Promoting Your Work

Here are some other ways you can promote your work:

• Social Media – Having a strong online presence is a great way to reach a wider audience and start marketing yourself as a writer. If you haven’t already, join Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube etc. This will also allow you to stay abreast of relevant events, competitions and programmes. Whether you are promoting your published work or yourself as a writer, social media is essential in order to engage with readers, other writers, publishers, agents etc. Creating a cohesive and professional account on platforms that you enjoy engaging in is essential to building a presence online – but don’t spread yourself too thin. Pick one or two that fit your skills best and dedicate your energy to those.
• Readers and reviewers – If you already have work published, engaging with reviewers and readers online can be a great way to get your book noticed. Even negative reviews, as long as they are honest, can increase your readership. Search for hashtags related to your genre or form, and fans of writers you would compare your own work to. These are the people who are passionate about reading and sharing what they are reading. They often have large audiences who are looking for new writers to read and support. 
• Have your own website – A website may be the most important tool for promoting your work. It is a great way to showcase your work, along with any awards you’ve received or events you have been involved in. As well as being a place where you can sell your work directly, it can also be a great place to bring an audience along on your journey as a writer. You can include a blog section where you talk about your writing or publishing process, as well as extracts from your work or reviews of books you are reading.
• Enter writing competitions and festivals – Winning awards and getting a bit of recognition for your work is a sure-fire way to broaden your audience. Keep an eye out for opportunities and competitions (find them on our website here).
• Apply for grants, bursaries, and residencies – We regularly advertise such opportunities here. These are great ways not only to get your creative juices flowing and get some work written, but also to add to your writer’s CV and experience. Each one adds to the other and can be used in all kinds of applications. Taking part in these shows that you are passionate about your work and about the art of writing.
•  Get creative – If you have any ideas for events you can collaborate on with bookshops or libraries, or even online trends or ideas that you can create that are relevant to your work, these can be fun and creative ways to get your name and your work out there. Anything that can tie your name professionally to writing that people want to read, is a positive. 
• Document your journey – Use your story and your journey to share with potential readers. Even if you are yet to publish anything, creating interest in your writing journey for potential readers or your writing peers can be a great way to create a readership for when you do publish. Filming videos of your writing progress, sharing pictures of where you work, or writing blogs on the highs and lows of writing, can break down the barrier between you and your audience, and create a connection that will naturally turn them into a faithful reader. 

The Irish Writers Centre promotes Irish writing and Irish writers indirectly by programming courses and events of all kinds around the country and abroad. We also promote the work of our Members through our regular Members’ Letter.