Many authors don’t believe that they can contribute much to the success of their books, especially when it comes to promotion. However, everybody has an inner marketer and all you need to do is to channel him/her. The following are some of the things you can do to promote your book.

Identify your audience: This is the most important first step if you want to successfully promote your book. If you get this step right, every other thing that you do to promote the book will be much easier. To know your audience, think about the people who would enjoy reading your book. Once you identify those people, find out all you can about them. Find out where you can find them, both offline and online. Do this prior to writing the book.

Create a budget: Promoting a book requires money to be successful. Decide how much money you are willing to invest in the promotion of your book. When you know how much money you can spend, make a budget and allocate money for every activity. Make sure some money is unplanned to cater for unforeseen expenses.

Be creative: Use the location, theme, and time period of your book to give you inspiration about marketing strategies. Use the plot to figure out the best ways to promote the book and the people you should be approaching for assistance. Look for companies or groups that you can share joint marketing ventures with. Try to make every marketing effort different from what people usually do.

Tell your author brand story: Create a biography that defines you as a person, tells your reasons for becoming an author, and that mentions some of your passions and things that motivate you. This bio should be about two or three paragraphs but you must pour your heart out. Make sure that you give the audience a reason to care.

Create a hook: In music, a hook is the part of a song that people can’t forget. It could be a chime, a word, a phrase, or an entire chorus. For a book, your hook should be a summary or synopsis. You should summarize the book in a few sentences that include the main highlights of your book. The summary should grab readers’ attention and make them want to buy the book to get the whole story.

Use email lists: Invite people to subscribe to your mailing list. Send excellent content for people in your mailing list to make it worth their while. You can use the email list to create a buzz for the launch of your book. Engage people in your email list early before making any public announcements. These people must be kept in the loop so that they can become invested in the success of your book project.