Painless Self-Promotion: Confidence by Debbie Gonzales

Confidence: When a Disaster Becomes a Directive

Self-promotion isn’t for the faint-hearted, that’s for sure. Not only does the task seem overwhelming −  what with blogs and vlogs, e-newsletters and Instagram, podcasts and Pinterest − it’s scary to put oneself out there! Truth be told, none of us are experts in this field. We’re all stubbing our toes while learning about this stuff. Each of us have strengths to build upon and challenges to conquer. There will be times that our confidence will flounder. Let me tell you of a time that mine fell flat.

Believe it or not, public speaking gives me the heebie-jeebies. I get a weird, putty-like blockage in the base of my throat just thinking about it. Yet, we all know to succeed in this book business, one must befriend the microphone. There’s no way around it. So, rather than shy away from the podium, I jump at the chance to speak. And when I do, I over-prepare by practicing until I’ve got the message down pat. However, there once was a time when preparation did not pay off and my presentation literally left me with a raging case of PTSD.

If something could go wrong during that nightmare of a presentation, it did. Tech trouble. Scheduling snafus. Awkward podium arrangement. No connection with the audience. My voice locked up. When I finally regained to ability to speak, I rushed the presentation so much that I was done twenty minutes early! All of this in front of a crowd of close to two hundred people. I was utterly humiliated. The disaster left me two options – quit or try again. I chose the latter.

You see, we all have aspects of this self-promotion platform-building that feels awkward and uncomfortable. I want to encourage you to lean into those areas. If I can do it, you can, too. When my spirit was damaged, I relied on my SCBWI-MI family to build me back up. I reached out to several of the Shop Talk leaders and volunteered to do a talk about the book publicity work I was engaged in at that time. They didn’t know that I was actively licking my public-speaking-disaster wounds. And, guess what? The presentations went well. Now, you must grab a hook to get me off the stage!

Friends, if you desire to establish or raise your visibility, start with your SCBWI community.

• Volunteer to write an article for The Mitten.
• Put together a presentation for your local Shop Talk meeting.
• Post shout-outs about good things that are happening within SCBWI-MI on social media.
• Share announcements and posts from the chapter’s Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts. 
• Respond to messages posted on the chapter’s listserv.

Doing so will not only help to make your name more recognizable within the community, you’ll gain confidence every time you do.

Who knows… We might need to use a hook to get you off the stage, too.

Debbie Gonzales is a career educator, curriculum consultant, former school administrator and adjunct professor, and once served as the SCBWI RA for the Austin Chapter.  She's the author of six “transitional” readers for New Zealand publisher, Giltedge, and the forthcoming non-fiction picture book Girls with Guts: The Road to Breaking Barriers and Bashing Records (Charlesbridge, 2019). Deb creates teacher guides for new releases and is the host of The Debcast, a podcast dedicated to the tenacious spirit of the female athlete. Deb earned her MFA in writing for children and young adults from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. Subscribe to her podcast on iTunes and/or stop by www.debbiegonzales.com or www.guidesbydeb.com to check out her painlessly promotable content.

Coming up on the Mitten Blog: a Book Birthday, a Writer Spotlight, and a break for the holidays! But first, here's an important message from our SCBWI-MI Mentorship Coordinator, Ann Finkelstein:

Attention Picture Book Writers!

SCBWI-MI is happy to help you with your New Year’s Resolutions.

Resolution 1: Figure out your membership status. (so easy)

If you are pre-published, you are an associate member.

If you are published, it depends on the publisher.

If your publisher is on this list of traditional publishers, you are a PAL member.

If your publisher is not on that list, you are a full member.

To check your official membership status, go to www.scbwi.org and click the Member Search box at the top right hand corner. Enter your name to look yourself up. If your listed membership status is not correct, contact SCBWI by email and explain the situation.

Resolution 2: Finish and polish your favorite picture book text. (significantly harder)

Remember we’re setting a limit of 600 words. We did this to save wear and tear on our super-secret, superstar judges and to increase your chances of publishing the manuscript.

Resolution 3: Apply for one of the SCBWI-MI Novel Mentorships (super easy)

The submission window for the PAL mentorship with Kelly DiPucchio is April 1-22, 2019.

The submission window for the non-PAL mentorship with Lisa Wheeler is June 3-24, 2019.

For additional information go to the SCBWI-MI website mentorship page. Click on  the submission instructions link to download a pdf of detailed instructions.

Make sure you apply for the correct mentorship! SCBWI-MI can do wondrous things, but we cannot yet turn back time – if you miss your submission window.

We will accept 30 applications for each mentorship, so don’t wait until the last minute to apply.

For questions, contact SCBWI-MI Mentorship Coordinator, Ann Finkelstein.


Last but not least, the SCBWI-MI Merry Mitten events wrap up this weekend at Pages Bookshop in Detroit: