I don’t think a little pride is such a bad thing. I know it’s one of the seven deadly sins, but I think we could use some more of it in America. Not only are a lot of folks lacking it, but we seem to idolize and reward people who clearly don’t have any idea what pride even is. Television has become a cesspool overflowing with people who care little about how much they degrade themselves as human beings as long as they get to say they are on TV. They wear their ignorance and lack of self-respect like they are medals of honor, and the American public puts them on pedestals.
Of course, there’s a connection to writing in all of this. I haven’t been in the writing business for all that long, but I’m starting to see more of a lack of pride in my fellow authors when it comes to marketing their books. I understand that we are all always looking for more exposure, but it’s not always appropriate to expose yourself. I’ve seen authors whip their work out in places that, clearly, were not appropriate places to self-promote.
“This picture of your son’s wedding really reminds me of the wedding scene in my book…”
“Good luck with the operation. If you need something to pass the time during your hospital stay, here’s my Amazon link…”
“I’m so sorry about that death in your family. The happy ending in my latest…”
You get the idea. Maybe you will sell a couple of books that way, but you’re selling your pride along with them. We’ve all seen it, and most of us have cringed. You shouldn’t jump on other people’s moments to promote yourself, even when it’s another author. Recently, I was on a blog tour for authors who had written zombie books. It was a lot of fun and a great experience. When the tour was over, one of the authors put together a list on Goodreads that was for books that the thirty-two authors on the tour had written. Inside of a couple of hours, several other authors had thrown their own work onto the list. As if that wasn’t bad enough, I saw a few of them on different social media venues campaigning for people to vote for their books so that they would have better placement on the list. Really, folks? You know, we all have our own promotional things going on all the time. Most of us wind up working with each other at some point or another. Hell, most of us are actually just pretty cool and like to help and promote each other when we can. So, why jump on someone else’s shit when it’s clearly just not the right time to expose yourself? Do a couple of extra book sales really mean that much to you? Try to have a little pride.