Are All Writers Introverts? ~ and ~ Can An Introvert Do Book Promotion?

First, let’s clear up a misconception—introverts are shy.

Not true—introverts gain energy from the “Inside” and many an introvert can function out-front, as long as the environment doesn’t hamper their ability to access their inner self.

Perhaps I should give a few more indicators of what extroversion and introversion are (from Wikipedia):

Extroversion: “the act, state, or habit of being predominantly concerned with and obtaining gratification from what is outside the self”

Introversion: “the state of or tendency toward being wholly or predominantly concerned with and interested in one’s own mental life”

And! Ambiversion: “Although many people view being introverted or extroverted as a question with only two possible answers, most contemporary trait theories measure levels of extraversion-introversion as part of a single, continuous dimension of personality, with some scores near one end, and others near the half-way mark.”

So far, it seems a writer could be any of these three personality types—or, any of the infinite specific mixtures of Intro & Extro that exist in our human Family…

Obviously, a writer’s basic psychological leanings would greatly affect the way they go about being a writer—their research style, the way they organize the writing, and their approach to publishing (and, promotion…).

Ah, book promotion…

Well, another clarification must be made:

The current, mostly world-wide, Culture is highly “extroverted”, which can pose incredible challenges for true introverts…

Sometimes, a gross generalization can throw a bit of light on an issue.

Gross Generalization >>> Introverted writers can’t promote—Extroverted writers have an advantage in our current Culture.

The first part of that generalization is blown-away by this CopyBlogger article: 5 Ways an Introvert Can Build a Thriving Online Audience.

The second part of that generalization depends on one’s definition of “advantage”…

Mini-Story >>> Once upon some time or other there was an extroverted writer. They read a lot in crowded coffee shops, took many notes about the details of their social life, conceived a book called How To Write A Bestseller, and wrote said book…

They amassed 50,000 Facebook friends and began a loud pre-launch conversation, paid $5,000 dollars to have the book published, nearly bullied the local bookstores into showcasing the book, and secured the services of a prominent copywriter to develop a national PR campaign…

They sold 100,000 copies of the book, broke-even financially, and disappeared from the social radar—End of Story.

Sure, I grossly exaggerated the extroversion but, in truth, came very close to describing actual examples in the current Book World.

Our Culture, in its commercial apparatus is mostly “extroverted” but, remember, many supposed extroverts are only acting like extroverts…

And, many readers are introverts and can smell a fake extrovert from miles away :-)

So, if you’re still reading this post, you may be wondering where you fall on the introversion-extroversion-spectrum.

Take this survey…

There are three additional psychological dimensions scored in that survey and the Site (through the link at “Self-Awareness And Personal Growth”) gives an adequate explanation of their importance.

And, for those readers who like to know more about the author of a blog, here are my scores:

INFJ

Introvert (67%)  iNtuitive (88%) Feeling (38%)  Judging (11%)

• You have distinctive preference of Introversion over Extraversion (67%)
• You have strong preference of Intuition over Sensing (88%)
• You have moderate preference of Feeling over Thinking (38%)
• You have slight preference of Judging over Perceiving (11%)

So, if this particular blog post doesn’t seem to have a simple, direct approach to writers and their psychology, I can blame it on my introversion :-)

I leave you with a fascinating video:

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