Book Promotion Series Part IV: It’s All About Good Manners

The right attitude to have when promoting your book is polite,
humble, thoughtful, grateful. Which may sound exactly the opposite of
adjectives we usually attach to “promotion.” Promotion is all about ego,
aggrandizement, and yelling “pay attention to me,” right? It is if the
product is aftershave and the year is 1961. For you and your book,
promoting well is a tricky balancing act of selling while appearing
thankful for the opportunity to do so.

It sounds harder than it is. With few exceptions, successful book
promotion is built on the basics of etiquette that we learned as
children, rules like, “say please and thank you,” “listen,” “don’t
complain,” and “treat others as you would like to be treated.” Applying
these to the least comfortable aspects of book promotion puts you, the
author, in the right frame of mind to be a successful—if reluctant—book
promoter instead of a reluctant and resentful one.

(Read how at the next chapter of my series on Book Promotion.)

• Category: BookTour.com