#72: How the f*ck do I market myself?

I am good at some things:

And I am not good at other things:

But over the past year, I’ve discovered yet another struggle of mine: marketing my work.

This has been a strange realization. After all, I’ve shared my art and my life online to a sizable audience for over seven years. But asking you to buy something? That feels different. I feel forceful, like every time I hold my book up to camera or share a link to my newsletter comes off as a blaring infomercial. 

I feel like Mona-Lisa Saperstein.

I can talk myself through the importance of promoting my work.

But… I don’t know. It feels icky. 

big creep energy!!!

When I share a post that markets somethingg, I go through a terrible cycle:

It’s vicious and one of my own making. I look at other creators who share funny and charming and on-trend videos and photos and stories about their work and feel jealous (even though I know it’s probably not easy for anyone, not totally). 

I’m feeling over it lately—the constant posts and videos trying to promote my work, the anxiety about how it’s received, the fear that I’m landing flat. 

I remind myself that it IS weird to try to tell the world again and again why I’m great, why my work is worthy of their money, why out of everything and everyone, they should pick me, please, pick me. 

So I’m asking, truly: how do I market myself? At least, how do I do it without feeling too loud or selfish or navel-gaze-y? 

Maybe that’s the work I need to do—the work of understanding it’s part of the industry, that most everything I’ve bought has been marketed to me, that I hold no resentment for other authors and artists promoting their own work. 

For now, I’ll hold these feelings awkwardly, like I’m carrying too many bags of groceries at once. 

I feel like the only way to end this email is a tongue-in-cheek question, linked out, of course: Do you want to buy my book? 

P.S. In the spirit of promotion… CHICAGO! I’m coming to you next week! Come hang at Bookends & Beginnings on 8/15 at 6 PM sharp. Reserve your (totally free) spot here.