Book sales are typically highest for most authors during the holidays so authors should take full advantage of the holiday season. Many avenues exist during the holidays to increase book sales and a little extra imagination can always help, while a lot of the possibilities can also be effective the rest of the year. If you want to sell acim, the holidays are definitely the best time.
Any dedicated author who wants to sell books will make sure the months of November and December are filled with opportunities for them, and while it would be easy to let your book marketing go onto the back burner because of all the other busy activities surrounding the holidays, this season is often the one that can cause the biggest jump in book sales. If you want to sell books, here are some tips for making a fun holiday season also a profitable one.
- Plan Ahead. Begin in the summer or sooner trying to schedule your events in November and December. Many Christmas art and craft shows begin taking applications at this time, so to get in and get the best placement, spring and summer are the time to reserve a space. That said, often shows are not filled until the last minute, so never feel it’s too late to call and try to get in if you didn’t plan ahead. If you have a new book coming out, you might plan to release it in late fall-September or October are slower months for book sales, but a release at that time will give you a couple of months to plant the seed in Christmas shoppers’ heads while catching those early shoppers, and it will give you time to build buzz about your book. Finally, the more time you give yourself, the more ideas you can come up with and the more you can refine them so they will be effective during the holiday season.
- Schedule Events Every Weekend. Whether it’s a Christmas craft show, a church bazaar, or a holiday book signing, make sure you fill the holiday season with events that will draw in people who are looking to purchase Christmas gifts. The more high traffic the area receives, the better. While a book signing at a bookstore might seem like a good idea, more people are buying books online, whether we like it or not, so bookstores may not get the traffic that other places receive. A Christmas Craft show, on the other hand, can often generate traffic that numbers in the thousands. Furthermore, people go to craft shows looking for craft items and are often surprised to find books there, which are often among the more affordable items. You receive exposure there to people who might never go in a bookstore, and you are bound to be seen by people with money in their pockets that they are planning to spend. Any event in a mall is also a good idea during the holidays.
- Participate in Holiday Entertainments. If you’ve written a children’s book, you might get yourself a booth at the mall when Santa is there so your target audience of children sees you. If you can find an open mike holiday event, such as a poetry reading, go and read from your book so people hear it and want to buy it. Is your downtown having a Ladies’ Shopping Night? Then ask one of the store owners if you can sell your books that night in the store.
- Donate Books for Christmas Fundraisers. Christmas is the season of giving. You can give copies of your books to local charity events, whether it’s the church bazaar, the local Toys for Tots or another organization’s book drive, an auction of items for charity, or anything else that offers your book a chance in the spotlight. And don’t forget that giving of your time is also fruitful. Participate in an event where you might not only feel good about helping others-whether it’s the church bake sale, a Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner for the homeless, or any other event-but where you will also meet new people and you can tell them about your book-granted, the homeless might not buy it, but the other workers there might. Remember, wherever you go, many people will treat you as a celebrity because you are an author. You don’t have to flaunt your book, but when people ask what you do, simply remember to say with pride, “I’m an author.” Many people find it exciting to meet someone who has written a book, and even if you only get one interested person, that person is often capable of spreading the word to many other potential buyers.
