I was going to set up a thread for this exact same question. I'm about to release a book and was considering the holidays too.
My thought was to wait until the beginning of the new year to publish, but send out ARCs over the next couple weeks during the xmas holiday (sounds like you?). The question is: will people be interested in reading ARCs during the holidays? I have a handful of regular readers, but I'd like to try to capture people through review services as well like Booksprout and possibly Netgalley. I don't know if people will be too busy drinking egg nog.
If you're asking when to publish, JR, my thought is to wait until the new year (from what I've gathered scouring through other people's experiences, the holidays are a bad time for a new release). But, perhaps, with your experience you think otherwise?
I had planned to release the paperback first in order to have a place for reviews on Amazon, but there's a wrench in my paperback completion: I'm not sure exactly of the page count yet. I do have a lovely cover though and a polished novel, so I might just send out ARCs early.
