Is there such a thing as over-selling yourself?

I think i've touched on this topic before but since it is an issue that has to do with me and a lot of my arty type friends, i think it should be straddled again. It's come to my attention that marketing is basically everything. Everything is a business proposal. Asking for a raise, asking to be driven to the station, inviting a prospective friend out. I know that sounds intense but it's true. A lot of life is just basically getting the world to do what you want and making an offer that is... too good to pass up. As writers or artists or whatever, we are basically walking businesses. There's about a million other people who do the same thing as we do ( probably for cheaper too ) and we're up against them all the time. So naturally, we're kind of a bit keen to sell ourselves 'over' these competitors.

Can we over-do the selling? The selling of ourselves? The short answer is, yes. I think that there are times where i've overstepped the mark especially in tall-poppy australia where showing eagerness to excel and win is seen as being a wanker. Maybe i update too frequently on Facebook with these updates from my blog. I'm sure i've annoyed people with my self-promotion. So where should we draw the line with the 'selling'? We should draw the line when we're pissing people off. But this hard to notice since people aren't upfront with their emotions and feelings. You just have to do what you think is the best idea, objectively. For me, i have plugged my blog at some inappropriate times and i don't get shy about it. I'm not at that stage where i can be graceful about what i do. I am not well known enough to not promote myself. When you become Meryl streep, that's when you can shut up and let the offers come to you. Right now, there's so much hustling to be done. But don't get me wrong, i know that there is an image of the self-promoter as being this desperate, clingy and annoying individual who doesn't know when to shut up.

People who push their 'wares' are torn between getting their product out there as well as remaining socially elegant, discreet. You have to side with one over the other. You have to decide which one is more important. The growth of your 'wares' or social graces. This doesn't mean you have to be totally extreme about it. It just means you have to be prepared to be judged on what you do.