{What’s this post about in a nutshell? How to market your work if you’re a creative and/or an introvert and don’t feel comfortable promoting yourself.}

Let me guess.

If you’re a photographer, writer, illustrator, web designer, crafter, fine artist, interior designer, musician, or virtually any other kind of creative person who earns a living (or would like to) from your creative pursuits, you don’t feel entirely comfortable promoting yourself or your work.

Sure, you get that marketing and selling is necessary to make the wheels on the business bus go round and round, but you really wish you could just hire someone to do all that marketing and selling stuff for you, so you could stay in your creative cave and make stuff.

I get it.

But at the end of the day, we are each responsible for our own success, and the “build it and they will come” approach usually only works in the land of unicorns and rainbows.

Back in the real world, we have to create our own opportunities.

That said, as an introverted creative myself, I’ve found that creating a robust presence online is the best way to build buzz around your work and “promote” yourself and your services without feeling lower than a snake’s belly in a wagon rut, as we say here in the dirty South.

So I’ve rounded up some of the very best advice on doing just that to share with you here.

Behold, dozens of great ideas for building buzz around your work in a way that feels authentic and doable:

49 Creative Geniuses Who Use Blogging to Promote Their Art

In which Leanne Regalla, in a guest post on Boost Blog Traffic, poses (and answers) the question, “For today’s artist, building a tribe is non-negotiable. But how?”

If you’ve ever doubted that blogging could help you sell your creative products or services, this read is for you.

You’ll find inspiring examples of musicians, visual artists, illustrators, writers, actors, music producers, filmmakers and other creatives who used blogging to create a platform from which they consistently and successfully sell their ideas and their work.

Go check it out here:

49 Creative Geniuses Who Use Blogging to Promote Their Art 

Why Artists and Creatives Have an Unfair Advantage at Internet Marketing

If you still have doubts that creating your own robust home online can help you make a good living from your creative pursuits, then do yourself a favor and be sure to read this piece, in which Mark McGuinness, poet, coach and creative entrepreneur lays out the built-in advantages creatives have when it comes to marketing online. (With examples! And we do love us some examples ’round here.)

Love his truth-telling here: “Probably the biggest hurdle for many creative people is the very idea of putting yourself out there and selling things. You might worry that it feels like ‘selling out’. Or that it’s just plain scary. I’m afraid I can’t sugarcoat this bit: if you want to earn a living from your creative work, you need to learn how to sell.”

And that’s the truth, folks. But selling doesn’t have to be scary when you do it the way McGuinness recommends.

Learn more about the “unfair advantage” your creativity gives you when it comes to marketing and selling and how to put it into practice here:

Why Artists and Creatives Have an Unfair Advantage at Internet Marketing

Want To Sell More Art? Sell Yourself First.

I particularly loved this article because of its focus on something I talk about a lot on this blog and in my weekly newsletter: the absolute necessity of differentiating yourself online (or offline, if that’s how you do business) if you want to find your ideal clients and customers and achieve success as a creative business builder.

As the authors (successful creative business builders themselves) point out, one very effective and easy-to-implement way to do this is to share your story, and they outline their 5 element formula for sharing a captivating story that engages likely buyers.

And best of all, they include real! live! examples! of how it’s done.

Check it out the article here:

Want To Sell More Art? Sell Yourself First.

Effective marketing for introverts

Here successful writer, web designer, and all-around fabulous creative Paul Jarvis aptly notes that a lot of the knowledge out there on marketing and promotion is not geared to introverts, and shares his own effective self-promotion process.

I love that his advice is about playing to your natural strengths when it comes to promoting your work; it’s not about trying to force the kind of marketing you’re often told you “should” or “must” do, you know, even if it makes your skin crawl.

As he says, “As long as you’re sharing your work with other people—the right people—then you’re marketing. Because really, all marketing is, is communication. And even introverts know how to do that, even if it’s in small doses.”

Find out more here:

Effective marketing for introverts

The Introvert’s Guide to Book Marketing

In which book marketing expert Tim Grahl shares how introverts can become good at marketing. While he’s talking specifically to authors, the tenets here are adaptable to marketing any kind of creative product or service.

I love that Grahl focuses on mindset first. After all, we are responsible for creating our own success, and if your thinking tends to be of the “marketing is icky and slimy” variety, you’ve simply got to rid yourself of that mindset if you want to earn a good living from your creative pursuits.

As Grahl says, “Once you change your perspective from ‘marketing is tricking people into buying something they don’t want’ to ‘marketing is helping people connect with my meaningful work,’ it takes on an entirely different tone.”

Hear, hear! And read all about it here:

The Introvert’s Guide to Book Marketing

And there you have it. A boatload of great advice on marketing and selling for introverted creatives from writers who know whereof they speak.

Which of the strategies these writers share are you most excited to pursue? Let me know in the comments!