Timing an indie book release for Christmas–how do you actually do that?
A question came up this week from one of my clients at 40 Day Publishing about how fast we could get her book published.
She wants her book to be available for the Christmas rush.
We’re going to do our best to make that happen, but when she heard my answer, I think she might have panicked just a little.
See, she’s using IngramSpark.
Now, don’t get me wrong: IngramSpark is fantastic as a publishing platform for paperback and hardcover books (and they’ve been publishing ebooks for a while now too). Their best feature, though, is their distribution network. They don’t just distribute to Amazon, though they do that too. In fact, Amazon uses a portion of IngramSpark’s distribution network to push sales of books published on Amazon as well.
Amazon may be more popular with indie authors because of ease of use, but IngramSpark’s distribution network is amazing. It is very broad and very deep. They not only do business with brick and mortar stores (which makes them a great fit if you want to do book signings), they also connect to a lot of other online platforms that are not Amazon. And, since they stopped charging for processing files prior to publishing, they’re now very competitive. But–it takes a while to while for their distribution network to update when new titles are added. Expect this process to take at least 45-60 days. You can still order author copies within days of publishing your files, though, and ship them wherever they’re needed.
Update: I started writing this post yesterday–and had to pause to work on more formatting and cover design. So, today, I got to have this conversation again with a couple of other author friends.
My friend Ruth Nordin got all excited when she heard that I was writing this post. She says that authors really need this information.
When should you publish your book if you want it out in time for Christmas?
The short answer is that it depends.
- What are you publishing? Is it a children’s picture book or a romance novel or something else?
- Would it make a good Christmas gift?
- How much work does your book still need before it’s ready to publish? I.e., do you need to allow for more time?
- Are you publishing on Amazon or on IngramSpark (or on Draft2Digital via IngramSpark)?
- How does when you publish fit into your marketing plan?
The answers to these questions will help you create a timeline for publishing.
How what you’re publishing influences timing your indie book release for Christmas:
Ruth mentioned that there is mostly no point in trying to push romance novels at Christmas unless they have a Christmas theme. She says that it’s more beneficial to publish romance novels well before Christmas (like in August to October) or in early January. Ruth is an author with nearly 100 novels published. She should know!
That said, if your romance novel has a Christmas theme, it’s a very good idea to have it available in time for the Christmas shopping season. You want to be ordering your author copies no later than the first of November (Mid-October would be even better in case there’s an issue with your order) so that you can have them in time for the Christmas craft fairs and other Christmas-related events.
If your book is a children’s picture book, having it available for Christmas shoppers and Christmas craft fairs is also great idea.
Okay–so now we have a date range that we know that we’re aiming for,
we need to have our indie book published and available to order author copies by no later than November 1st.
If your book still needs a lot of work, you are highly unlikely to make this deadline, especially if you need to work with a professional editor or illustrator in order to complete your vision. But–if your book is ready to go, even thought it’s already October 3rd, if all your book needs is a nice cover and a formatted interior, oh–and your files uploaded and listed on Amazon, you can easily make this deadline, especially if you can DIY some or all of this. It’s going to be tighter with IngramSpark as I already explained. We’re already behind that 45-60 day distribution network curve.
If you want my help in formatting your book and layout of the cover (and publishing and SEO assistance), I’d love to help you, but you’ll have to get in line. I have three projects that I’m actively working on now, one that’s waiting for an endorsement so I can publish it, and two more (maybe three?) about to land in my lap. And one wandering around out in the wilds somewhere howling at the moon that, if I could just convince the author to round it up and return it to me to finish formatting, we could publish that one now too!
So–I can’t guarantee that I’d have your book ready and published by mid-October. It’s pretty unlikely at this point! 40 Day Publishing might still be able to accommodate you. We do have other formatters and cover designers to cover the work (I’m not the only one).
But–if you’re willing to be flexible on the time constraints and don’t mind if your book isn’t physically in your hands by November 1st, I can still accommodate your project–and so can Dan Mawhinney at 40DayPublishing if you need publishing services that I don’t provide.
Please feel free to Contact Me. I’ll be happy to discuss your project with you and refer you if I can’t assist you.