If you want to expand your book sales, one way is to increase your online audience by expanding your promotions to overseas.
In a previous post, I talked about timing your posts to reach overseas audiences by posting them at times appropriate for your target overseas audience. For example, I live in New Mexico, which is Mountain Standard Time (MST). If I want to time my posts, so that they post on the most populous part of Australia (the east coast), I have to first consider, when the most likely time Australians might be up, moving about, and looking for something to read. On social media, a common hashtag for book promotions is #FictionFriday. This is when a lot of people look for books to read over the weekend. Therefore, I might want to time my posts when everyone on Australia’s east coast, which is Australian Eastern Daylight Time is rising and getting ready for their day. Assuming they have to be at work at 8:00 a.m, I may want to time my posts to hit there at 7:00 a.m. 7:00 a.m. Friday in Sydney is 6:30 p.m. in Albuquerque. So, I post at 6:30 p.m. Albuquerque time. You can find lots of articles and maps on the Internet to calculate the time difference, but iPhones and other gadgets enable you to monitor the time in several locations at once.
However, now I want to discuss promoting your books/posts by using holidays, international and national.
There are lots of international holidays with which to time posts or promotions: Christmas, Easter, Good Friday, New Year’s Day, etc. Everyone knows these. Many of these are religious holidays.
There are also a lot of lesser known holidays that you can use to target an audience depending on its topic, of course. One example is World Book Day, which is generally celebrated on April 23rd. Calendarlabs.com provides a good list of international holidays such as these.
Then there are the national holidays celebrated by your target country. Assuming you want to promote your book to English-speaking countries, the five major English-speaking countries are the UK, the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. English is spoken world-wide, so if you target these countries primarily, you will probably reach the vast majority of the English-speakers as well, though you may be a time zone off here and there. Of course, you can find exhaustive lists of holidays for each of these countries scattered around the Internet, but here are a few you may want to consider (the links are to a list of each country’s holidays):
Spring Bank Holiday, May 28, 2018
Boxing Day (in most English-speaking nations), December 26, 2018
Victoria Day, May 21, 2018
Canada Day, July 2, 2018
Labour Day, September 3, 2018
Remembrance Day, November 11, 2018
Australia Day, January 26, 2018
ANZAC Day, April 25, 2018
Queen’s Birthday, June 11, 2018
Boxing Day, December 26, 2018
Waitangi Day, February 6, 2018
ANZAC Day, April 25, 2018
Labour Day, October 22, 2018
Boxing Day, December 26, 2018
Remember that the UK consists of England, Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland, so you may have to consider the holidays in each of these separately. Also, some states and provinces may or may not celebrate national holidays in the same way or on the same date as the rest of the nation as well as having their own holidays.
As mentioned, these are only a few, actually a very few of the holidays celebrated in English-speaking countries, but I hope it gives you an idea of what is out there that you may want to incorporate into you posting and planning.
I have been surfing the Internet and came across some upcoming dates that might interest bibliophiles and writers. These are international holidays celebrating books, literacy, or book-related topics that will of interest. Mark these on your calendar. I will be giving away books on each in commemoration/celebration of the event, though which books is yet to be determined. I have also noted one that is already past, so that you can be ready for it in 2019 as well as for the others.
Phil Slattery, Writer, Publisher 