Writers, perhaps you’re wondering how you will find your audience, once your book is available.
Here’s a suggestion: One reader at a time.
I’m assuming the book has been edited by professionals before it’s published, and there’s no doubt that it’s worth bragging about. Before publication time, get review copies into the hands of plenty of your friends. Ask them for blurbs, honest reviews on Goodreads and Amazon, and the most helpful thing of all: to mention the book to people they know. These people become your street team.
What if they’re not too fond of your book? Tell them to forget it? Assuming most people do like the book, you need some one-star reviews to keep the book looking credible. So ask your pals to be sure post honest reviews (as opposed probably to not posting at all).
You can do promotions and email links through these friends of yours. You have a Mailchimp account, right, for the email addresses you are collecting at your website for your author newsletter? Since you have the Mailchimp account, it’s not a problem to create a little email list just of these special booster friends who have read your book. You can easily send news and special requests to them, especially links they can post on Facebook or on their blogs that will draw new people to you. These links might involve winning a free ebook, or downloading your book when it is free or reduced price. Enlist your street team for help with an outreach promo to people you don’t know yet at least once a month.
You can informally recruit for your street team, too. In the back of the book, be sure there is a little request that the reader post an opinion on Amazon/Goodreads and let their friends know they liked the book. This encourages “viral” action, where buzz about the book grows on its own.