When I first came up with the idea for Naughty Week, I wasn’t thinking about how I could sell it. I fell in love with the story and the characters and wrote the best screenplay I could write. At that time, I had not considered turning it into a book. It would be years before that thought ever crossed my mind. And now that the book is written, I am suddenly one of thousands of Christmas books for kids.
Now what?
With the reality settling in about having a book for sale, my new priority is creating awareness. I will do what I can to promote it, but there is so much competition out there.
And there’s the little problem of my book being the new kid in a giant pool of Christmas books for kids. How do you sell a Middle Grade Christmas book in months not named November and December?
I knew this would be an issue. I spoke to other authors, and they had the same concern. Sure I can promote it throughout the year, but will people buy it in the summer? I’m not going to say no, but I am going to assume that it will be more likely that readers young and old will be searching for Christmas books for kids in the weeks leading up to Christmas.
So I am going to give it a good strong push from now through the holidays and follow my plan. The rest is up to readers.
In my two advertising campaigns, I have a total of seven clicks. I need to once again remind myself that we’re in October and people may not be purchasing Christmas books right now. However, I can tell that people are searching for “Christmas books for kids” and similar search phrases. “Home Alone” is another one that’s getting a lot of searches. I’m just not getting the clicks.
Maybe I need more reviews? Maybe the cover isn’t everything I think it is? I don’t know. Friends and family like it. I’ve been asking around for reviews from people that I know have purchased the book. Verified reviews are important. Everyone is saying yes, of course.
I reached out to a blogger who wrote a “Top Ten” Christmas books post that included Matthew Sullivan’s “Stealing Christmas.” It looks like her blog does sponsored posts and paid reviews. I’m not sure if it’s something I really want to do. I don’t want to pay for reviews. That seems icky.
I spent about three hours cleaning my apartment. I listened to the section on book marketing from Joanna Penn’s “Successful Self Publishing.” I think I’m doing everything I’m supposed to be doing. The one thing I don’t know how to do is send free review copies of the ebook to friends, family, and potential reviewers in a secure way. She mentioned a solution for that, and I looked into bookfunnel.com. There’s a fee, but it’s pretty reasonable. About $10 per month or $100 per year for the level of service that I need.
I suppose all I can do is continue to create awareness and do as strong a book marketing push as I can do. I am going to master Amazon book ads and continue to write every day. The good news about launching Christmas books for kids in October is that I have a few weeks to make sure everything is in place before the November and December holiday push arrives.
