Getting ready for the Holiday season? Yes, really. November 25, 2017 – Posted in: Blog
Even though just about everyone is away in August, this should be one of your busiest months in the office. Getting ready for the Holiday season? Yes, really.
Assuming you do not already follow the publishing industry’s seasonal calendar (there is one?), then let me remind you that August should be a very busy time for you.
It is 120 days away from the Holidays.
And that means it is time for you to get PR and Media ready for any and all titles coming out during the Holidays. If you don’t do your PR and Media NOW… you will get buried by those who are good at this work, very shortly. And, likely, your desire for free coverage will get lost in many publications’ shuffles.
And there are other reasons.
Some monthly publications run three months ahead, meaning if you want to be IN the December issue (which comes out at Thanksgiving), then you had better get your PR or article query IN by mid-August. The math is just that simple.
And, if you want endorsements from newspapers or magazines or other media sources, (to put on your cover or in your media material) you should be thinking the November issues, out in late October, so you can include them on your front and back covers and still have your book/s printed in time for the Holidays. You do the math.
And if you don’t have any books coming out during the Holidays?
Really? Then find the best four titles you have that would be appropriate Holiday gifts and promote the hell out of those. Ok?
There is no law that says you cannot promote a back list title again this year. Keep in mind that conventional marketing wisdom reminds us it takes THREE impressions to get into someone’s head. Thus, if you did some marketing last Holiday season, it might take repeating it THIS season to finally get into someone’s purchasing mindset.
Not only do you want to do your PR and Media, but all other forms of marketing and promotion, including involving your author, your distributors, your resellers, everything, just like it is a new title. This also means working with your customer list and offering them ADVANCE Holiday savings on multiple gift copies of the title. You have some reason to wait to make offers?
This is not a particularly difficult or deep discussion. It is more of a reminder that 120 days before things happen…YOU have to make everything happen. And this is as good a time as any!
