As an author, it is your responsibility to promote your book regardless of whether it will be traditionally published or self-published. Although traditional publishers have dedicated promotions departments, you can significantly boost the visibility of your book by getting involved in the process of making your book more popular. The following are some steps you can take to make your book popular from the moment it hits the shelves or even before you release it.

Create a book pitch

As the author, nobody knows the book better than you. It is virtually impossible for any person to write a better book pitch than you. When you are halfway or almost done with your book, you should start working on your book pitch. This pitch will be used to arouse people’s interest in your upcoming book. When it is finally done, create book pitches 10, 30, and 60 seconds long. If a person asks about the book, give him/her the 10-second pitch. If the person shows more interest, give him a longer pitch. Your pitches should be well-rehearsed with your friends or publicist.

Building a website

By the time you are almost finishing a book, you should already have started creating a buzz about it. One of the things that you must have when you finally launch it is a website. This website should include a blog about your book, where you can post updates. You should also take comments and suggestions from your readers. These could become the basis for a sequel. By the time you launch your book, you should have already made the website popular in social media sites, dedicated readers’ websites, and even in offline book clubs. By creating anticipation for your book, you increase the chances of your book selling well from the get-go.

Get the book reviewed

Learn what friends and other trusted people think about the book long before you finish it. When the book is finished, give people some evaluation copies and ask them to give you reviews and blurbs. Also send review copies to well-known reviewers a few months before releasing the book in stores. By getting as many reviews as possible, you will increase buyers’ confidence when they buy the book after the launch.

Write articles

Find high quality magazines, e-Zines, and websites that frequently talk about the content of books. Find out how many of them discuss books with their audience. Contact them and offer to write articles that might interest their readers. This will lay a great foundation for you to introduce a full book because you will already have established credibility.

Get 20 Amazon reviews

Amazon is only an example in this case. You can get reviews in many other places that sell books both online and offline. Make sure that there are several reviews of your book in every selling point. These reviews should be a mixture of customer reviews and expert reviews.