A Publisher's Conversation with Authors: Holidays and Books

 


It is Tuesday. Monday's madness is over, and Wednesday will take us over the hump, so Tuesday it is--for some serious discussion with authors. Tuesday talks mean to address authors in waiting and self-published authors who would like to go a more traditional route or who would at least like to take their steps with a publisher by their side. 

Today's topic addresses a topic that is important at this time of year and one that is often a bane for publishers: holiday books and holiday book orders.

Holiday books

  • Scheduling is very important when it comes to publishing holiday books. Books for Christmas (or Chanukah), for example, should have been completed in ARC form no later than early May. That gives time to get the pre-publication reviews before the holiday (given the typical 6 months advance time needed for reviewers, a May ARC allows for a book to be on pre-order over the summer and released in early November, allowing time for ordering for Christmas (when mailing services are slowed down from the high quantity of holiday mail).
  • What does that mean for authors and manuscripts? Authors should have their final manuscripts to publishers as early as January for a Christmas/Chanukah book since publishers can take 406 months to edit and produce a book.
  • Self-publishers will also need to start working in the winter months in order to get the editing of their book down and, for those who use a professional typesetter, the typesetting down as well.
  • As for marketing, as always with any book, start the day you have the idea! That said, concentrated marketing should start in the early fall for a Christmas/Chanukah book.
  • For other seasons, use the same rule of thumb as far as advance timing is concerned.

Holiday book orders

  • Start your concentrated advertising, marketing, promotion in the early fall and intensify leading up to early November, i.e. NOW.
  • Order books early (whether you are sending readers to your publisher's website, Amazon, or, your own). Your publisher/printer will be competing with thousands of others wanting to acquire holiday (Christmas/Chanukah) books beginning in November.
  • Expect that books ordered toward the end of November and later that are meant as holiday gifts for Christmas or Chanukah may not arrive on time.
  • Adjust these times for other holidays.

And for fun, for the holidays, in anticipation of Christmas, please click HERE to enjoy a delightful trailer for our popular Sula-the-cat book, Christmas at the Mission. 

See more Publisher Conversations with authors HERE.



 Learn more about publishing from an acquisitions editor -- how to get your book proposal accepted, why proposals are turned down/accepted, and how to find the right publisher for your book. On special sale for $5 while inventory lasts at MSI Press webstore.



The Tuesday talks reflect real discussions between the management of MSI Press LLC and our own authors or those would-be authors who come through our doors but don't make the cut--yet. If you have a topic that you would like addressed, leave the question in the comment section. Chances are, in our 18 years of publishing first-time and experiences authors, we have had a conversation with one of our authors that we can share with you.

                             

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