Suggestion: Know Your Genre

As a writer, you strive to be a genius. You want readers to walk away thinking your novel was the best they've ever read. One way to do that is to know your genre. 

Anyone can change the setting to Ancient Egypt, 1900's London, or Outer Space 3030, but the setting is not the only thing that defines a genre. There’s also:

Pacing

Characters that are not cliché stereotypes

Theme (example for Scifi: what does it mean to be human?)

Historical events

Objects (like technology)

Culture

Your job is to make the world Engaging and Fun, even though many other authors have dealt with these topics. You must read enough in the genre to know how your story is the same, or different from, what your readers have read before. Twilight fans will think of vampires very differently than fans from Sookie Stackhouse, or Dracula. 

Pick out three contemporaries that your fans will probably also read. By knowing them, you can set yourself apart, but not so different that you lose readers. You might realize you can cross genre to pick up new readers (like Young Adult or Romance). 

Finish your first draft, find your genre comparisons, then revise with confidence and think about PR and Networking opportunities.

Why do this after your first draft? Because you might start out by writing a fantasy, but by the end of your first draft (and genre research) discover that it would be better suited as steampunk. Examine every choice you make and spend time deliberating if it is the best choice for your story and the message you want to get across.

In short: read more books in the genre you are currently writing.