Have A Marketing Plan

All writers should have some sort of marketing plan. Just like the outline, ths is going to be a roadmap to your writing just as your writing needs a roadmap so does your marketing. The same basic analogy applies: You're going to need to figure out what you can do, where you're going, and making sure you don't get lost. 

Because of that you need some sort of marketing plan. 

The same plan won't work for everybody. There's going to be a lot of people that suck at social media, for example; for these people they need to either learn how to use social media more effectively, or not use it. If all you're doing is posting and not posting links to your works, then you're not really using social media. For some people posting to a beta reading site works great because it allows them to generate some buzz. For them it works, while for someone who ws posting to the same site just to post may not find the same effect. 

The bottom line here is is that whatever you do has to work for you. You have to set it up specifically for you. But you need to have some sort of plan, you need to know where you're going. You need to know what you're doing. Above all, you have to have some idea of how you're going to accomplish it. Have a plan before you begin is always going to be your best bet as it gives you an idea how what you need to do and when you're going to do it; that knowledge helps guide you and keep you going. 

Here's something to consider: If you end up deciding to do go through some sort of marketing agency have them set up a marketing plans for you and make sure that you're helping every step of the way. There's a lot of stuff that you as a writer have to do in order to establish yourself as somebody that needs to be watched. Once you've done that, it's a lot easier to do any kind of marketing for yourself

Straight up: If you decide to go the anonymous route and you publish your stuff, you have to pray that somebody grabs it, but that just ain't going to happen. People need to know that your stuff is out there, and if you decide to not market it, they aren't going to know it's there. That virtually ensures that no one but you will read it.

You have to have an idea of how you're going to get to wherever it is you're trying to get to; if you have a book then you need to have a plan get it to the people who you know want to read it. So make sure you've got a plan, and make sure you stick to it.