For all of you who engage in self-publishing, the toughest part is marketing and figuring out printer timing. Whether you already have books out there, or you are thinking you want to have your book done in time for that whirlwind gift-giving season coming up in December….NOW is the time to ensure the product will be complete and available to the public.
eBooks can be purchased and immediately downloaded to a phone or computer. It is the print versions that are tricky. Whether you use Amazon, Ingram, Bookbaby or any other printer/marketer, they will get loaded down with the sheer amount of orders that come during that time. So what should you do?
If you already have published a book but want to order author copies at the lower prices – do so before October 30th, especially if you plan to get 30 copies or more. You may even want to order them in batches of 20. Why? Because these self-publishing houses print in order of importance – so the first ones printed every day are the ones ordered by customers at full price – those are the ones they will make money off of.
Author copies are printed at cost – which means the printer/marketer won’t make any money from them. Those are the last priority. I had a client who ordered 50 author copies of his book on Dec 1. It was not shipped to him until January 12th of the next year.
If you are still in the process of writing a book you want out in time – have it done and formatted by Oct 15. Get it on the shelves by October 30th and start up with the marketing immediately.
Something you may not realize is that November is NaNoWriMo – Novel Writing Month around the world. Those thousands of authors finish their books by November 30th, and the next day they begin the self-publishing process. This slows the whole system down until late January – world wide!
I’d like to recommend that you look at this online article about Holiday Marketing from Bowker. It may be just the first of September, but don’t be surprised at how fast the next few months will fly!
Rose Marie Kern
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