Pushing Book Sales During the Holidays by Jennifer Hudson Taylor

It's that time of year again, when people are shopping, have budgeted to shop, and are in the mood to shop! This is good news for authors and publishers hoping to push book sales. As readers log into their favorite sites to purchase books during the season, authors are in the perfect position to promote their books to online consumers worldwide in a way that was never possible for authors in the past with print-only, store-only books.

Throughout the holiday season, publishers will be watching and hoping for increased sales to make up for any slumps that were suffered over the past year. Since ebooks sales grew 50% in 2012 and now make up 28% of all U.S. adult fiction and non-fiction sales, publishers will be paying close attention to ebooks in particular. This is where an author's online platform could make a difference in promotion efforts. 

Book sales are expected to increase with iPads, tablets, Nooks and Kindles given as Christmas gifts. People who have these new gadgets and their new gift cards will be eager to try them out after the holiday and into January. 

It isn't too late to pull together an effective marketing plan for the holidays. You still have 3 weeks left until Christmas and the whole month of January to convince these new gadget holders to download your book and try it out. 

Offer Holiday Specials
Unless you are a self-published author who is in control of your sales prices, you don't have any control over discounts. If you do, offer some kind of discount to lure would-be readers. If not, find out if your publisher will be offering any discounts and promote it through your connections like crazy. You could always offer special pricing through your own website from your own stash of books, which would afford you to buy more books from your publisher. Consider bundle packages if you are a multi-published author with a few series out.

Create a Festive Theme

You could create a cute little graphic ad that you could post on your website/blog, newsletter, all your social media sites, and make it available for others to share. Write blog articles related to a theme or story in your book and post links to your social media accounts. Be sure to include your branded graphic with a link where to buy your book. 

Partner with Other Authors

There is always more impact with more numbers. Approach other authors with your ideas and see if they would like to participate in a short blog tour, scavenger hunt, social media party, host a big contest with you, and swap blog articles.

Feel free to add a few more ideas in the comment section for others. What do you have planned for the holidays?