Writing, Marketing, and Introversion

All my life I kept calling myself shy, but I recently read this great book (see cover below) all about introverts and it made me realize that I'm not actually very shy, I'm just a serious introvert.

I can enjoy interaction with people, but it drains me of energy and I need alone time to recharge. So as a new author having to suddenly market my book, it struck me as funny how the majority of us have to fight against our very natures.

Many of us writers are introverts. One characteristic of many introverts is a dislike of 'small talk'. Yet this is precisely what we are told to do in marketing. We are not to bombard our followers with posts about our books! No, we must instead post most often about various interesting topics. To me what that means, especially on sites like Twitter, is small talk. It's the same on forums as well. We're not to pitch our books; rather we must make small talk with the other denizens and if we do so well enough some of them may decide we are likable enough and perhaps take a glance at our books.

In other words, almost all aspects of marketing today involve doing the very thing we introverts despise. No wonder I feel exhausted every day now!