The idea of self-promotion always sounds loathsome because I believe most of us are convinced from an early age that putting yourself in front of something or someone else is more than just rude, it is taboo.
It’s not even merely taboo, it’s a sin and possibly a crime in several red states. I heard that a guy was executed for this in Texas, once.
I’ve even read on blogs and message boards that some writers can’t stand it (even while they say, “You should buy my new book!” with the next blog line or two — but I don’t want to get blogged down in this.)
I hate it as much as anyone — the idea of promoting self. I am so anti-promotion that when I’ve had a few jobs in my adult life, I turned down any promotions offered to me.
I will not promote myself.
However, I have no problem promoting a novel.
To me, the novel is the world I get to live in, and though I may build it with words that come out of my brain and fingers and life experience and imagination, that world is not something I own. I occupy it for a time, I travel through it as I write the novel, but when I promote, it’s the promotion of the world of the novel. Not me.
Me: just the guy who sits in the room and writes the story.
The novel: the world between pages.
Thus, I’ve had no problem promoting my own novels. Sometimes I promote other people’s novels. I’ve even been called in to consult with publishers on novels that get a far greater promotional push than mine do.
Pity the actor and the rock star — they must promote themselves and their images. That is what they are primarily using to sell their songs and their movies and their albums and their shows.
Me? I have fantastic cover artists and others — like Caniglia and Glenn Chadbourne and Alan Clark, among them — and I can promote their beautiful art. I have publishers like Penguin and Tor and Dorchester and Cemetery Dance, and I can promote their products.
But promoting myself?
Please — I’m a guy who spends half the day staring at the wall, and the other half reading the “The Early History of Brittany” and “Quantum Physics for Idiots” as well as “The History of Krazy Kat and Ignatz.”
I fight coffee addiction and avoiding that extra muffin in the morning, and sweat through 16 miles of bike rides at night and my goal most weeks is to see about three people and no more.
When most people say, “self-promote,” what they really mean is: promote the work you do.
Yes, I do that.
Definitely.
I write to be read, and in order to be read, I’ve got to stand behind — and up for — the novel I’ve written. So I do what I can to get word out to readers, booksellers, and fans of my past work whenever a new novel comes up.
One unfortunate aspect of promoting your novel is simply that you must also promote your name.
This is repugnant, I know.
I mean, again, you’re stepping out in front of the line-up to volunteer for this punishment — to be noticed, to be recognized, to have your name actually stand for something.
But I have a trick to help you overcome this. I call it “Birth of a Name.”
Here’s how I was named. First, my mother and father thought I was going to be a girl (no jokes, please) and were ready to name me “Susan,” and then my mother liked the name “Duncan,” and that might’ve been the name. But then they settled on “Douglas” and it turns out there are several other “Douglas Clegg’s” out there, including a composer/singer (DougClegg.net, if you want to find out about him. I’m sure he’s not thrilled that I got DouglasClegg.com)
Douglas as a name means “Dark Water,” basically. Maybe muddy water, but I really like the whole “Dark Water” aspect because it brings me back to dark fantasy, horror, and suspense.
“Clegg” is an old Saxon name, but also drawn from names like Clough, by way of France, by way of…well, other places. There’s Clegg Hall over in England, and there are certain towns near Burnley, England, where, if you throw a rock, you hit several Cleggs and still manage to skip it off the old fen. My great-grandfather came from that area, and arrived in Fall River and Providence and began, as a teenager, to do the accounts for the railroads and as he got older, rose quite high in that world of accounting. The Cleggs in Rhode Island proliferated a bit, and there are areas of Providence where, if I walk down the street, sometimes I see clones of my father everywhere, since they’re all cousins.
In Yorkshire, I’ve been told a “clegg” is a fly. But “Clegg” also may come from the word for “Cloven,” ultimately (a clegg in the rocks might be a split between rocks). And so I really like thinking of Douglas Clegg as “Dark Water Cloven.” It somehow fits well with the whole genre.
So if you have “Name Shame” when it comes to promoting, find the root of your name — what the mythology is around it — and then you can feel you’re promoting that.
I’m all about making writers feel good about promoting their names and work. If you can’t feel good about that stuff, my advice is: a good therapist. And sin no more, sez me.
