In our most recent "how can we help you?" thread, a reader writes:
I am an early-career philosopher who recently got published in a highly ranked journal. Given that I am pretty much unknown in the field, I wonder what would be some good ways to promote my publication?
Sharing on social media and posting a pre-print on PhilPapers are some obvious things I plan to do. I was also considering sending the paper directly to people in my field. However, I am not sure whether this is a good idea or it might backfire. In any case, I would be really glad to hear the thoughts of more experienced philosophers on this matter.
Interesting question! One reader submitted the following reply:
I would encourage you to send the paper to people, BUT only to those whose work you engage with in the paper. When someone I do not know sends me a paper on something I write on, but it does not engage my work, I wonder what they are up to. I am a busy person. I have enough to read. But I have send my work to people I have discussed, and it has been worth it.
I guess I'm a bit torn on this. On the one hand, I've had people send me papers of theirs, and I normally do take a look to see if the paper interests me. I also have sent people papers of mine on relatively rare occasions where we are working on similar stuff and I think they might find it interesting. On the other, I guess sending one's papers to a bunch of people seems to me a bit 'salesperson-ish', and I suppose I've always thought that the best way for one's work to get attention is to just keep publishing good stuff. Finally, though, I guess I doubt there is much risk in sending people your paper. At worst, some people might give you a subtle brush-off, as it were. So, I don't know. What do you all think?
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