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I suppose writers could all be like Emily Dickinson and write their books and then shove them in a drawer forever. More likely, though, you do want people to read your work, and that means you have to promote.
There was a bit on the original Bob Newhart Show where Bob, a psychiatrist, was treating a shy door-to-door salesman who would go up to people's doors and, too shy to knock, would just wait for them to come out.
Writing a book and not letting people know it's out there is like being that shy salesman. You gotta knock on those doors.
Non-fiction writers have it easier. They can talk about the subject of their book and not seem to be pushing their book every time they open their mouth. They can do interviews about the subject, give lectures, the whole works.
Fiction writers have a problem: Talking about their book always involves talking about the process, what gave them the idea, what inspired certain characters, etc. I couldn't go on the radio and say, "Well, Oprah, the problem a lot of people face when their loved ones come back from the dead is...."
MobileRead makes it easy to ignore certain book promotions or to ignore all of them if you want. I enter the Author Promo forum kind of expecting a guys-in-plaid-suits-and-white-belts atmosphere.
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