Self-Promotion is Like Self Abuse,

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But it has to be done.

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When I was a child, I was taught that talking about yourself was considered bragging and thus discouraged. I always felt guilty talking about my accomplishments, and I still do today.

Because of my upbringing, I had a difficult time promoting the blogs I created after retiring. I thought once I wrote and published a post, that was it. It didn’t take long to realize no one was reading my posts or even aware I had a blog. I was even too shy to tell family and friends.

I soon discovered that writing a blog wasn’t hard; it was promoting it that was. That’s probably why I never earned any money. Then, I started writing on Medium in addition to my blog.

For the past couple of months, I have been wracking my brain for ways to promote myself and my articles. I then read a story by Adrian CDTPPW, in which he describes the stress he encountered in his efforts at self-promotion. His story is worth a read for all of us:

I have been going through similar experiences to promote my work. I have tried sharing on X, only to have one or two people read the articles I shared. Now that X is going down the tubes, I will no longer share on that platform.

I have had a little better luck with Facebook, where I have switched to the Facebook professional mode. After sharing my articles, I am getting a few reads. It’s not great, but every little bit helps.

I also started a newsletter, separate from Medium’s newsletter, where I share my previously published Medium stories with people who have subscribed to it. My newsletter is sent out once a week, unlike Medium’s subscriber notifications, which are sent out as soon as an article is published. So far, the results have been rather disappointing.

I have recently started promoting my articles and newsletter on LinkedIn, Bluesky, and Patreon, even though I am not too optimistic about getting good results. I’m sure there are other avenues for promotion that I haven’t discovered yet, and I’m sure I will give them a try, too, sometime in the future.

Adrian was right about self-promotion being stressful. But unlike writing a blog on WordPress or Blogger, writing on the Medium platform makes promoting our work somewhat easier. Don’t get me wrong; you still have to promote yourself if you expect to be successful. I compare promoting articles to trying to sell ice to Eskimos—not easy!

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Sharing Your Stories on Linkedin

Is it worth it?

Photo by Abid Shah on Unsplash

In my continuing quest to get more eyes on my stories, I have promoted my work on Facebook, X, and my personal blog. Some time ago, I heard that some writers use LinkedIn to promote their articles, but I never gave it much thought.

I rarely get views from using Facebook, and I think I’ve only had one view from sharing with X. I recently started a newsletter with Kit in an attempt to gain more readers. So far, that has not been fruitful. I’ve also changed my Facebook to the Professional mode.

It wasn’t until I received a great comment on one of my stories by one of our noted authors, Tyler Lubben BBA, who said he had used LinkedIn and gotten good results.

I’ve had a LinkedIn account since I was employed as a Cytologist, but after retiring, I rarely, if ever, used it. I have thought of promoting my stories there, but they didn’t seem to fit in with all the medical and hospital posts. To this day, I still get job offers, even though I have been retired for over 10 years.

Since I am retired and not interested in returning to work in my former career, I decided to close my professional account and open a new one devoted to promoting my Medium stories. I only created my new account yesterday, so I’m going to have to wait a while to see any results.

I’d love to hear from anyone who has had any experience using LinkedIn to share their work.

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I Have a Hard Time Promoting My Articles,

Maybe I should try something different.

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I don’t know about you, but I have difficulty getting people to read my articles. If people can’t see them, they can’t read them. I share my stories on Facebook, X, and my blog, Steve Sovie’s World. I also tell my friends whenever I publish something they may be interested in.

I hardly ever get any results from sharing on X. Using Facebook, I see a little better results, but nothing great. I recently started a Newsletter to promote my stories within Medium. So far, I haven’t seen any results. For some reason, people click on the Medium subscribe icon instead of my huge Newsletter subscribe image.

When I tell my friends that I write on Medium, they say they have no idea what Medium is. No one I have ever talked to, either in my family, my neighbors, my long-time friends, or former colleagues, has ever heard of Medium. Why is that?

I consider most of my friends to be well-educated and informed, and many of them are avid readers. But they have no idea of what Medium is. Therefore, I not only have to convince them to read my articles but also to join Medium to do so. Convincing people to shell out money to read is the most difficult part.

After some thought about this matter, I have decided to change the way I promote my articles. While I promote my stories, I will also promote Medium. If people make the connection between my stories and Medium, they might be enticed to join Medium. It’s worth a try.

I would love to hear your thoughts about what I have written and what I intend to do.

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Why I Don’t Click on Your Link

 

And why nobody clicks on mine?

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Please Click On The Following Link.

We have all seen this or similar prompts in the Medium stories we read and on other sites we visit. But how many of us actually click on the prompt?

If you’re like me, you ignore it. With the numerous phishing scams exploding on the internet, we all have to be highly vigilant. Unless we know exactly what clicking on a link will lead us to, we should ignore it.

Many writers here on Medium have a website, blog, newsletter, or Substack account we are hoping to promote, and we place a link at the bottom of our article, urging the reader to click to subscribe. You will see my subscription link below this article.

Most readers don’t click on these links because they are unsure where the link will take them or don’t want to receive any more emails in their inbox.

Promoting a blog or newsletter can be a real challenge, but using a promotion link on our stories is one of the best ways to get the word out. I’ve recently started my own newsletter and am now using the promotion link. It’s not easy to get readers to click on my link. I know others share the same feeling.

My advice to anyone planning to use a link to promote their website or newsletter is to explain clearly where the link will lead. If you plan to sell a product, be honest with your readers and tell them. Explain this to your reader if you promote an informative newsletter or personal blog.

If I see a prompt link that is confusing, either with a picture or slogan that does not relate to the article I have just read, I will ignore it. I do not want to risk my computer being infected with malware or other viruses that could be disastrous.

Thank you for reading. Please support and subscribe to the writers you like, but be careful.

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