Great post. I've been thinking about this topic lately, because as a writer/online business owner I've recently had to "step up" my online presence. Whenever I do something to promote myself, there's always this awkward, scared feeling... like what I'm doing is risky because saying nice things about myself could reflect poorly on my character, or make me look like I have an ego. I've been told that I'm making others I know "look bad" when I list my qualifications, and I should talk less about my work. At the same time, I'm told that I have to be confident and convince people that my work is worth buying.

At some point, I just decided to consider self-promotion something that I have to do, no matter how awkward it feels. I love my work enough that it's worth risking the negative responses I get. I'm certainly not "shameless" about promoting myself, but posts like this make me more stubborn about it!