Frustrated because your book isn’t selling as well as you had hoped?
PMA Independent, the newsletter for members of the Publishers Marketing Association, includes a great article in its March issue on times of the year when sales spike. Publishers pass along these marketing tips that are effective during the holidays:
—Market cookbooks during and after Christmas, when people cook more.
—Lori Hatcher of Urban Land Institute, whose company has a few titles that make holiday gifts, does a self-mailer to a select part of their mailing list in early November, showing books as gifts. For a small fee, the company offers to print bookplates and affix them to the inside front cover with the company name, logo, and a message from the sender.
—Pitch your books and related products to Holiday Gift Guides.
Jan Nathan, executive director of PMA, author of the article, said one theme seemed dominant when she asked publishers about when their sales spiked and dipped:
“When I market, publicize, and advertise my titles, I can see an upward spke. When I stop pushing my product, I experience a slump.”
Surprise? Hardly.