building a platform. A platform being a website, a blog, a fan page on facebook, a subscribers list of followers, et al. From everything I hear and read, editors/publishers/agents see an authors’ self-promotion as a necessity. Some agents even ask that you send a marketing plan with your query letter. I would guess this really cuts down on their submissions, but it also is a sign of the times.

The rub for me, as well as a great deal of other writers, is that I am an introvert. I thrive off of the creative process of writing, the coming together of a story, and having a rich inner life. But if you actually want to put your creations out into the world and get read, you have to promote yourself. Unfortunately, I think this weeds out a lot of excellent writers who aren’t willing to play the game and do their own self-promotion and marketing.

The good news, however, is that the world wide web can actually be a haven for introverts. You can do a lot of marketing online now, even book readings via web cams, all in the privacy of your home office. It is a paradox. As an author, you can be both hidden and exposed.

I will admit that the extroverted tasks of marketing and self-promotion are a growing edge for me. But it’s been a good exercise. I’ve made a lot of friends online, from all over the world, and we try to help each other out. I am also accessible to my readers. I get emails weekly from someone who has enjoyed my book. So I guess the situation is however you perceive it: a blessing or a curse. For me, it is both/and.

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Are you struggling with a personal challenge? Maybe I can help. Check out my day job.

Henry Sapoznik is a musician who has a pure and shining love of, as he says, “music that sounds like it comes from somewhere.” He was recently interviewed by www.burryman.com and had this to say about his work:

“I don’t do my work for anyone but me. This is a completely selfish undertaking. I love people to like what I do, but I can’t worry, will people like this? I love my audience, but they gotta love what I do. If we forget, if we’re not moved by our own work, our compasses are all screwed up. My work is completely reflective of my own interests—‘oh, this amuses me, I wonder what this would be like?’ . . . and we’re off to the races. I can’t even imagine a world where we’re forced to forgo that creative process. Maybe we’re stuck in a juvenile frame of mind that the world is about us.”

Sapoznik also said that doing the work was about satisfying his own integrity. It’s as if he trusts the process completely, even if, for the moment, it doesn’t seem to be taking him anywhere.

When you create, whether it’s writing, painting or some other art form, are you doing it for yourself? Do you love what you are doing and creating? I agree with Sapoznik that these are great “acid test” questions, ones we want to ask ourselves with regularity.

And what if you get lost in your work? So lost, maybe, that you aren’t sure just what you are doing or why? Sapoznik said:

“It’s like the thing I learned in the Boy Scouts: if you get lost, stay where you are. You will be found.”

In my mind, this translates to all of us former Girl Scouts, too. Follow your bliss, Joseph Campbell used to say. And if in that pursuit of your bliss you lose your way, don’t panic. The bliss will find you.

May you love what you do and be found in 2009!