Some aspiring indie authors wonder if they should publish in a particular month or season. Maybe releasing a book in the fall when school starts is a good time? Maybe in the spring before the summer lull hits? Maybe summer is a good time because people have time to read? How about in November or December when people can purchase the book as a gift for friends?
Those who want to to land traditional publishing deals sometimes think they shouldn’t approach publishers after Memorial Day or in December. They’ve been told agents and acquisitions editors don’t work much during the summer or around the Winter holidays.
The launch date of your new book, as well as when you approach agents and publishers, is important, but not for the reasons you might think.
Some of the factors above may play into the sales of your book, but for the most part they don’t. People purchase books at all times of the year, and the publishing industry never stops working totally. Yes, there are slow times, but that doesn’t mean you can’t or shouldn’t peddle your wares at those times: your book.
When you consider when to launch your book or to to land a publishing deal, the primary factor to consider is whether you have done everything you can to help your book succeed once published. That means you need to ask yourself if you have build an author platform, a built in readership for your book.
As an independent publisher, you are the only one who can guarantee how well your book will sell. This depends upon how good a business person you are. In other words, how much promotion are you willing to do? Promotion doesn’t have to be hard-core selling. It can be networking online and off to build a base of fans ready and willing to purchase your book on your launch day. That’s good business. It can mean speaking to groups or writing articles for national magazines.
To make yourself attractive to a publisher, you must be a good business partner. That means showing the publisher a strong promotion plan and a large author platform. Again, you can build this organically over time.
In either case, the time to launch isn’t until you have your platform and are ready to promote to your fan base, that built-in readership you have created.
That’s assuming you want your launch to result in book sales or your query or book proposal to result in a contract.
So, as you consider the right time for you to publish your book–to readers or publishers, remember the best time is when you are actually ready to launch.
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