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January-

It’s the new year and the new you. This is the best time for self-help, goal setting, inspirational, healthy recipes, and weight loss books. It’s also the worst for summer reads and fiction. Why? Everyone is so occupied in changing their lives and summer is still very far off. Most fiction authors will see a dip in sales around this time.

February-

Valentine’s day is here and this is prime time to get your romance and poetry books out there. This is also after the new you rush of January so recipe books are going to take a hit. People have already bought what they wanted so if you haven’t got your latest and greatest cookbook out now, you might as well wait.

March-

March shower bring April flowers and March Madness. Everyone is getting sports fever, and those who aren’t are itching for spring. This is the best time to release any sports themed books or books based around spring. Spring planting. Spring projects. Any sports themed hashtags will also be very popular. What’s not popular is anything to do with self-help, fitness, and the Holidays. People are over that and the treadmill is already collecting dust.  

April-

This brings us Easter. Family is coming together the first time after the Holidays. It’s like a mini Christmas all over again. This is prime time for religious books, books on Easter, and memoirs. It’s also the worst time to bring out anything to do with romance or winter. Sorry, that ship has sailed for now.

May-

Summer is on its way. Kids are getting the summer vacation itch. This makes it the perfect time for you to slip your award winning summer read under their noses or dropping your newest parenting book. As a warning to anyone writing romance, self-help, or holiday books, it’s now the time of year that your books have sailed so far away there’s little hope.

June-

Contemporary fiction seems to make a boom around this time of year along with niche fiction. This is a good time to release something new and edgy. This give it time to gain ground on the market. People are well into summer and are wanting fun reads. This makes it a bad time to push your thick non-fiction.

July-

Fiction will continue to be popular along with patriotic and war related novels. If you’ve got a bit of political fiction of a great heart sting puller with a strong military aspect now would be a good time to push it as long as you start early enough to catch the July 4th crowd. Self-help books also tend to plummet during this month, but that has a lot of give and take. Be very careful and know your audience well before releasing a self-help in July.

August-

Everyone is getting college ready so now’s the time to push heavier reading and informational books. This is the biggest time of year for people buying textbooks, so use that to your advantage. Got a book on how to get through college math? Not is prime time to release it and push hard. Holiday and festive books, though, will take a hit. July 4th is over and no one wants to think of Thanksgiving and especially not Christmas.

September-

College is still going so ride that wave. History books, politics, and memoirs also have a peak in sales around this time. Fiction tends to dip here, as more people are focusing on the previously mentioned.

October-

Halloween is upon us and it’s now or never to get our your mystery, horror, thriller, and dark themed novels. Be fearful of putting out thinking feel-good, loving, or romantic as it will be ignored around this time.

November-
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Thanksgiving is here and the cookbooks are flying, as long as they’re feel good, home cooked, comfort food. Also, holiday books, children’s books, and even religious books get higher sales during this time. Health and wellness books are forgotten, so if your recipe book is about eating green, save it for the new year.

December-

Christmas books and only Christmas books. Launching a new book now takes time out of the busiest buying season. Focus your attention on marketing and selling.

     The modern change in doing book launches online has brought with it a new term, takeover. So, what’s a takeover? A takeover usually happens when someone asks other authors to takeover a time slot on an online book launch. Slots are usually one-hour long. The point of a takeover is to bring in more authors and in turn increase awareness of the event.
     So, what do you do for an hour? It seems like a long time, but you only need around 6-10 posts! That’s easy right? As authors, we post more than that just having fun on Facebook. Here is a step by step suggestion on what to post:
 

1. Start with an introduction to yourself, with an author picture to catch interest. Tell your audience who you are, what you write, and a little fun fact about yourself. Be interesting and engaging. Ask a question to your audience, like “who here reads romance?”.
2. Get funny. Share a funny or catching image to try and engage readers.
3. Have you ever won any awards not related to your books? Maybe a poetry award. A life reading competition? Post this here. If not, post about your experience. How many years have you been writing?
4. Next introduce your book. Use visuals if you can. Use your hook line to draw readers in. If you’re giving away a prize, mention it now. Tell them to keep following to find out how to win!
5. Do you have reviews yet? Awards? Post them now. If you can, take a screen shot of your reviews or create a catching visual image. Do a separate post for each. If you won this 2017 book award, this best book award, and a best cover award, post about each one on its own. Try not to do more than 3; people lose interest fast. The same thing goes for reviews. If you have a lot, pick up to three of the best (don’t spend more than 5 posts on this).
6. Do a special post on your book including the sale link and price. Make sure you mention any sales your having. (If you’re giving away a prize now is a good time to get people going. Tell them to like the post and share the event page for a chance to win.)
7. OK, now it’s cool visual time! Post something catchy either about your book or about writing. Try making it a question: “How would you rate my book cover? On a scale from steamy – hot, how would you rate my main character? (Wait for people to enter to win. This is where you stall for time.)
8. More funny! Get visual. A book promo pic. A funny meme. (stall for more time)
9. Announce the winners!!! If you’re giving out a prize, announce the winner now. If not skip this step.
10. Give a big thank you to the people letting you take the spot. Share a link if you can. Encourage people to stay for the next takeover.
11. Bow out. Thank everyone for their time.

 
            That’s it! It’s that easy! Most often, if you follow this process, you’ll have more than enough for an hour.