How to Promote Yourself on RoleplayLives

Promoting yourself and your work is one of the most difficult, but most rewarding parts of roleplaying. After all, without writing partners and readers, where would we be?

Step 1:

Connect with everybody.

Everyone on the site is a potential reader and/or writing partner. Be sure to inbox them and say hi when you do follow them; some people get pissy about followers who never speak to them. There are those who complain about "friend collectors", but I consider it more like building an audience.

A good way to find active writers is to explore the feed daily. I follow people who write and people who comment on stuff, whom I consider active readers.

I also do searches and follow everybody in my fandom and any other fandom I know anything about that I might possibly want to do crossovers into. It takes time and it's tedious AF sometimes, but I think it helps. I also try to do a bit of networking with the followers of friends where applicable.

You can also join our Discord server to connect with other site members!

Step 2:

Make sure your author profile and character profiles have complete and engaging information.

It doesn't have to be overlong: you can always link to stories with more detail, but it does need to be a good sales pitch. Oftentimes, this is the sole piece of writing someone will see when determining whether or not they want to write with you. You need to sell them on not only your character(s), but your writing ability. Make your author profile reflect you and what kind of writing you're interested in so others can find you.

Three paragraphs should be plenty. Make it an overview primarily. Touch on the important points people need to know about you/your character. Save the really detailed stuff and timelines for a separate blog. It's a cheap tactic, but having a good quality, yet discreet, image in your profile makes it look more appealing. Link to all your headcanon, timeline, and thread trackers on your character profiles.

Your profile is your sales brochure: design both the content and the layout with that in mind. 

Step 3:

Write. A LOT.

Write bios, write vignettes, write long, write short. Banter, write one-shots, do funny little one-liners. You should always be writing, even if you don't have any current writing partners. It's all about the writing. If you're not up on any RPs or don't have any on that character, use that time to work on your promotional material! The more examples of your work people can see, the more they are going to get a feel for what kind of writer you are. A reasonable volume of work says you are dedicated to the craft and stable enough to focus on it regularly.

Write well. Use spellcheck. Use paragraphs. Punctuate correctly. Your work is your showcase. Make it as flawless as possible.

Not feeling inspired? Go LOOK for inspiration instead of waiting for it to fall on you like manna from the heavens. Read fanfics, watch films or television or videos, re-read some of your old stuff, do image searches, try starter prompts, fill requests, or other sorts of writing challenges to flex your abilities. Inspiration is everywhere, if you're looking for it.

Step 4:

Post publicly.

Private blogs are great for practice, but if you are trying to build a readership and attract more writing partners, you need to be publishing things publicly. I ONLY do public writing as a general policy. It makes sharing and promoting much easier because there are no permissions issues for people who might not be mutual friends of those sharing the work.

Step 5:

Keep an index of RPs and Bio/Headcanon blogs. Break RPs out into main storyline and AUs to make it easier for readers to follow

NON-RP BLOGS

Be sure to include your personal rules/policies (if applicable), as well as biographical/background info, headcanons, and any meta or analysis.

RP BLOGS

Break out the listings into main storyline and others. If you have specific AUverses, you can break these out separately as well.

Keep this listing clean and up to date. Link it on your info page. Give it to new friends interested in reading your work.

Step 6:

Cross reference your own work.

In everything you publish, if it references other events about which you've also written, link the reader to that material as well. Any blog you continue, be sure to add a "continued from" link to the new blog, and a "continued at" link in the old blog. Make it easy for people to navigate through the body of your work and your storylines.

Republish post banters as stories, and link back to the original post. Be sure to get permission of everyone involved for this first, though.

Step 7:

Tag everything.

Things to tag in stories:

• Your character's name
• Other characters involved
• Any ships involved
• Any warnings or ratings
• RP category or theme
• Relevant keywords

And then I usually use a couple tags just for something humorous and eye catching.

These tags will help other people find your work in a search. If they can't find it, they can't read it.

Step 8:

Use catchy titles and summaries that hook the reader.

You know how, when you're in the book store, and something grabs your attention? All published works are carefully crafted to do that to their target audience. It is a combination of the cover art, the title, even the author's name. And then what is the first thing you do when you pick up the book? You read the summary, right?

Your writing for RPs shouldn't be any different than marketing a novel. Use catchy titles that are related to the story, not just word salad for the sake of looking good or sounding cool. Write your summaries not like a book review in school, but like a marketing piece from a book dust jacket. Sell the story in about three or four sentences. Let the reader know why they should be interested in reading your work.

GOOD

Title: "Closed RP between Jack and Jill"

Summary: Jack and Jill go to a bar after work.

