Think about commercial products that you have seen advertised, using celebrities to endorse them. This is called Influencer Marketing and it's all about convincing another person to use their credibility to sell your product – provided they have enough of an audience. Your message will get seen by more people and, because the messenger is a trusted person, that audience will likely respond positively.

So, how do you, as an author, get these influencer endorsements? How are you going to convince them that they should share your book with their audience? This might sound stupid but, most of the time, all you need to do is ask. Send an email, drop them a tweet or private message them and ask for their help. Some will say no, but it is actually the best way to grow your audience online.

Don’t think an influencer has to be a big-name celebrity either. You can use reviewers, website editors, bloggers, all sorts, so long as you go for the big names. Not only do you get your book advertised wider than you could ever dream, you also make a new and influential friend.

So, think hard about some of the online names that could share your book with their audience. Start with blogs, with websites that you use or are subscribed to. If you like these places, there’s a pretty good chance that their readers are going to be what you are looking for. Let’s say that you write steampunk. Target the steampunk blogs or the forums. In short, reach out to the largest number of people that you can – your work goes further that way.

You could also try approaching other authors in the same genre. Some of them are more than willing to help out a beginner; if they won’t endorse your book, at the very least you could ask them for advice on marketing.

You might think it very rude to get in touch with a complete stranger to ask for their help, but influencers are usually more than happy to at least talk to fans and point them in the right direction, tell them where to go next to develop their audience and promote their book. Turn things around – if you were in their shoes and someone asked you for help, would you turn them away, knowing how hard it was to get to a certain stage?

All that said, don’t reach out to just anyone. Only choose those who have the audience that your book is aimed at. For example, if your genre is comedy or chick lit, then it's no good reaching out to bloggers who specialize in horror or crime dramas. You might still get help, but there’s no guarantee it will do any good. But, if you have an influencer in mind that you think will enjoy your book, ask. You don’t have a thing to lose.

The internet is an entire society and, most of the time, folks are friendly and helpful. Just return the favor when you can.