Optimize Your Amazon Listing

A well-written and optimized Amazon listing is the key to having your book appear on product listing results. A well-crafted Amazon listing includes an engaging book description, an author bio that establishes you as a professional, and categorizes your book accurately with relevant tags. If your book takes place around the holiday season or includes holiday themes, ensure its categorized correctly in the “Holidays and Celebrations” subgenre and tagged with holiday-related keywords. For Children’s books, consider including keywords like “makes a great gift!” in your book’s description to increase the likelihood of your book showing up in gift-related searches, not just book searches.

Attend Local Events

The holiday season is a great time to get out into the community and showcase your work. There are tons of ways to get involved and build your audience—starting with your local community. Build a relationship with your local independent bookstore and set up holiday-related events and signings to reach your target readers. Consider becoming a vendor at your town’s tree lighting or Christmas farmers market to catch readers while they’re already shopping for unique, local finds.

Utilize Your Network

The most effective way to grow your audience is to share your book with others. Ask for support from friends and family by sharing your book on their own social media feeds and with friends who are looking for unique, local gifts. Offer special holiday promotions for your email subscribers and social media followers to boost engagement and audience growth. Ask local book clubs to make your book their next seasonal read. See if there is a place at your church where you can display your book (if it deals with theology or is a devotional or Bible study, Christian living book).

Build Your Online Presence

Did you make a Facebook author page when you first launched your book, but haven’t touched it since? Now’s the time to brush up on posting and get more active to increase book sales during the holiday season. Consider joining trending platforms like TikTok and Instagram and share quick book quotes and excerpts to increase interest in your book. It’s also a great time to ask readers to review your book. Engage with your audience by asking holiday-related questions (just for fun) to drive engagement and comments. Bonus points if you can tie the question back to a character or theme in your book, like: “Susie hates hot chocolate, but lives in the hot chocolate capital of the world. What’s your favorite holiday drink alternative?”

Run a Holiday Promotion

Utilize shopping days like Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday to increase book sales by running a sale. Give your audience an incentive to purchase your book within a specific timeframe before the holidays by offering a bonus, additional discount, extras, or an extra promotion. If you have an ebook, remind your audience that ebooks make great last-minute gifts. Don’t forget after-holiday shopping promotions as well. People are eager to redeem the gift cards they received over the holidays—and your book may be the perfect way to begin their new year, especially if they received an ereader.

New Author Question: Should I Launch My Book Around The Holidays?

We generally don’t recommend releasing your first book around the holidays if you are a new self-published author, unless it’s a seasonal title. With the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, many new works and authors get lost in the shuffle. However, if you have already launched your book, the holiday season could be a great time to increase your marketing efforts to boost book sale without sounding too pushy.

EABooks Publishing: Your Self-Publishing Partner

Being a self-published author doesn’t end once your book is published. You need to continuously market and promote your book to reach your target reader and get paid for all the hard work you put into writing your book. For many authors, marketing feels like a full-time job. But, you don’t have to go at it alone. Our team at EABooks Publishing is here to help you through your self-publishing journey. From editing your manuscript to optimizing your Amazon listing, we’ll be with you every step of the way to ensure your book is set up for success and reaches your target readers. Book a free consultation with our publishing team to get started.