Here’s the thing most of us don’t consider when we set out to write a book. Corralling ideas, developing
characters, refining your voice, and balancing sentence structures and story flow? All of that, while
challenging, is the easy part. The writing, for most of us, is the part we love. The easy part. Or perhaps
the easier part.
Writing a book requires discipline, persistence, a willingness to sit with uncertainty, and the occasional
bout of wondering why on earth you thought this was a good idea in the first place. If we’re lucky, we
work at it long enough to grow tired of it. And yet, we continue. We can’t put it down because we’re
creating something that didn’t exist before. It has become part of us. In some ways, it’s our own
Velveteen Rabbit. Our book is real to us long before it ever sees the light of day.
Then we finish the book and discover that writing it was just part of the job.
Welcome to publishing and publicity, where we’re expected to talk about our books, build an audience,
attend events, give interviews, post on social media, and convince people that our work is worth their
time and money. Suddenly, the person who was perfectly happy spending hours alone with a
manuscript is expected to become a publicist and salesperson, too.
For introverts, this can feel like an unexpected and unwanted career change. Some of us would rather
break out in hives than post another enthusiastic announcement about our books. Others are perfectly
happy discussing a character’s complicated inner life but would prefer to crawl under the table when
asked to give an elevator pitch.
The publishing world doesn’t always distinguish between the ability to write a compelling story and the
ability to sell one. They’re different skills, and being good at one doesn’t necessarily make us good at the
other. And it isn’t just introverts who struggle with marketing (remember New Coke or that disastrous
Peloton holiday ad?). In Written Word Media’s 2024 survey of more than 1,500 independent authors,
nearly 80% identified marketing as the hardest part of self-publishing. Writing wasn’t even close to the
top of the list.
The discomfort of self-promotion
Many writers are much more comfortable talking about their work than selling it. We can explain what
inspired a story or why a character behaves a certain way. Ask us to stand up and announce that our
book is wonderful and everyone should buy it; however, we may suddenly become fascinated by
the refreshments table or a scuff mark on our shoes. We worry about appearing boastful, annoying our
friends, or becoming that person who mentions their book in every conversation. And when we put
ourselves out there and hear nothing back, it’s easy to take the silence personally.
But silence doesn’t necessarily mean rejection. People are busy, attention spans are shrinking, and
distractions are multiplying. In Hook Point, author Brendan Kane asserts that we now live in a three-
second world. His research suggests we have three seconds before someone swipes or turns to the next
thing. Social media algorithms are unpredictable, and readers may be interested but not ready to buy.
Or they spot something shiny, yell “Squirrel!” and they’re gone. An unanswered email to a bookstore doesn’t necessarily mean the owner hated our book. The owner may simply have 47 other things to do that day.
Publicity can be exhausting, and it rarely produces immediate, measurable results. The work of building
an audience can feel frustratingly invisible. We can spend an afternoon crafting a thoughtful post, hit
publish, and hear crickets. Meanwhile, someone else posts a photo of their lunch and receives 300 likes
and 18 comments.
It can be crazy-making if we allow it. The trick is not to confuse a lack of immediate response with a lack
of value. We can’t control whether someone clicks, buys, shares, or responds, but we can control how
we respond to the uncertainty.
We don’t have to become extroverts
Here’s the good news: learning to promote a book doesn’t require changing your personality.
Introversion isn’t a deficiency to overcome. It’s simply one way of engaging with the world. My bias is
that being an introvert is an advantage, provided we learn how to use our gifts. We tend to spend time
observing, thinking, and trying to understand what we see. Those qualities are useful to writers. We
know how to sit with an idea and give it room to develop. Trying to become someone else’s version of a
successful author is a losing game.
Maybe you’re okay speaking to an audience but dread mingling afterward. Perhaps you enjoy a
conversation with a bookseller but find a crowded networking event exhausting. You might prefer
writing a thoughtful newsletter to producing daily videos in which you point at text floating above your
head. These aren’t failures. They’re clues to finding an approach to publicity that works for you.
Of course, we have things to learn. We need to understand who might be interested in our books and
how to reach them. We also need to know what our publishers will do and what we’ll be expected to
handle on our own.
We can learn to introduce ourselves without apologizing. We can pitch an idea without treating every
unanswered email as a personal rejection. We can promote our books without pretending to be
someone who loves being the center of attention.
We became authors because we had something to say. We don’t have to become someone else to say it.
That’s the idea behind my virtual workshop, The Introvert’s Advantage: Publishing, Publicity & Finding
Your Audience, part of SOMOS Prose Month in my hometown of Taos, New Mexico. On Saturday,
November 7, from 10 a.m. to noon Mountain Time (noon to 2 p.m. Eastern Time), we’ll explore ways to
navigate the business of publishing and publicity, connect with readers, and promote our work without
abandoning the qualities that made us writers in the first place.
You don’t have to become the loudest person in the room. You just need to find your people, and a way
to help them find you.
To learn more and register, visit: https://somostaos.org/classes-workshops/#event=78423861;instance=20261107100000?popup=1&lang=en-US
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