The holiday book-buying season is upon us, and it’s time to sell your book for the holidays! People are looking for gifts for everyone on their list, and that makes it a great time to sell books.
Whether an awesome stocking stuffer or the one gift for that hard-to-buy-for person on your list, your book just might be that perfect one. Get a little creative to stand out in all of the holiday and festive noise out there!
Limited face to face contact removes speaking at live events, bookstore events, live appearances, conferences, and conventions for book sales. Sure, losing those awesome options as an author is a bah humbug bummer, but there’s plenty of other opportunities to sell books when you’re stuck at home for the holidays. This video gets into sell books specific to the 2020 holiday season and below we have more ideas for you!
How to Sell Books During the 2020 Holiday Season
Give the Gift of a Book – Promoting Your Book as A Gift
Every book has the potential to sell big this year if you position it as a gift for the right person. For example, the history buff in your life would love J.M. Phillip’s new memoir “Lamlash Street,” a heartfelt and humorous memoir of one Cockney family as they heal from the trauma of WWII in 1960s London. The new college grad or aspiring entrepreneur could learn a ton from the lessons in Ron’s Worley’s inspiring success story and how-to guide “Ditches to Riches.” And for that workaholic that you just wish would take a break, try “The Joychiever Journey” by Tracy LaLonde, a comprehensive roadmap to teach overachievers how to harness their ambitious skills to strive for joy. If you match the right book to the right person you’re bound for gift-giving success. As an author, if you know your audience, you already know exactly who would be thrilled to unwrap your book this holiday — you just need to market to those shopping for them.
Write a Gift List to Sell Books
A great way to market your book during the holidays curating gift lists. Write a few different lists for specific audiences that stump gift-givers when searching for that perfect present to put under the tree. Here are some ideas:
• The Top 10 Best Books for a New Mom
• The Holiday Gift Guide for the Future Retiree
• The Top 10 Gifts Under $20 for The Tech Enthusiast
Post your list on Instagram or Facebook for your own fans to consider. Even better, shop that list around to some major blogs that will be looking for content this time of year that search engines will love. Since you’ve already done the hard work of curating that list, connect with bloggers or influencers you know your readers follow and put that list in front of a much bigger audience.
Companies Give Books as Gifts
Contact organizations or companies that will be giving gifts to clients or employees. Take the opportunity to offer a bulk discount on your book. For example, David Frost’s “KaBoomer” could be a great option for the owner of a fitness company or gym to give all their personal trainers for the holidays, or Pat Watson’s “Tactical Lockpicking” could be a great gift to a team of emergency workers like firefighters or EMTs. This option does require a bit of work and some upfront costs; you’re going to want to mail out a nice little package with a copy of your book to those targeted organizations. But if you mail out 10 or 15 of these and you end up getting an order for 100 or more copies of your book, then the time and money spent is well worth it.
Incentives Sell Your Book Too!
Another great way to sell your book during the holiday season is to create incentives. Get people to buy your book during a period of time or buy in a certain quantity. For example, offer a free addition in exchange for the person’s email address when they buy a copy of your book – like a spreadsheet that calculates how much money you need to retire or a menu plan for paleo vegetarians. Make sure the offering is something the reader would have otherwise paid for, so it has a value in addition to the book they’re buying. Some other great offerings to consider these options to buy:
- Three copies and get free access to a one-hour prerecorded talk on a particular topic featured in the book.
- 25 copies and receive the same templates for high-paying clients that the author used to build their business.
- 100 copies and get a free webinar training seminar for your company.
Time-based or quantity-based incentives motivate buyers to buy now – before it’s too late and they miss the deal!
Make sure your SEO and metadata are accurate! Sell more books from searches that are already happening with the right metadata. Plenty of shoppers will be searching for gifts so target the audience searching for a book like yours!
Not sure what that means, then these two videos are for you!