Buckle up kiddos,
uncle Deano ... I mean, Auntie Violet
is about to teach ya'll a lesson:

101 PROMOTING / HOW TO PROMOTE YOUR BOOK.

As I type this, it's currently 2am and I'm still a bit cranky about some rather pathetic promoting I've seen recently.

Due to that, I'll start out with the bad because truth is, 
I'm a lil negative nancy at heart.

I'm like the Wyatt Family, all about that darkness & drama,
while I try to be all sunny and positive like the New Day.
Shout out to my girl Matilda (inzayn-) who's basically the wattpad civilian epitome of what the New Day is.

Anyhow, enough of this shenanigans, let's get down to it!

THE 
-'s 
(NEGATIVES)

THE DON'T'S,
THE I BEG YOU, DON'T DO THIS.

1) BE PATIENT

For the love of all beautiful things, sugar, spice, sami zayn, kevin owens and other wonderful things, BE PATIENT WHEN PROMOTING!

DO NOT go to wall from wall trying to get people to read your book.

Treat you book like a gem, not like a sinus you're trying to throw all over the place. I get it that you're only trying to get more views, but there's better ways of gaining exposure for your story.

Often times, you might attract 5 readers from those 50 walls you posted on.
However, in most cases, you'll just annoy people. It looks desperate and from the point of view of someone who built their audience book after book or without promoting, it's pretty upsetting. 

Also, once you've promoted your book to someone whether it be through a message on their wall, a comment, or personal message, DO NOT ANNOY THEM WITH IT AGAIN.

NOTHING IS WORSE THAN CONSTANTLY BEING TOLD TO DO SOMETHING,
OR WORSE,
SEEING THE PROMOTIONAL MESSAGE ON YOUR INBOX RETURN.

I REPEAT, YOUR BOOK IS TO BE A GEM, NOT HERPES THAT MAKES A RETURN FROM TIME TO TIME.

2) PHONY ASS-KISSING 

Do you know what really makes me laugh and then roll my eyes?

Shit like this:

"Hey so I really love your works! All of them! Check out my book ok?"

That kind of ass-kissing makes my blood boil because let me tell ya, 99% of the times I've had messages like that:
- they've never read my works
- never voted nor do they even have my book in their library (easy proof)
- have said this to at least 100 other people
-don't even kindly "ask" but just order you around
-99% they don't include a title & have like 3 works. WHICH ONE ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?

I just really hate it when people promote & kiss ass with phony ass generic crap.

If you're going to go to someone for promoting & are going to say something along those lines,

at least mean it.

Actually be a fan of the person's works, don't just send them a message because they have a large audience. 

3) AUDIENCE

When promoting, KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE.

Auntie Violet, what the fuck do you mean by this?

What I mean is, do some research on who you're promoting to. For example, I don't really like Roman Reigns. I really, really hate Eva Marie.

I am not lying when I say I've had people send me messages where they ask me to read their Roman Reigns fanfic. 

OR WORSE,

This happened to me ONCE,
someone dedicated their Eva Marie one shot to me and to this date, I don't know if that was just some sick joke but oh my god, I still have nightmares about it.

Leave aside the fact that it was an Eva Marie one shot,
it had terrible grammar,
the cheesiest smut I've ever read,
and also, the dude Eva Marie was going at it was "inspired" by me and that's exactly what I have nightmares about.

I'm bisexual, but I'd rather have no fingers than to ever shove one up Eva's arse.

Yupp, that was in the one shot.

Also, I'm all for gender equality, but why'd she make me a man?
Why'd she name me Ethan?
I hate that name.

(I have tried contacting the author of that one shot over a million times, but she's still MIA and I'm still scarred for life.)

Anyways, definitely figure out what the person likes.

It's really not hard to do because chances are,
you'll be able to know who their favorites are by their reading lists, bio's, profile photos, etc.

If you know someone doesn't like Roman Reigns,
don't ask them to read your RR fanfic.

THE +'S

(POSITIVES)
THE GOOD

THE PLEASE DO THIS INSTEAD

1) TUMBLR

Tumblr is an amazing place to promote your story! If you have an account, link it up with Wattpad and then share your stories on Tumblr. Tag them appropriately & that way, you can gain readers from Tumblr who'll eventually transition onto Watty.

2) YOUR WALL, YOUR RULES.

Everyone has the right to do whatever the fuck they want to do with their bio's, their wall's, etc.

If you want to spam your own profile with promotions for your book, by all means, DO IT. Sure, the message goes out to all your followers (but it's still on your wall).

To me, this is much more suitable than going from wall to wall.

3) SHOUT OUTS

If you already have a story, don't pull back on shamelessly promoting your new story on it. Let those readers know you've got a new story. 

Also, the only way I find shout outs to be suitable is if you're close friends with that person you're asking to give you a shout out. With that being said, if you are close friends and still don't want to give the shout out, you nor the person asking for the shout out  have no right to be pissed if one doesn't cooperate.

For example,
say a close friend of mine asked me for a shout out.

Now, I'll always check out their story/stories. If I do not like it, I won't promote it. 

Why promote something you don't believe in?

Often times I've been proved wrong though. Like I mentioned before, I don't like Roman, but not that long ago I had my favorite author publish a book on him, and I freaking love it.

Shout out to the sweetest of them all, psychopathish

You see that?

I'm close friends with Inayah,
I respect her whole-heartedly,
her story "Stand by Me" owns my heart & I've talked about it so often that practically everyone and their mother's know about it now.

I have no problem giving shout - outs to a few people because as you can see, we're more than well acquainted and that's how it should be if you're to ever ask for a promo.

Don't make it weird for yourself,

don't make it weird for that other person either.

x

As I stated at the beginning, it's 2am (now 2:30) so my brain is a bit rusty.

I'm sure I'll think of more things when I publish this (which means I'll write this in a few hours after my nap).

I hope that some of these tips have been useful & that you apply them to your promoting skills.

Also, if this chapter upset you in any way,
take it with a grain of salt.

I myself used to promote my early works when I started wattpad, and I learned what you can/shouldn't do rather quickly.

:)

x o , v i o l e t .