Welcome to our list of July observances and content ideas for your monthly author marketing plan!
If you’re committed to making this year one of your most successful yet – we can help you do that.
If you haven’t downloaded our Monthly Book Marketing Planner yet you can grab that at the bottom of this piece in our resources section.
Remember, without regular connections to readers, you’re just another book on the shelf (literal or virtual) they have no vested interest in…so take the time to make yourself stand out by using our monthly observances and tips to create interesting content with your own unique twist.
Another great reason to bookmark this author marketing resource? Timely content that uses popular and trending search terms and hashtags is a great way to enhance your visibility and improve SEO in a very simple way.
And what’s really key: content ideas don’t always have to stem from your genre or topic.
When it comes to author marketing and building a brand, ensuring fans and followers have ways to connect with you on a more personal level is equally as powerful as ensuring you also make time to really speak to your genre and topic.
How to Use My Content Ideas
Below are holidays and just plain wacky and fun July Observances in 2019.
I’ve also included a few content ideas and angles to help spark your creativity!
Remember, not all these are worth an entire blog post or article, but nearly all of them can be turned into a fun or thought provoking social media post or blurb in your newsletter – so it’s like getting triple the ideas!
Keep in mind, nearly all your posts should encourage your fans and followers to respond, chime in, share their stories, etc., so don’t forget to work in that angle. I mention it as part of my recommendations occasionally, but please know that encouraging engagement is always the goal – so never post “flat” content, always get creative with how you can pull others into the conversation, and easily.
And if you’re feeling a little guilty about the lack of promotion planning you’ve done so far this year, use this list as a productive kick in the rear, commit to writing something for each of the holidays listed, use it on social, for your blog, in your newsletter – get creative – but giving yourself a bar to reach is the first step.
Monthly Observances for July 2019:
- Dog Days of Summer Starts
- National Blueberry Month
- National Anti-Boredom Month
- Unlucky Month for weddings
- National Hot Dog Month
- National Ice Cream Month
- National Picnic Month
Weekly Events:
- Week 2 – Nude Recreation Week
- Week 3 – Capture the Sunset Week
July 30 is Paperback Book Appreciation Day! I’ll go into it more in the calendar but if you have any flexibility in your pricing, do a limited time discount and run promos all over. If you can’t do a discount, consider doing a bonus – for example if someone forwards you the receipt for buying your paperback you’ll send them a special bonus, maybe it’s a sneak peek of your next book!
Do polls, giveaways, art contests, remember to make it about your readers – not about you – and you’re guaranteed to see better engagement.
If you need some additional support on how to translate these ideas to actual content and posts, please consider signing up for email coaching with me and we’ll get personal!
Getting Started with Content Ideas
1 International Joke Day – Pull out the best you’ve got!
2 World UFO Day – Have a personal story or do you write Sci-fi? Get a fun conversation started.
3 Compliment Your Mirror Day – This is a fantastic way to encourage positivity and is bound to get engagement, encourage fans to share their compliments.
4 Independence Day – Share your traditions or plans, ask others to share theirs.
5 National Bikini Day – Are you brave enough?
6 International Kissing Day – Romance writers get on board here, so much you can do and a great day to plan promos around.
7 Chocolate Day – Everyone should be happy today.
Time to Get Creative with Your Author Marketing
11 Cheer up the Lonely Day – Set a good example and encourage others!
13 Embrace Your Geekness Day – How are you geeky? Get personal and learn about your fans’ inner geeks too.
13 Friday the 13th
13 National French Fries Day – Had to include this because of my love of Belgian frites!
14 National Nude Day – If you have something to contribute to this day, you’re my hero.
14 Shark Awareness Day
15 Be a Dork Day – What’s your most endearing dorky quality? Get others to share too.
15 Global Hug Your Kids Day – If you’ve been extra busy, take today to catch up on all those kiddo snuggles!
17 National Hot Dog Day – An excellent, easy dinner idea too.
17 World Emoji Day – What are your go-to emojis and why? Or create your own emoji using an app like Emoji Me Animated Faces to design something super custom and share with fans.
July Has Almost Wrapped
19 National Daiquiri Day – Happy Friday ya’ll!
21 National Junk Food Day – Share your favorite guilty pleasure.
24 Amelia Earhart Day – If you have a strong female protagonist, today is a great day to draw attention to her story and your work.
24 Tell an Old Joke Day – Two in one month, love it, get creative!
26 All or Nothing Day – There are a lot of interpretations for this but no matter what, it’s a day to take a risk and give it your all. Put yourself out there and make it real.
27 National Day of the Cowboy – Listen up romance authors, if you write about cowboys this is your day to shine, plan promos and other fun content for this day (or week!)
27 Take Your Houseplants for a Walk – If you do this and get it on video or photo, you MUST share.
28 Parent’s Day – If you’re a parent, how would you spend this day if you could do anything you wanted? Or what would a day look like for your kiddos on Parent’s Day in a perfect world? Lots of chores and a clean house? Breakfast in bed? Just a day off to have fun? Get personal!
30 Paperback Book Day – The first paperback was introduced in 1935, proper celebrations for the holiday include binge-reading, bargain book shopping, and plenty of bookstagramming. Ask followers to share an image of their bookshelf. Create a promo around your paperback book pricing if you’re able to. Consider a BOGO offer where if someone emails you the receipt for your paperback book you’ll gift them something special – maybe a preview of your next release, or a free eBook of the next title in your series.
30 International Day of Friendship – Tag a friend or friends in your post and call out what makes the relationship important to you. If you don’t like to get that personal on social, consider doing a post with author friends as a way to cross-promote each other’s work!
31 Mutt’s Day – Do you have a loveable mutt at home? Animals are always a sure thing for engagement so get your furry friend to say cheese and share some special images.
31 Harry Potter Day – Today is Harry Potter and author J.K. Rowling’s birthday. According to Pottermore, the official fan site, more than 500 million Harry Potter books have been sold worldwide. That means one in 15 people in the world owns at least one Harry Potter book. Now those are #authorgoals.
The Takeaway
Remember, being an author demands creativity and it also demands authenticity.
Coming up with unique content ideas as part of your author marketing plan is a great way to take your success seriously, without taking yourself too seriously! And these July observances should really help.
Have plans for a fun take on any of these ideas? Share below in the comments!
Resources
Monthly Book Marketing Planner
How to Create Video Content for Social Media
Irresistible Bonus and Giveaway Ideas for Authors
Please use the social share buttons below if you learned something from this post – your shares really help educate other authors, which raises the bar for publishing and gets more books in readers hands!
0 Comments