Is Self Promoting Deplorable?

“Self promoting is deplorable!” someone told me last week.

They’d reached out to me because they were starting some project and wanted me as a spokesperson. I didn’t know much of anything about it though. Then they reached out to me a few days later to let me know I am not a good fit because I self promote. “The point of writing is substance, not promoting. If your work was good you wouldn’t need to promote it. Get an agent to do that.”

Where to begin?

Well, I think it’s funny that people who have no credibility offer their beliefs (dude has never published a book) as if they are facts. Often we accept that as truth, and take their advice. But have you noticed we often take advice from the least qualified? In my instance here was a person telling me that I should NEVER promote myself and should get an agent to do that.

A few things:

1.) I’ve already got an agent.

2.) An agent’s job isn’t to promote. An agent job is to get contracts (and money) for their client’s projects. i.e. book deals, speaking engagements, etc.…

3.) If you take even a short while to look at the stories of anyone who has “made it” in an entertainment industry, whether that be an artist, author, actor, or musician, they’ve done it because they promoted themselves.

When Bob Marley and The Wailers finished their first album they drove around to nearly every radio station in town (and to every juke box) and promoted their work until their songs started being played.
Tom Cruise said, “If you ring your own bell enough, you’ll never have to do it again.”
Justin Bieber launched his career because he went to hundreds and hundreds of radio stations to promote his voice until his work took off.
Pulitzer Prize Winning Author Victor Villasenor launched his most successful book “Rain of Gold” by filling his truck with books and introducing himself to everyone he met and gifting them a company.
Dave Matthews (the world’s most successful live musician) launched his career by selling 200,000 albums out of the trunk of his car.
Bestselling Wayne Dyer did the same thing.
James Redfield (author of Celestine Prophecies) also sold 20,000 books out of the trunk of his car to strangers before Warner Brother’s made it into a movie.
Martin Luther King Jr. spoke at every church and protest he could until his name got around enough for him to become the face of the civil rights movement.
Possibly the most successful person in the personal development field, Tony Robbins, launched his career by going onto the radio and saying, “I can transform anyone’s life in one hour.”

The fact is that you can have the best product or content in the world but it won’t reach anyone unless you are shameless about showing it to others. A great person becomes great because they recognize they have something that can help others and they do everything they can in order to ensure that their work reaches the masses.

A great person never becomes as great as they can be when they are too timid to stand up and share what they have to offer with the world.  If one believes that their work or agenda can serve countless people, they are NOT being of service if they don’t promote it.

The fact is, your probably wouldn’t know who I am if I didn’t promote myself. Publishers DO NOT promote authors. That’s what a cash advance is for, so an author promotes themselves.

You’re going to have to promote yourself and your work if you want to really make the difference you can make. Plain and simple.

DO NOT listen to ignorant people who have nothing to show for in their life except opinions lacking any experience or credibility. I want to be an extremely successful author, so I seek out advice from EXTREMELY successful authors. I don’t listen to what people who have no idea what they’re talking about say. I want to make a lot of money. I ask millionaires to mentor me. Not broke people. What I am saying is to be careful who you listen to. What do they have to show for what they’re saying? Anything? Usually not…

As far as me, I’ve decided that I will pretty much take advice from no one (I will certainly listen) except from someone who has the level of success that I want. Why would I?

I think that’s what stops so many people. We listen to people who have no experience or success in what we’re doing, and we follow their words.

If you believe in what you’re doing why would you not, (as the late reggae legend Peter Tosh said), “tell it on the mountain!”

Some people won’t like you doing that. So what?

If there’s one thing I’ve learned from Jack Canfield (who has sold 500 million books) it’s this: SW.SW.SW.SW. “Some will. Some won’t. So what. Someone’s waiting!”

Some will like your work, and buy it. Some won’t (and they maybe assholes about it). So what? Someone is waiting to experience what you have to offer. KEEP GOING.

For whatever it’s worth to you, these are my personal marketing principles…

1.)  Don’t steal.

2.)  Don’t kill.

3.)  Don’t harm

4.)  Don’t infringe on another’s rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

To me, everything else is fair game. My rationale is this, if I believe that what I have to offer to others can change their life and the world, I would be doing a disservice by not self-promoting it. I hope you consider the same.

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