After lots of hard work, sweat and probably tears, you've finished your book, but there's still a need to promote it to potential readers.

Have you thought about using video marketing to help sell your creation?

Video is a great way to communicate with readers who can watch your video clips on their smartphone or on a computer screen.

Another big appeal is that video is a modern and direct way to promote your book with no huge investment in equipment or technology necessary; you could use your smartphone camera or webcam to record short clips of you talking about your book and why people should buy it.

If that might be a struggle, it may help to have someone set-up a camera and interview you and then edit the footage into clips that can be posted on YouTube for your readers to access.

Tip 1: Use YouTube to promote your book

YouTube is not only an excellent free resource for writers to exploit, it's also a very popular platform. You can utilise this power to promote informative and useful videos to potential readers.

Creating an account is quick and easy and there are other sites too, such as Vimeo.

Tip 2: Create a video for your book

The easiest way for you to promote your book on YouTube, and on other video sharing platforms, is to speak directly to the camera and explain what your book is about, how the story progresses and how it may be of benefit to the reader.

Remember that the video should be short, with good lighting and - this is a very important point - have a microphone near you so viewers can hear you clearly. Invest in a quality mic if necessary.

Tip 3: Breakdown your book into video chunks

While fiction writers can explain how great their tome is, for factual writers it might be an idea to break the book down by chapters and create a video for each to explain what the chapter focuses on and what the reader will gain from reading the book.

This means you will create a series of videos that a potential reader will want to watch and you can gauge interest in each chapter from the viewing figures.

Tip 4: Breakdown your fiction book into videos

Following on from Tip 3, for those who have written fiction it may be a better idea to create videos about each of the book's main characters, theme or the plotline rather than discussing each chapter individually.

Remember - don't give too much information away but do enough to pique interest.

Tip 5: Film yourself at work

There are lots of people wanting to write books who are unsure about how to go about it; you could make a short film about how you wrote your book, your discipline and your research methods.

This is a great way to put your personality across and be an inspirational figure for potential authors.

Final Tip: Remember to use your book selling video… to sell!

Finally, and this is probably the most important tip, you should always end your book promotion video with a clear advert for your book and how those interested in it can buy it.

Urge your readers to leave a review on Amazon or other book-buying platforms once they have finished reading it.

Enjoy video marketing your book - it's one of the most satisfying, inventive ways to promote your hard work!