People often ask me why I don't use shaving cream when I shave. 'Why do you think?' I respond. 'And what's that got to do with writing?'

'Who said anything about writing?' they respond in turn. 'Don't you cut yourself all the time?'

'Not really. I just don't get shaving cream. It doesn't do anything. All it does it clog up my razor.'

Anyway, I think my point is perfectly clear. If you want to promote yourself as a writer, you have to explore as many different opportunities as you can. But there is something very important to do first. Something that must be done before you go out and blog your pants off or call the newspapers.

You have to write something good.

Better than writing something good is writing several things which are good. Because, let's face it, if you don't have some awesome written goods up your sleeves, what's the point of promoting yourself?

Write something good first, then promote your writing.

Rather than general advice, what I might do is a quick case study on myself, because aside from having personal experience with myself (lots of it, too), it is my cheap and cynical way of promoting myself.

Ugh.

Firstly, I wrote for 7 years before really trying to get a profile. In that time I completed 5 novels and about 20 plays, one of which won a nationwide competition and was produced for a full season. This is a good basis to start on, because there is something worth promoting to promote.

When I recently decided to publish the best of my novels, it turned from art/pleasure to business/business. Selling a book is not a creative endeavour - it's a business decision. I'm admittedly doing it to build a profile and not to make a fortune, but I don't want to lose my life savings so I'm doing it properly.

Establish why you want to promote yourself. Do you want to make money, or get a larger audience? Let's assume it's the former, because that incorporates the latter.

The first thing I did when I decided to publish my novel Eyes And Knives was build myself a website. Google Sites allows you to build free websites with 1GB of content, so check that out. My site is a good example as it's neat, clutter-free, and well-organised: www.petemalicki.com.

I posted a bunch of short stories, poems, plays, articles and novel excerpts on the site, all available from the downloads section. If someone ends up at the site, they might read something there, and if they like it they might read something else and so on.

There's also a regularly-updated blog which has at least a few people coming back to read. I try to keep the content interesting and full of unique language that people wouldn't find anywhere else in the world, with compelling words like 'fuck' and 'fucker.'

Then, to get traffic to my spanking new website, I ran an art competition to design the cover of my book. I got some awesome entries (all posted on the site) and a fantastically relevant and interesting front cover! It also attracted 1000 visitors.

Point is, build a website. It's a great central place to send people who are interested in your material.

When promoting your writing or your website, try to avoid being a wanker. This article I'm writing makes me feel slightly dirty, and is the wankiest thing I've done to date, but I figured that since Xomba's users have enjoyed my stretching/posture/computer-use articles, they might appreciate my advice on a different area. Try to find an audience who is interested in your writing and don't go on a spamming spree, as the world has already been spammed enough.

My next job was to start a publishing company, Helm Publishing. This allows me to trade and to sell my book, and I am officially the director of a publishing house. It also allows me to do things like run formal competitions (legally) and attracts a higher level of street cred than simply operating as a sole trader. I can also publish other stuff in the future.

I had a play staged a couple of weeks ago, and this was pretext to contact local journalists and get media. One story can spark interest from other media outlets, and I subsequently have radio and other newspapers interested in stories. I filmed the play and stuck it on YouTube, and posted the script on my site.

Recorded an audio recording of 15pp of my novel.

Joined relevant writing websites such as this one, and several forums, and became an active user. I didn't do this purely to post promotional crap (which would be spamming), but to interact with other writers and people and do something positive. Those who join websites purely to advertise are generally hated for the cheap cynics that they are.

Am volunteering at a theatre company and meeting plenty of great people, some of whom are interested in my writing. Things like this are great, because not only do you help the theatre, but you can socialise and meet great like-minded folk and any promotion you might squeeze out becomes secondary.

There are plenty of business directories or free promotional sites if that suits your content. If you're selling something, search for 'free advertising' rather than something more specific. You'll find dozens of sites which will post an ad with a website link for free (which will help your site rank higher).

I think the biggest advice I can give someone who's trying to become successful as a writer is this: be patient, don't expect much money, don't hold your breath. Making a living from writing (other than journalism) is hard, hard work. Statistically speaking, you won't succeed. You need to have something worth showing off first, then you need to find ways of getting it out there.

If you're starting out and want to build a name for yourself, enter competitions. Publishers don't care how many blogs you blog on, they care how much you can sell. Show them that you have the talent.

On a side note, if you're hoping to make a living off things like Google Adwords, don't hold your breath. It's very tough. With two articles which were the highest rated for the week on this website, I have still only made $3.68 to date. That kinda sucks...

Good luck to anyone trying to make it as a writer. If you want to make a living out of it, then acknowledge the business side of things. Very few writers get published and even fewer of them get published easily.

And remember, always start and finish with a joke, no matter how inappropriate or stupid it is. Insult your readers too. Deep down they love it.

Pete is the author of Eyes And Knives and is the director of an Australian publishing company, Helm Publishing. He also thinks you smell and should bathe more often.

http://www.petemalicki.com

Check out his other Xomba articles, including one on how to write badly: http://www.xomba.com/user/petemalicki