In the self-publishing realm, once you’ve written and published your book, the next big step to success is an effective book launch.
Launching your book with a solid strategy sets the stage for how the book is received by your prospects and has a very strong influence on the initial reaction your latest title as well as its future sales growth potential.
Now that it’s established that launching a book officially is a good idea, how exactly do you determine the best time for the launch?
The truth is that there is no single best answer.
The optimal time for releasing your new book depends on a myriad of factors, a few of the more important being things like the subject matter of your book and whether or not you already have an eager audience waiting for your upcoming offer.
If you’ve been self-publishing for some time and already have a well-established audience, you can safely release your books whenever you want to.
On the other hand, if you are fairly new to the self-publishing scene and are still working on developing and growing an audience you can take advantage of annual holidays, observances and events in order to attract the right audience to your books at the right time.
When is the Best Time Launch a New Book?
One of the most effective marketing strategies for timing a book launch is aligning the release of the book with a significant seasonal event.
Each season and month of the year typically has at least one event that is closely associated with it.
By piggybacking on the themes of these events, observances and holidays you can position your book as relevant to these occasions and receive a big boost to your initial and ongoing sales.
Winter
December is an extremely popular month for buying and gifting books and a period when most self-publishers should be keen on promoting their newest titles.
Along with being the most intense shopping month of the holiday season, December focuses on some of the biggest single day events of the year across many cultures.
Books that focus on any of the following topics do very well when marketed during the season:
- Cooking
- Christmas
- Hanukkah
- Kwanza
- Children’s Books
January is a popular time for books that help people to actualize their goals and dreams, which are typically the focus of ushering in a brand-new year.
Hot topics include:
- Relationships
- Diet and Nutrition
- Exercise
- Travel
- Parenting
- DIY
- Business
- Self- Help
February is most well-known for Valentine’s Day; however, it is also when many Americans celebrate Black History Month.
This month can be a prime time for launching a new book if your title focuses on any of the following topics:
- Romance
- Poetry
- Photo Books of Romantic Locations
- Civil Rights
- African American History
- Inspiration
Spring
Several major observances surrounding women’s health and wellness take place during the month of March making it an excellent launch pad for titles that appeal to women’s interests.
Books that focus on topics surrounding Christianity and religion also do well at this time of year due to the fact that the month of March falls right in the middle of the Lenten season.
Popular book topics to promote during this month include:
- Women’s History
- Personal Memoirs
- Biographies
- Women’s Fiction
- Inspirational Books
- Women’s Health
- Christianity
- Illustrated Children’s Books
April is a month that continues to focus on Christian themes such as Easter, as well as the recognition of the travesties that happened within the Jewish community during the Holocaust.
Popular topics to promote during this month include themes such as:
- Christianity
- Children’s Books
- World War II
- Personal Memoirs
- German History
- Jewish History
May is a month that is primarily recognized for Memorial Day which honors the brave men and women who have sacrificed their lives in order to protect the liberties and freedoms of America.
Mother’s Day, which is another significant celebratory day in the Unites States is a prime time for gift giving of sentimental book titles.
Popular book topics to promote during this month include:
- Patriotism
- World Wars I and II
- Military History
- Personal Memoirs
- Poetry
Summer
When school is out and summer begins, there are many opportunities for self-published authors to give their books a promotional boost that centers on the season.
June is a huge month for commemorative and educational book gifts that are ideal for recent graduates of high school and college.
Popular topics to focus on promoting during the month include:
- Job Hunting
- College Selection
- Business Start-ups
- Travel and Adventure
- Financial
- Self-Help
During the month of July, many people are enjoying down time with family and friends or travelling abroad on that longed-for vacation.
This makes the mid-summer month an excellent time to focus on promoting the following types of books:
- Travel and Adventure
- Children’s Books
- Romance Novels
- Science Fiction
- Mystery Novels
August is known as one of the slowest months for books sales. However, it is still a good time to start promoting and positioning books for the upcoming fall season when book sales pick up dramatically.
Fall
Fall is the time of year when the general public is focused on annual events such as back-to-school, college entrance and returning to work after long summer vacations, making it one of the most robust periods for book sales.
Since that fateful day in September of 2001, this month has also become an important time to focus on patriotism and politics in America along with memorializing the lives lost in the tragic 911 attacks.
With these events in mind, popular topics during this time of the year include themes such as:
- Children’s Education
- Professional Education
- Technical Education
- Literature
- American Politics
- American History
- Biographies
- Personal Memoirs
- Self-Help
- Time Management
- Self-Development
Book lovers all over the world welcome the month of October in particular because it ushers in the annual event known as Halloween.
During this month readers of fiction and non-fiction books that focus on themes involving blood, gore, ghosts and mystery can indulge in their scary fantasies.
Popular topics during the month of October include:
- Horror Fiction
- History
- Photo books of Halloween Art
- Graphic Novels
- Arts and Crafts
Known as the month of the most celebrated holiday of the year, the big emphasis of November is Thanksgiving, which is enjoyed by families all across the United States.
Most books that are sold during this month focus on this well-loved holiday theme.
- Cooking
- Children’s Books
- American History
- Inspirational Books
Timing is everything and it is especially true when it comes to planning the release of a new book title. The key to launching a successful book is to identify themes that closely relate to annual seasonal and calendar events.
The next step involves creating a promotion that makes your book offer highly relevant and appealing to readers who are very likely to be looking for specific content related to the topic in question.
Taking the time to really think about your offer, setting up your launch correctly and being strategic about the timing of the release of your book works to ensure that your marketing promotion results in success.
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