For many writers - myself included - self-promotion is a necessary evil. In the fiction world, publishers won't spend a nickel to help sell the book you wrote -- unless you happen to be Stephen King or Charlaine Harris -- so it falls to the author to promote his or her work. It's kind of a catch-22; Publishers won't help sell someone without a track record, and you can't get a track record without selling your work. Hence, the popularity of self-publishing.
But for many writers, self-promotion is painful and ugly: for many, it amounts to cruel and unusual punishment. So many writers I know are socially shy and uncomfortable in the spotlight, and it stands to reason that being forced to be outgoing and upbeat all the time when working to sell yourself and your book would be exhausting. I myself am unafraid of public speaking: working for years giving the...

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