How to write like a Pirate, Get readers, and other inspirational crap

Know you Audience. Covers, Tags, and Descriptions.

RP's or commission-based works. These can be good if you already have a community or are a part of a reliable one. But if you are just starting out and have no friends, don't expect to get a lot of(any) traction from strangers who haven't had any of your work to sample. More often than not, people want their favorite authors to write for them, not perfect strangers. (who might be very bad, how can you reasonably prove you're worth talking to if you haven't posted anything yet?)

Contests. This goes back to already having a community and people wanting things from their favorite authors, but there is a place for people who are just competitive. Make sure that if you are running contests you KNOW people who are going to enter them. The bigger and more reliable the community the better. And without a big enough community these can really flop. And come through with the prizes if you're handing them out.

Anything taboo. Look, there is a market for the unorthodox, but know that choosing one of those things means you have to be more resilient to haters. I won't list the taboo things out there, you know what you are writing. You have to market these ones more carefully toward your specific audience, but they can be successful in their Niche. But as a Niche story, don't expect it to be the next Harry Potter.

Mature rating. Yes, if your book is mature you should label it this way. And be as 'vaguely specific' as possible. Be aware of the differences between Explicit, suggestive, smut, romance, lemon, etc... and describing every veiny juicy detail vs alluding to being naked. Being naked isn't a crime in a novel, but whether or not you could read it in front of your grandma or a class of kindergarteners is a good start for benchmarks to think about. Here is the thing, there is plenty of badly written smut on 抖阴社区, whatever. But don't think being explicit makes you a better writer, if your story can swim without it, than let it. Sex has a place in romance novels, but don't write a token smutty scene out of nowhere because you think it makes you an edgy daring author. But that isn't all; bullying, racism, mature topics, sex/drug trafficking, gore, deviant behavior, disturbing imagery. These are things to think about. Remember the Mature ratings (even if it doesn't always work this way) are designed to keep little kids as innocent and protected as much as possible. Don't be a smartass. The fact is, that mature ratings can work in your favor too. Especially if you want that audience, it helps your story get to them, so hiding it is pretty dumb.

Reader reviews. I actually love these but not so much that they replace explaining what the book is about part of the description. I want to know what people thought or think of the book. That's me. But "it was the best book ever" reviews are tacky when you could have "I loved (Name), the way their character unfolded as the story went on was awesome. I didn't like them at first, but after (event) I really saw where they were coming from." Pick your reviews carefully and don't crowd your description with more than two or three.

Fanfictions. Here me out. If you have a fanfiction, you have an audience. Don't hide the main characters, and if it's a self-insert at least name the character(s) they are spending the most time around and why.

Bi/homo couplings. I'll expound on this later but if it's a gay book, then make it clear. You have an audience! Sell to them! If you aren't, then you are just doing yourself a disservice. Nobody should cite your book as the one that scarred them. If they aren't part of the main or secondary cast then it's not explicitly important, but if the main couple are gay/les/bi/other don't hide it.

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Tags

In order to sell yourself you have to be found. One key player is consistent updates like mentioned before, another way to garner attention is to become part of a community. But one of the most obvious ways to get your story into the right hands is in using effective tags. I have a lot of pet peeves in this area, but I'll try to remain as helpful as possible.