Indie Authors - Are You Christmas Ready?

As an Indie author, are you ready for Christmas?
 
This is one of the best times of the year for books sales, because books make such a great gift.

But, just like any other time of the year, your potential readers need to know about your book and how it is going to be the perfect gift for their loved one or friend.
 
If you use Amazon Ads, then now is the time to launch a “keyword” ad aimed specifically at the Christmas market. There are two steps to this.
 
Firstly, find the books by other authors that are like yours and use their titles and the authors' names as keywords in your ad.

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Secondly, add in suitable keywords so that people searching for Christmas gifts also find the book.
 
The most efficient way to do this is to add the words Christmas, festive, seasonal, holidays (if you are American) and similar to other keywords you may use that are related to your book and its genre. For example, Christmas books, Christmas novels, Christmas romance. Christmas mystery etc.

If you are a stranger to Amazon Ads, then their ​tutorials are the place to start finding out more and learn about their power to improve your sales.

But Amazon is only one place where you should be promoting your books for the Christmas season. If you are on Facebook, X/Twitter, Linkedin or Pinterest, you should be scheduling posts specifically aimed at the Christmas market.

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People are desperate for ideas for gifts to give, so they will appreciate you giving them helpful suggestions.
 
Make sure you include some of those keywords in your posts, so that they show up in searches. Also use hashtags for added searchability.
 
You might also consider setting up some book bundles for readers to buy. This is particularly relevant if you write series and you can bundle 3 or 4 books from the series. By offering a reduced price compared to buying the books individually, you can increase your sales, which increases your income.

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If you have your own website where people can buy your books directly from you, then  setting up “buy one get one free” (aka BOGOF) offers will also give your books a boost. Everyone loves a bargain and being able to buy two gifts for the price of one is always a winner.

Black Friday is 24th November and Cyber Monday is on 27th November and both those days should also be targeted for sales. But you must offer deals on those days, or people won’t buy.

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If you have access to graphics packages such as Canva or BookBrush, use their templates to set up some seasonally themed mock ups for your books. Putting your book cover on your social media is OK but, psychologically, displaying it in a Christmas setting is another nudge towards the “buy” button.

​Making it clear that price is reduced for Black Friday is another nudge.

But remember, you aren’t selling your book direct to the reader, you are selling it to a friend or loved one. So the text that accompanies your promotion has to be about how somebody else will love the book. So, a phrase such as “The golfer in your life will love this book” is more appealing that just telling the viewer that your book is about golf.

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The key to extra sales isn’t about promoting your book once and hoping for the best, it is about promoting your book continually throughout the season.

Most social media sites have rules about spam, but if you vary the images and the text you will get away with it, as each post will appear unique.
 
But the Christmas selling season doesn’t end on 25th December.

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A lot of people get gift vouchers for Amazon and for other etailing sites, so set up another series of promotions and post them starting on 25th December and running through to the New Year, because that is when people will be going on-line searching for things to buy with those vouchers.
 
Make sure it is your book or books they buy!
 
And, if you are looking for some great book ideas to buy for your friends and loved ones, then you might want to take a look at the ones we have to offer. Just click here to take a look at our catalogue.
 
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