Best Time to Sell Book?

[Daphnesmate01]

I am in the process of self publishing a book and plan to sell it mainly via Amazon.

Is there a best time to upload it - (certain months)? I guess around Christmas time might not be good as there would be loads of competition (my book isn't typically mainstream).

Anyone?

I've not seen seasonal data by genre. I think the Kindle Storyteller competition for some genre fiction is live until around the end of August, if your novel is in the relevant genre.

Partial bump.

What genre is your book, OP?

Also, will you be singing up to Kindle Unlimited or looking for individual sales?

Hi Zilla

My book spans different genres that's why I believe it isn't commercial. It tackles a specific issue with grief as a central theme. Partially historical, a touch of romance and a sprinkle of fantasy.

Looking for individual sales.

Thanks for the partial bump Zilla. The writing forum in general seem very quiet.

You're welcome. Yes it does feel quieter than normal though I think worth it for the contributions of a few posters which, for me, include themenal who always have something to say that gives me a lot to think about.

You know your beauty better than anyone but I think historical fantasy romance is a recognised genre.
www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/historical-fantasy-romance

Good luck.

Hi @daphnesmate01

Like Zilla I haven't seen any sales data by month either.

Certainly in my genre (romance) there is a well known thing called the 'summer slump' which is believed to impact sales because the kids are home from school and people are busier with families (in comparison to winter when you can totally imagine people spending the weekend curled on the sofa with a blanket and a book).

There's also the belief that Christmas isn't great unless you're releasing a holiday themed novel as lots of readers want that, as well as trad really pumping money into advertising and pushing Cost Per Click up.

But a lot of this is hearsay. My best selling book of all time had a July release, and I've released in December where the bog standard novel outsold the Christmas themed one.

I think the best answer is probably the most obvious - the best time to release a book is yesterday if you held a gun to my head and made me choose a month I'd say September, for no reason other than the kids are back in school, the weather is cooler and it's far away from Christmas. But if your book is ready I wouldn't hold back. Good luck!! 🤞🏻

I've seen the following for USA-based traditional publishing houses - a rough calendar by genre for their release dates:

January–April

Romance
Self-help
Business
Cooking
Design
May–August

Adventure
Fantasy
Travel
September–November

Academic
Horror
Paranormal
December–January

Children
Cookery
Illustrated
Quiz and Novelty books

but that's traditional rather than self published.

In print, one main differentiation might be the Christmas period for books suitable as gifts and Summer reading for self.

I'm thinking January. September might be a possibility also but I want to develop my website alongside it plus do a bit more work on my second novel, so I think this all ties in with a January release.