People always ask me how to promote and market their books – and I get it, promoting yourself can be hard (especially if you’re introverted like me).
When I first started writing erotica, I honestly didn’t have a solid marketing plan. But it worked out fine in the end.
To be honest, a solid marketing plan isn’t what most people think it is.
You don’t need to do anything crazy like hire a publishing firm to market your books or hire a social media guru to do anything insane.
In fact, my promotion strategy is pretty simple, especially for my newest pen name.
But don’t worry because today I’m going to share some easy marketing strategies for erotica authors!
1. Social media
Social media is pretty self explanatory. Most erotica authors like to promote their books through Twitter or Facebook.
I think those are the best platforms to promote your books.
Twitter is nice because you can use relevant hashtags to target your audience and announce new launches or sales promotions.
Facebook is also a good platform because you can reach so many people. Just make sure to keep your author page updated so people know what’s going on.
The other added benefit of using social media is you can also use affiliate links to earn some extra money on the side when linking to your books.
Yes, you can earn Amazon Associates affiliate commissions on your own ebooks!
The downside to social media marketing is that I have found that it takes a lot of time – more time then I’m typically willing to give.
In general I have found that social media takes a lot of time. You have to create a bunch of content and continually post.
However, it has worked very well for some authors.
2. Email list – To Promote Books
They say the best kind of marketing is the free kind!
And email marketing (through your email list) is pretty cheap – in fact, MailChimp offers a free plan if you have less than 2,000 subscribers.
And if you have more than 2,000 subscribers, well then you’re doing pretty well and can obviously pay for a paid MailChimp plan!
The thing about email marketing is you’re targeting people who are already interested in what you have to offer…otherwise they wouldn’t sign up in the first place!
Email marketing is great when you are launching a book because you can create a lot of momentum.
3. Keywords!
In my experience, keywords is the best kind of marketing to make money selling erotica.
Even with big name authors, I would say most of their traffic and earnings is coming from organic purchases.
What do I mean by that?
I mean most of their purchases are from people searching for books on Amazon and then coming across one that the author wrote.
So why are keywords so important?
It’s because they are free!
And free marketing is the best kind!
As a result, you should spend a decent amount of time researching and testing keywords. Trust me, the time is very well spent.
If no can find your books in the Amazon search results, you won’t sell many copies NO MATTER how great your story is.
If you can show up on the first page of Amazon’s search results, your book will do very well.
And if you want help with your keywords, check out my Keyword Templates.
These are keywords in various niches that I personally researched and tested.
4. Website To Market Your Erotica
These days, a website isn’t necessary to be a successful erotic author.
However it doesn’t hurt to have one.
A website is great for several reasons. First, it’s just another way for potential customers to find you.
You would be surprised how many people Google search their favorite authors.
So if you pop up in a Google search result, people will visit your website and learn more about your pen name.
The more avenues you have for people to stumble upon you, the better.
Second, it builds legitimacy. I know it sounds weird, but it really does.
Big authors like JK Rowling have websites so why shouldn’t you?
Finally, a website can be a place where you promote your own books and drive traffic.
P.S. I love using Bluehost to create my websites.
Marketing Strategies for Erotica: Final Thoughts
Overall, promoting your pen name can be hard for first timers – but it’s important to have some kind of marketing game plan for your pen name(s).
Hopefully these erotica promotion and marketing strategy ideas helped you and you can develop a plan that works for you.
Most of these strategies won’t take up too much of your time and doesn’t involving anything to “salesy.”