Rethinking the unbearable weight of self-promotion

I find myself tapping into Tyler’s fire constantly. Promotion isn’t a chore. It’s a gift. A chance for us to celebrate the effort we and others put into our work. We shouldn’t shy away from it or treat it like a burden. Relish it as an opportunity to honor something we worked hard to make that we believe in.

It’s also about promoting creatively. It’... See more

But as the rapper Tyler, the Creator notes in an interview that lives rent-free in my head, promoting our work doesn’t have to be a chore — it’s an opportunity for us to honor what we worked so hard to make:

Self-promotion makes me uncomfortable.

Maybe because I (read: most women) am not really great at it?

Or because I never want to sound sales-y.

Or because with software, it's always easier to justify tossing in one more feature than exposing our work to criticism.

the best way to let others know about your work is to get rid of the word ‘promote’ altogether - it just isn’t a good fit for what creative people do. Instead, I like to tell people what my work is about, and let them make up their own minds.

Posting can be fun, entertaining, and even enlightening. But when we want to share a creative act we went deep into the void to create, we owe our work more than a post. We owe it a RELEASE.

A RELEASE is a richer and deeper expression of an idea. A release is not just the work, it’s anticipating the work. There’s an invitation to become part of it i... See more