Christmas is the biggest buying holiday of the year and can lead to many more sales for your book. So how do you tap into everyone’s buying mood? How do you make sure they are picking out your books as gifts for their family and friends? Here's how to promote your book at Christmas.
Gifts don’t always have to be toys or other material things. There are also eBooks. They're great gifts that don’t require you to deal with the crowds at the shops or the pain of gift wrapping. If you’re a children’s book author, or any author, this season is the best time to boost your promotions and sales. Not to mention, give the gift of your stories to children all around the world. After the craziness that pre-Christmas shopping and preparation demands, families will look forward to a day of relaxation and quality time together. Having a fun, good children’s book to read on Christmas day is definitely a treat for both parents and kids. Plus, it's an easy and affordable last minute gift.
In this article on how to promote your book at Christmas, we’ll give you tips on the best ways authors can advertise their books around the holidays.
Image courtesy of theshelf.com
1. Set your Promotions on Amazon
Most people prefer to shop online to avoid having to visit physical stores and getting stuck in queues. Recent research shows Amazon is the online store of choice for over 50% of digital consumers. It's a great place to promote your book at Christmas. To make the best use of your promotional efforts, put a strong focus on Amazon advertising, since most of your prospective audience will be there.
You not only want to appear on people’s list when they’re looking for gift ideas, but also when they start redeeming gift cards. You can check out Old Mate Media’s Amazon book list page to get some ideas how to do yours.
2. Make a Timeline
To guide you better on what you should say on your promotional campaign, make a timeline. Look for headlines that tie into key dates to promote your book at Christmas. Some dates to include are:
- Two days before Christmas = eBooks make the perfect last minute gift
- Day after Christmas =Don’t forget to redeem gift vouchers
- Days before New Year =New Year’s Resolution to read more books to their kids in 2017
- Early in the New Year =Are you travelling with kids? Get eBooks for your family holiday
3. Give Holiday Discounts
Set deals and discounts on your books to run a few days before Christmas. Advertise these deals. Also remind your email list and social followers that eBooks are great gifts. Especially for last-minute ones because there is no shipping involved and delivery is instant.
4. “I got a Kindle!”
Kindles are very popular Christmas presents. People who receive one will be looking for books to fill it up with straight away. A really simple way to improve your sales is to optimize your books' sales pages on Amazon so you’ll show up in the right place when people start searching. Here are five great ways to optimise your author page for the Amazon search algorithm:
- Make sure you fill out the biography. Talk about any awards you may have earned. Detail key characters you've developed and how you came up with them. Link together books from the same series, theme or artist. Make sure you link to your social channels and website.
- Add all the photos you can, making sure you include one good image of yourself. If you are a parent, perhaps show a photo of you with your child to help make a connection with other parents. Perhaps put up some photos of locations or events that may have inspired your work.
- Detail upcoming events such as giveaways, readings, award ceremonies and promotions. You can fill in plenty of details about what they are about and where.
- A video is a great addition. A trailer of your book, or of you reading it. Potentially a straight to camera introduction full of charm and energy. Show your passion.
- Don't forget to make sure all of your books are listed!
5. Create Engaging Holiday e-Newsletters
Emails will be your best friend when promoting around the holidays. You will have fans who are trying to avoid too much family time - admit it, your guilty of it too - and they will be constantly checking their emails. They will be on the lookout for the best deals. Preset an email to send to your list which promotes your book specials on Christmas Day and Boxing Day. Highlight the points we’ve previously covered in this article.
6. Create a Holiday Campaign on Facebook
‘Tis the season for social media. Time off from work and extended family gatherings create a lot of time to while away on Facebook. It's a great place to promote your book at Christmas.
Try creating a dedicated holiday campaign using Facebook ads that highlights all the reasons to buy your books at Christmas time.
If you don’t have time to do that, you can easily boost your existing posts. Start scheduling posts that speak of your discounted books and position them for Christmas gifts and post-Christmas sales. Boost the important ones or those that gain traction and you have a very simple Facebook campaign. Remember to sprinkle some happy holidays and season’s greetings posts, too, so your audience will be drawn to check your page. Maybe even run a giveaway.
Be aware that big brands will dominate Facebook’s advertising space, and will cause the cost of advertising to spike. Expect to pay more for your campaign, and the best way to make the most of it is to monitor it daily. Focusing your ads to your fans and niche audience is the most cost effective strategy. Also, you can target down to demographic (parents), language (English) and device (iPad).
Promote your Book at Christmas
If you’re a children’s book author, don’t miss the opportunity to promote and sell your book around the holidays. We hope the tips above will guide you to create the best campaigns for your books.
And what about your next book? Did you know we can help take your book through the entire process? From a simple idea to begin published? Have a look at our step-by-step guide..
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