On the first day of Christmas ….we all know the song. Most of us are ready to tackle holiday sales, so let’s talk book marketing!
In the spirit of the season, I want to share 12 book marketing tips and recommendations indie authors can implement in order to get more holiday sales and definitely more exposure before Christmas.
Schedule eBook Promotions
Dates go fast for paid sites so get to work ASAP. And as always, once you secure a paid site or two be sure you start submitting to all of the free sites.
No, the free sites aren’t guaranteed, but for each one you get, you increase your exposure by thousands of readers – so you really can’t justify not spending the time.
Get More Reviews
People like what other people like, so reviews always play an important role in convincing people to buy your book – but they carry even more weight during the holiday season when people are buying for others.
Remind your networks to post reviews. Most people mean well, but they get busy and they forget. Don’t be too proud to beg!
Holiday Gift Guides
If your book stands out as a good gift idea be sure to contact as many bloggers as you can find that publish gift guides.
Books are easy to add to the list because they’re straightforward and pretty much sell themselves.
Brush up your elevator pitch so it fits the holiday sales angle and get to work!
Enlist Your Website
Update your website with a call out to support your holiday sales.
Consider changing up your banner image to something festive, and use language that reminds people that your book would make a great gift – or just a great way to spend some downtime by the fire.
Holiday-themed Social Posts
The majority of people love the feeling they get around the holidays, so use this to your book marketing advantage on social media.
Share and ask your followers to share Christmas memories, photos, beautiful scenes, gift recommendations, holiday traditions – you have so many options for engaging your fans, don’t waste it.
Engaged fans are more likely to recommend indie authors and support your future endeavors.
Holiday-themed Social Images
Change up your social media banners and your profile picture to highlight the holiday season and remind people your book makes a great gift.
Create Some Deals
Giveaways and swag are really great ways to get more holiday sales.
Consider doing a BOGO (buy one give one). So if someone buys your book and sends you the receipt and the name and email of a friend, you’ll gift them a copy as well!
It’s a really fun promotion that lets friends and family share a good book.
Promote Your Series
If you already have a boxed set of eBooks have a new cover created that shows all the books wrapped up with a festive bow.
Then update your description to allude to the gift giving season.
If you have a romance title, “The perfect gift for your romance loving girlfriends” still speaks to your genre but also captures the holiday vibe and makes gift buying easier for shoppers.
Simply contact Amazon through your Author Central account if you need help updating your subtitle.
Do Your Own 12 Days of Christmas
If you have an email list or a newsletter list come up with a fun way to do your own 12 Days of Christmas series.
Perhaps you can do 12 behind-the-scenes style looks at your characters and their backstories?
If you write non-fiction maybe you can do 12 additional tips they can’t get in your book?
Get Local Media Coverage
Most cities have a lifestyle publication or two, and a handful of A&E blogs or freelance journalists and writers. We wrote about how to maximize your author events by reaching out to your local media.
You likely know of, or can easily find, a few other local authors in your city or greater metropolitan area.
Contact the media people personally and suggest they do a holiday reading guide featuring local authors, mention the names of the others or include links to their websites to make the media person’s job even easier. It may secure a pretty sweet write up!
Get Local Shelf Space
Think outside the retail box. So, not bookstores or gift stores per se.
If you’re a regular at a coffee shop see if you can put a preview copy of your book up with some of your business cards.
Other places can include a local art store, brewery, sandwich shop, hair salon – there really are a lot of options.
Think of places where your book doesn’t compete with items or services they’re already selling.
And be sure to put a stick of sorts on the cover that says “Preview Copy” so people don’t think it’s a freebie. And sign the book to the store owner or manager so they can keep it.
Holiday Craft & Gift Events
These are happening every weekend now through Christmas so see if you can still get a booth and maximize on local holiday sales.
But prepare to have special event pricing!
If you don’t have enough print copies on hand you can always gift them a copy via Amazon right then and there.
If you won’t be displaying lots of copies of your book be sure to go above and beyond to make your table fun and festive, and consider printing out poster sized images of your covers.
The Takeaway
It’s still not too late to secure holidays sales and big increases in exposure for your book.
Mostly it’s about committing to the time it takes to set these things up.
And I realize that’s easier said than done but I hope you don’t close out 2017 thinking, “What if I would have done more….”
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