Whether you have an agent or not, marketing yourself as an author is a necessary task if you want to get word out about something you've written. If you have an effective marketing plan it can help you increase your sales dramatically. Marketing techniques don't have to be expensive and they don't have to take up all of your time either. Here are some quick ways to market yourself as an author.

1.   Create a Personal Blog or Website. If you're an author you should definitely have your own website or blog. This is a great place for readers to find out more about you and what you have coming up. Be sure to post updates about upcoming releases or projects that you're working on. This helps to create buzz so that when your product is readily available people will know that it exists. This can net you a high number of sales even on the very first day of release.
   

2.   Dive into Social Media. Social media is a very effective way of marketing because millions of people use social networking sites on a daily basis. At the very least, try to set up an author page on Facebook and profiles on Linked In and Twitter. Regularly post photos, updates and communicate with your followers.
   

3.   Create Profiles on Book Sites. There are several book sites online. Two of the more popular ones are GoodReads and WeRead. You can create profiles on these sites and share your favorite books and even post about books that you've written. This is a great way to market yourself since both of these sites are filled with other authors and readers as well. It may even help you get ideas for an upcoming project.
   

4.   Video Marketing via YouTube. Video marketing is on the rise and many people market via YouTube because it's very effective. When you have videos of yourself online it helps other people get to know you. You can talk about anything you'd like. It's a great way to promote yourself and articles, books or magazine clips that you've written.
   

5.   Participate in Online Forums. Online forums are another effective way to market yourself as an author. There are a couple of things you can do. First, you can sign up and contribute to forums that have to do with writing. This can help you network with other authors and let other authors get to know you. Secondly, you should try to find forums that relate to the project that you're promoting. For instance if you have written a book about dog training, you should frequent dog training forums regularly and help answer questions that people have about dog training. They will see you as an expert on the subject.
   

All of these marketing ideas are rather quick to implement and you could even start implementing them right now. If your marketing is effective and you market yourself regularly you will make more sales.