BETTER

Title: "The Uphill Climb - Closed RP - Jack & Jill"

Summary: Jack likes to move fast. Jill is more the cautious sort. Working on this project together has really highlighted both their commonalities and their differences. They're both making the same climb up the corporate ladder - can a few drinks and some conversation make that ascent easier, or will it just lead to them both taking a tumble?

Step 9:

Promote and re-promote your work regularly, both ongoing RPs and completed ones.

Use excerpts from the RPs themselves in the post so people can see your writing without having to actually click through to read the whole blog. Sometimes lengthy things can be a bit intimidating. Use summaries and categories when you promote so people know what they are looking at. Use pictures when appropriate - it helps sometimes, but isn't critical if your writing is good quality. The excerpts should be a few paragraphs, taken from some point in the RP where a casual reader can at least get the gist of what is going on. Pick work you are proud of and want to show off. Be sure to get permission from other writers before using any of their work in your promos unless it's a regular share.

Times to think of promoting or re-promoting:

• You just started a new chapter in the main storyline
• Introducing a new AU
• Introducing a new character
• Finishing an RP
• Some new work is relevant to some of your older work
• You haven't published anything new in awhile and just want people to know you're still alive
• You're particularly proud of something

You want to strike a balance between keeping your work fresh in people's minds and overload. Too much re-promotion looks like you don't have any new material, so always note if a re-promo is linked to new work. Be judicious, don't spam.

In your stories and promo posts, invite people to follow you and explain to them how to do so.

Be courteous. Always tag your co-authors for the piece when you promote/re-promo. Now is a great time to ask for a cross promo from them as well.

Step 10:

Solicit cross promotions/shares from writing partners and friends.

Ask people to share your stuff. If they like your post or comment on your work, ask them if they'd be willing to share it with their followers with a brief comment of their own about the piece. Most people are really nice about this. Be sure to return the favor if they ask.

Step 11:

Advertise strategically.

Don't post the same thing into the main feed day after day - advertise yourself strategically. Pitch a specific idea in your post, not just 'looking to rp, need friends'. That looks lazy and doesn't give anyone any idea why they should choose you to write with. Give a brief, one sentence introduction of yourself/your character, then direct people to your existing work, your bio and headcanons, your profile.

Be positive. If you aren't excited about your own character and your writing, how is anyone else going to be?

Watch out for catchphrases and over-used terminology in your post. The idea is to not sound like everyone else.

Do not just paste in a big ole writing sample with no context or anything. Take the time to write up a short blurb and then direct people to your writing samples in stories and such.

DON'T

Literate CharacterName here, follow me if you wanna rp. I don't know if I'm any good, but I'll give it a shot if anyone is interested.

DO

Long time writer of CharacterName, [brief character description], seeking others for plot involving [basic plot outline here]. Will consider crossovers and AUs. Follow and PM if interested in this or other plots. Check out full bio, links to headcanon and writing samples below:

[links]

Step 12:

Support other writers.

Read other people's work. Click a reaction if you liked their stuff. Leave a comment, if appropriate, with a few words saying what you liked about the piece. I don't know a single author who doesn't love even the simplest of positive feedback. If you don't feel comfortable leaving a comment in public, or it's not appropriate to do so for some other reason (ongoing RPs, for example), drop the author a note in Inbox. Invite others to do the same with your work.

GOOD

//Awesome! Really enjoyed that

BETTER

//Awesome! Especially enjoyed your use of humor after tense scenes.

Step 13:

Don't undermine your own hard work.

It may seem obvious, but don't shoot yourself in the foot after putting this much effort into promoting yourself, your writing and your character. There are certain behaviors that, despite good quality writing otherwise, make people unattractive as potential writing partners. Don't sink your chances with new people by posting a lot of OOC whining or irrelevant chatter, spamming up the feed with dozens of photos of your faceclaim, vaguebooking, or passive-aggressive comments about how "quiet" things are.

Behind the scenes, in Inbox with people, don't be a dick. Don't press people for personal information, don't nag them about replies, don't volunteer a bunch of your own personal info or problems. Don't PM people with just "yo" or "hey". Inbox may or may not be used for roleplay - many people do not respond to PMs in character. It's best to check either their published rules/terms for that information or simply ask.

Basically, my theory is this:

If I don't have the quantity or quality of RPs I desire, then it's nobody fault but my own. I can't blame other people for what is ultimately my responsibility. If I'm not happy with things, then I need to come up with a solution, I need to try harder. It's not self-effacing; it's self-empowerment. I believe that if I work at it, then I can get what I want. It's not an accident or a stroke of luck. Anybody can do this with the right effort applied. I hope anyone who is struggling finds these thoughts useful and encouraging.

[ Originally published by @Loki Silvertongue at: https://new.roleplaylives.net/read.cfm?itemType=story&itemID=12445 ]