holiday marketing

In case all of the Christmas music, blinking lights, gingerbread-spiced coffee, and secret Santa exchanges didn’t alert you, the holiday season is upon us. Marketing your book might sound like just an additional stressor in an already stressful season, but December can be a great time to build sales if you use the holidays to your advantage. Though the market can be crowded this time of year, the easy holiday marketing tips below will help you jingle all the way to the bank.

Focus on ebooks.

Sales of Kindle products on Black Friday increased by a whopping 400 percent from last year, reports the Financial Post, and Amazon is predicted to sell twelve million Kindle Fires by the end of the year. If you haven’t converted your book to a digital format yet, now is the time to do so (check out our blog post on digital conversion). Not only will an ebook be easier to market, they also offer more flexibility in terms of pricing and content tweaks.

Offer limited-time sales.

Although many believe that Black Friday and Cyber Monday are the best times to drop prices to encourage sales, people will be buying books as gifts throughout December. Market your sale as a “last-minute deal,” and offer special coupons to followers of your Twitter, Facebook, newsletter, and blog. Marking down prices on December 26 is also a good idea, as people around the world will be logging on to populate their new ereaders.

Make nice with Amazon.

Booksellers and self-published authors (understandably) spend a lot of time thinking of ways to drive consumers to their personal websites to purchase books, but now may not be the time to completely boycott the Internet’s biggest “etailer.” Carolyn McCray at Digital Book World makes the point that many customers will be buying other gifts on Amazon, and buyers will be more likely to add your book to their already stuffed cart than to buy directly from your site. “This is a sales platform they’re familiar with,” says McCray. “It’s just one click for them to buy your book.” Link your ads to your book’s Amazon page for the next few weeks, and make sure to optimize your account for the best search ranking possible.

Offer freebies to build trust and drive sales.

It may seem counterintuitive to offer your highly valuable content for free, but ’tis the season of giving! Plus, free content can be an excellent way to build backlist sales and name recognition. If you’re a nonfiction author, offer a shortened, teaser version of your ebook for free. Fiction authors can offer a free short story or a preview of their latest novel. Not willing to give away part of your book free of charge? Ramp up your blog posting and seek blog swaps over the next few weeks. Writing articles for online magazines can also be a good way to get your name and your holiday sale out there. All these tactics will familiarize consumers with your name, your message, and your expertise—and ultimately prove to them why they should buy your book.

Engage with consumers.

Showing others that you’ve got the holiday spirit is a great way to differentiate yourself from other sellers hoping that their products will make the gift list. Be sure to tweet, Facebook post, and blog about the holiday season with occasional links to your sale. Ask your fans questions, and respond to any comments quickly. Community-driven engagement is also a fun way to gain some sales. Author Miranda Parker suggests reaching out to local businesses to be included in their gift baskets, hosting a holiday children’s book drive at your local library, or sponsoring a float in your community parade.

Book marketing is a time-consuming and detailed task the whole year round, but it can be made especially tricky in the cluttered holiday market. Differentiating yourself with discounted prices, free content, superior engagement, and a personalized experience can help put your book under the tree. If all else fails, you can always bake amazing Christmas cookies and give them away to customers.