How do you promote yourself?

I'm just thinking, if you start an account on Deviant Art, Fan Fiction Dot Net, or wherever, and start posting your works and submitting them to groups...and yet still you get few readers or subscribers, what is there that you can do to make yourself more well-known without going into Shameless Self-Promotion? What can you do when few viewers are coming by themselves?

My dad — a Self-Made Man by any measure — always said doing quality work and encouraging word-of-mouth by those who appreciate said quality work was the way to go. The business he started put me through college, so he must have been on to something.

I won't lie, I can't honestly say if this applies to writing as well as it does construction. It may not. But it's my intended path until a better idea shows up.

I whine about how nobody reads my work

I tend to try and review others, so they do the same to me.

I work with games, so I obviously have no options aside from viral marketing and sending out review copies. Unfortunately, that doesn't translate to what most people here are writing too well.

edited 2nd Apr '12 7:48:13 AM by burnpsy

Deviant art, sites like twitter and tumblr where thing can be reposted from the original ectra.

I myself only have the former but I'm thinking over a Tumblr, If it's good enough for John Green then why not.

I don't. I never have. But then I'm satisfied to have a small number of readers.

I made a page here for some of my work because it amused me to, I started getting it wik'd up because Bobby G was complaining fanfiction people don't.

x4 — This.

Commenting on others' work is probably a solid way to get noticed. I can't speak for Deviant Art or Fan Fiction.net, but in order to promote my blog, I started commenting and posting on gaming site Destructoid. According to my Blogger dashboard, it's now one of my top traffic sources.

Putting your content out there is important, but taking time to appreciate the content of others is just as vital, I think. Show someone you care, and someone will care about you.

edited 2nd Apr '12 11:55:02 AM by Voltech44

Yeah, it doesn't really work for DA, but it does work for getting page views, although those are a bit superficial.

Rank from importance:

• Here
• Blogger
• Other Blogs
• Twitter
• Deviant Art
• Meatspace
• Critique Circle (sometimes)

Since I've never heard of any of you outside this site, I'd suggest rephrasing the OP's question to "How should you promote yourself?"

That's...not that hard. People can be VERY big in some circles, and completely invisible in others. I'm not saying that's the case, but even ten-twenty readers can be enough to be seen as a successful promotion.

The point is that I think this thread would be more useful discussing how you can promote yourself then the exact ways any one individual here does it.

That is the same thing, isn't it?

No, not necessarily. For instance, there could be people here who have never written anything, but have ideas on how to get known when they do. Likewise, while my comment earlier didn't necessarily mean this - as Mr AHR suggested, I probably don't move in the same "circles" as several of the earlier posters - there very well could be people here who have tried to promote themselves, but were unsuccessful.

In other words, personal experience doesn't necessarily equate to useful general advice.

May I bring up the rather obvious fact that nobody would use their internet name when releasing anything mildly serious?

True, but I've never heard of anything matching their works either.

I'm not really trying to come across as negative, but the original question

is something I've wondered myself, and I'd like to hear some more general answers to it instead of just "this is what I do".

edited 2nd Apr '12 6:34:42 PM by nrjxll

Fair point.

What I posted was essentially the short version of professional advice I found for my medium after reading tons of articles on it, but I'm sure everyone else just posted what they used.

A weakpoint of writting is that it takes time to get people hooked. Visual arts have no such problem as they are easier to enjoy.

Dat Truth.

Maybe if self-promotion wasn't so often treated as something shameful, it'd be easier. (It should be okay, just as long as you're not shoving things down people's throats or bringing it up when it's not relevant.)

I try to promote my stories by joining blog communities. I also comment on others' stories, when I can figure out what to write in the comment (but not just because I want the other person to notice me; I make sure to have a genuine interest in the other person's story).

Putting a link to your work in your signature on forums could help, too.

edited 8th May '12 10:40:38 PM by BlackElephant

edited 21st Jun '17 5:10:31 AM by ArlaGrey

I post on writing.com and hang out on online forums hoping for a nibble... Oh and Deviant Art. Need I say more?

edited 11th May '12 4:29:50 AM by sabrina_diamond