Once an author chooses to publish their work there are a few more things to do before and after publication concerning how to market the material. There are numerous ways to market any manuscript but which strategy is the best?

The answer is not what you would expect. Any marketing strategy really depends on the amount of time or money an author wants to invest in promoting their work, how the work is or will be published, and what genre or category the work falls under. In retrospect, the best marketing strategy is the one that works best for the individual author and their individual work.

One marketing strategy that is really low to no cost is the use of social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc. Social media is one of the most powerful ways to share your work on your personal pages, which allows those on your ‘friends’ list to view and share the links to your work. While it is true that using social media for marketing is definitely an asset for any author, make sure to read the website's terms and conditions because some social media sites have many guidelines in place that will help you market your material effectively.

Another great marketing strategy that is low or no cost is the use of a blogging site such as Wordpress, Blogger, etc. The contrast between writing a blog and running a social media page is similar in many ways. For example: the author can write a short informative post about an upcoming book or event and share links to where their books can be found and purchased on either social media or a blogging website.

Using blogging as a marketing tool is somewhat different from social media in some very important ways that can give an author an advantage. Social media pages remain under the ownership of the website itself; an author cannot opt to purchase a separate domain that would be hosted by the original social media site.

A blogging platform such as Wordpress allows an author to purchase different levels and features. A free account would remain connected to the original blogging site but, once purchased, the author can remove the extended name and create their own domain name that is still hosted by the original blogging site. This also allows the user to add pages, taking the blog and making a website that helps promote their work.

There are also some websites that allow advertisements. Amazon KDP for example allows an author to promote their books via short advertisements. The author chooses the base amount and pays for the amount of clicks. The amount of people who purchase after the advertisement vary widely by many factors such as the quality of the advertisement and the correct placement of the ad by genre. This also involves using good keywords so that the ad is placed correctly across the website and connected.

Hiring someone to market your material is always another option that can very well be a good strategy for an author. Having a professional to create the ads and strategically place information about the author and their work across multiple platforms can definitely create a nice ‘buzz’ that can help with promotion.

All of this being said, genre plays a key role here. While advertisements and promotions over practically every genre is a great marketing strategy, an author of erotica will quickly discover that it is not that simple for their work. A lot of publishers and publishing platforms will allow an author to publish erotica, but the use of advertisements is understandably prohibited by most of them, including Amazon KDP. Make sure to read all terms and conditions prior to advertising to make sure its the right choice for the manuscript in question.

An author must know their target audience and build their marketing plan suitable for the amount of money they intend to spend, the genre of a manuscript and how the material will be published.