So, in promoting “Douglas Clegg” I rarely think of me. I think of those words, and I think of the world of the novel, and it becomes less sinful, less taboo, and more about engaging potential readers in something far beyond the guy who sits in the room and comes up with the stories.
I have to admit, my biggest fear — which I’ve seen happen with some highly successful novelists — is that stage when I start talking about myself solely in the third person. “A Douglas Clegg novel is …” and worse, the dreaded, “The Doug is annoyed with you,” phrasing that may creep up after years of brand-naming.
Douglas “Go Preorder The Priest of Blood right now” Clegg
Dark Water Cloven
10 Comments, Comment or Ping
Justine
I can’t tell you how much I needed this particular perspective at this particular moment.
Thank you.
(I’ve had PRIEST lined up in my sights for a while now, and will make sure others do too).
all best,
Justine (”please preorder my Roc/Penguin novel BLOODANGEL whenever you might find a moment”) Musk
Jul 16th, 2005
Carl Carter
Brilliant stuff!
Just checked and apparently my name means ‘noble spirited’. No wonder my parents are disappointed in me!
Carl.
Jul 16th, 2005
Steve Vernon
No offence Doug, but anyone who knows anything about your work knows
a/ how little you really need to promote your stuff
and
b/ how damned good you are at promoting it
Still, I get your point. There are certain of my works that I feel everybody ought to read. So I promote them. Others I see published, cash my check and move on. Promoting the work is different than promoting yourself.
Incidentally, if PRIEST OF BLOOD is half as fun as ABANDONED was,you will have no problem promoting that work.
Incidentally, as far as I can tell my name means “blessed one lying down in a green manure-filled field”, but I choose to spell it this way -
Steve “check out my tale in Flesh & Blood #17 and do preorder a copy of CORPSE BLOSSOMS for the fall and have I told you about zombified buffalo???” Vernon
Jul 16th, 2005
David Niall Wilson
I think that the perspective that causes people to grind their teeth comes more from the type of person who has never backed up their continuous promotion of name, or work, or whatever with quality.
In your case, that certainly doesn’t apply. The books are very good, very creative, and well-worth the reader’s time and SOMEONE has to tell them, why not you? You’re familiar with the material (lol).
I have changed my perspective a litte. I used to be a lot more annoying. Now I try not to promote my name or work every time I talk - to spend some time promoting others, and to think more about what I do, and what I say - even what I write…it’s working out well…maybe I’m maturing…maybe just old.
Anyway, thanks for the essay - good perspective. Also — I had The Priest of Blood in the first wave … liked it a lot.
DNW
Jul 16th, 2005
Monty Grue
I’ve been laughing myself silly with the Priest of Blood promotion campaign. Not necessarily, or wholly, in a bad way.
I don’t really need two copies of the Priest of Blood, but I covet a promotional evil rubber duck as a companion to my plush Cthulhu. There is always the off chance the inanimate objects might breed, giving me a brood of little ducthulhus
Of course I blame you, or, more accurately, the promos, for inciting ridiculous thoughts in others.
Monty “May pre-order two for a silly promo gimmick” Grue
Jul 16th, 2005
Mari Adkins
I’d never thought of my name in terms of what I write before. My first and middle names mean “Bitter Lily” - and if you know me, it suits me.
Thanks for the article.
Mari “please order a copy of my ebook Midnight” S. Adkins
Jul 16th, 2005
James Goodman
Oh, sure that’s easy for you to say. You get to promote a name that translates to Dark Water Cloven. I got stuck with James Goodman. What am I suppossed to do with that?
Just kidding around. Great post Doug. I can’t wait to read The Priest of Blood.
Jul 16th, 2005
terry
Am I the only one who is wondering why the first sentences are in black print? Or am I the only one seeing it that way?
Great essay, Doug. What’s in a name and all that..
Now where do I go to translate my name?
Jul 17th, 2005
jeff resnick
Well, I might be able to one up all of you in the name department…Who would have thought a simple name like Jeff Resnick would translate to “Bringer of Peace” and “Ritual Slaughter” - wow, I guess I’m doing the right thing by writing a dark fantasy/horror novel. And there is definitely a novel to be written about my name
Great post Mr. Clegg, and it just so happens I started reading Mischief yesterday evening…
Jul 17th, 2005
Matt Schwartz
Great essay Doug!
Jul 17th, 2005
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