Release Timelines and Holidays

[Matthew]

My latest book took me longer than expected to finish, so it's pushed itself into the holiday season. The book is not themed for the holidays; it's sci-fi. Historically my books haven't done so hot in December so I've been thinking of pushing the release until January. I'm only releasing an ebook for now, which makes buying the book as a gift less likely. I might have more luck if people buy new Kindles or have gift money after Christmas. I don't think I can compete with the ad spend of others, especially since this is the first book for a new pen name. (I'm not sure I want to bother with ads at all with one book)

Guess I'm curious if others have had more luck releasing before or after the holidays, and whether you ran ads.

[TimothyEllis]

I ignore holidays, and release on my schedule.

Next one for me, with one last Saturday, is aimed for December 23. I've done that before without any problems, but this year has seen everything change, so it might be different.

All the same, I'm on fire writing at the moment, so while I was releasing at 35 days for a while, it's now down to around 28.

I don't run ads. Things are not real good these days, but I'm not that desperate yet.

[alhawke]

I would consider releasing your book in early January. I find sales are worse during all holidays, unless your book is targeting the holiday itself.

It used to be that January was a gold mine for Indie writers. Everyone got their kindles and went looking for ebooks to fill their new readers with. But, there's quite a few more books available now. Times have changed and I don't see a rush of sales in January, but I always see a drop in sales on holidays (I even see less sales on weekends with my books). Usually, I still fare better in January.

[LilyBLily]

I ignore holidays, and release on my schedule.

Next one for me, with one last Saturday, is aimed for December 23. I've done that before without any problems, but this year has seen everything change, so it might be different.

All the same, I'm on fire writing at the moment, so while I was releasing at 35 days for a while, it's now down to around 28.

I don't run ads. Things are not real good these days, but I'm not that desperate yet.

I hope sales improve. At least the writing is going well. I forget if you have a large newsletter list to encourage sales--although, as always, YMMV. Not the sure thing that pre-orders supposedly are, but you can ask your newsletter peeps to rate the books if they read them in KU, and that could help visibility.

[Bill Hiatt]

For me, the holidays usually result in worse sales. If you're doing a rapid release model such as Timothy uses, it may not make as much difference because fans are primed to expect new releases at relatively regular intervals. But for those of us who can't match that pace, people's minds are elsewhere on the holidays.

[Writer]

I release around a book per month and haven't noticed that holidays make much difference one way or another. I just put it out there when it's ready.

[LilyBLily]

One thing I noticed this year was that a lot of romance authors do not release books the last weeks of August or early September. Presumably that's because of school. (It felt like a desert wasteland to me.) The second half of September, everything started to drop.

The day after Christmas Day used to be considered one of the best retail days of the year. I don't know if that's true anymore, given that people can order things online on actual legal holidays in addition to the usual 24 hours a day. Since the pandemic, many physical stores have not returned to their 24 hours a day paradigms, but eventually they will. Same thing with Thanksgiving early bird Black Friday craziness. All the merchants need is a really bad year and they'll open their stores back to more hours. That's actually what happened in the 1970s (a bad economy) that broke the standard patterns of most stores closing around 6 PM except one or two nights a week. The paradigm since then has been ever longer hours of operation--until the pandemic shut everything down temporarily.

[alhawke]

Something just reminded me of Zoebub. I'd check out the dates of Zoebub, Matthew, when considering a release. The last Zoebub impacted one of my promotions this year cutting my sales. It's a huge event with hundreds of books given away. I think it's the end of December.

[Bill Hiatt]

I release around a book per month and haven't noticed that holidays make much difference one way or another. I just put it out there when it's ready.

This is further evidence that a frequent release pattern is less vulnerable to seasonal fluctuations. Your fans will be on the alert for another book. My fans, on the other hand, won't know when my next book is coming, so if something else major is going on, they won't notice my new release.

[Bill Hiatt]

One thing I noticed this year was that a lot of romance authors do not release books the last weeks of August or early September. Presumably that's because of school. (It felt like a desert wasteland to me.) The second half of September, everything started to drop.

The day after Christmas Day used to be considered one of the best retail days of the year. I don't know if that's true anymore, given that people can order things online on actual legal holidays in addition to the usual 24 hours a day. Since the pandemic, many physical stores have not returned to their 24 hours a day paradigms, but eventually they will. Same thing with Thanksgiving early bird Black Friday craziness. All the merchants need is a really bad year and they'll open their stores back to more hours. That's actually what happened in the 1970s (a bad economy) that broke the standard patterns of most stores closing around 6 PM except one or two nights a week. The paradigm since then has been ever longer hours of operation--until the pandemic shut everything down temporarily.

That's interesting. I can't recall seeing much of a drop around the opening of school, though I can see the logic behind one.

This year's Good Friday brought in 7.5% more money for retailers than last year's, and Cyber Monday was projected to be even bigger, though I can't find any figure on that yet. I'm not sure how many stores in my area had different hours. I stopped throughing myself into that maelstrom even before the pandemic.