I’m so glad to welcome my friend and fellow author Christine Nolfi to the blog today. Today Christine is celebrating the release of her new title, Second Chance Grill – congratulations! – and is sharing a timely post on the importance of planning your book release carefully.
Timing Your Book Release
by Christine Nolfi
Three cheers to you: After months or years of work, you’ve completed and formatted your first novel. Now, as you visualize your masterpiece displayed on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other sites, the urge to press the PUBLISH button proves nearly irresistible.
Hold on.
Timing when to release your book is as critical a consideration as a compelling plot, great cover art and flawless editing.
Consider this: Have you noticed how many greenbacks leak from your wallet between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day? Book sales follow the traditional retail cycle with more transactions occurring near the end of the calendar year. A consumer may snatch up books for holiday gifts or spend cash found in her Christmas stocking on great reads.
This doesn’t mean book sales die on January 2nd. Far from it. The advent of electronic reading gives digital book sales a long tail, with consumers filling up a new Kindle, Nook or iPad well into March. What does this mean to you? Because more sales occur between November and March than during the rest of the year, these months usually represent the best time to release your book.
Not that you shouldn’t publish in, say, April or July. Does your book’s theme tie to a summer holiday? Have you written a wonderful Beach Read? Does your work offer great tips for students heading back to school? These are just some of the examples you’ll need to factor in while planning a launch date. A few others:
Consider your schedule. Early in a writing career, most authors pay the bills with a 9-to-5 job and write in the evening or on weekends. If you’re among them, don’t plan your launch during the time of year when you’re buried in responsibilities at a day job. You’ll create better buzz if you’re available to visit blogs and interact with readers on GoodReads, FaceBook and Twitter.
Can you engage a faithful launch team? If you’re relying on other writers, book bloggers and friends to provide buzz, don’t launch during the peak vacation season unless you’re certain they’re available. Just as literary agents rarely send pitches to New York or London editors during the lazy days of August, you shouldn’t time your release in summer’s dog days without your team’s consent.
Will you advertise? Advertising is a boon any time of year-assuming you can afford the investment. If you’re planning to bring a book to market during the slower sale months of April to October, purchasing ads on sites like Kindle Nation or Digital Book Today becomes even more essential.
Whenever you decide to present your heart’s work to the reading public, try to enjoy the process. Many people dream of writing a book; you’ve actually done it. Your ability to turn off your internal editor long enough for self-congratulation and a celebratory dinner with family and friends can translate into better communication with reviewers and readers alike. You’ll have fun. And you’ll be that much more energized to begin work on your next book.
About Christine Nolfi
Christine Nolfi’s third contemporary fiction novel Second Chance Grill arrives on Amazon today. Her debut Treasure Me is a 2012 Next Generation Indie Awards finalist. The proud mother of four adopted children, Christine recently moved to her dream town of Charleston, South Carolina.
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About Second Chance Grill
An unforgettable tale of love, loss and second chances.
Second Chance Grill is the prequel to Treasure Me, 2012 Next Generation Indie Awards Finalist, which The Midwest Book Review calls ‘A riveting read for those who enjoy adventure fiction, highly recommended.’
Dr. Mary Chance needs a sabbatical from medicine to grieve the loss of her closest friend. But when she inherits a struggling restaurant in Liberty, Ohio she isn’t prepared for Blossom Perini. Mary can’t resist falling for the precocious preteen-or the girl’s father. The bond they forge will transform all their lives and set in motion an outpouring of love that spreads across America.
Welcome back to Liberty, where the women surrounding the town’s only restaurant are as charming as they are eccentric.
Terri, many thanks for allowing me to post today. I'm looking forward to working with you as #ClassicReads2013 gets underway!
Good information to incorporate here, thank you.
Thanks for reading along, Jeff.
Thank you so much for your wonderful post, Christine! This is such important information for everyone planning a release, be it their first book or their tenth!
This could not be better timing! Susan Cooper and I are about to publish our first Kindle book. It's good to know we have timed it right.
Very interesting approach to marketing a book. Thanks for sharing.