by Sherrie Wilkolaski
If you haven't already started, now is the time to get the ball rolling with planning your 
marketing goals for the holiday season. The holidays are paramount for authors and a fantastic time for increasing book sales, so it is vital that you take advantage of getting your book "out there" during the next couple of months. Not sure what you can do? You can start with planning a holiday party of course!
If you never got around to having a book release party, this is the perfect excuse! You can start with creating an electronic invitation (we like evite.com). Pick a date that most of your friends, family and colleagues will be able to attend; not too close to Thanksgiving or Christmas or you might find yourself with a small turnout!
In the invitation, you can offer attendees the option of buying your book online prior to the event or make them available at the actual event. Offering signed copies of your book is also a nice touch; you can have them already signed and at the event if you instruct buyers to e-mail their desired inscription ahead of time.
If you're on the shy side when it comes to book promotion, you can team up with another author in your area or with a similar genre to host a joint event. Cross-promotion between authors is extremely important in building a reader fanbase as well as a solid connection amongst other writers in your field.
If you're in the holiday spirit, you can also donation a portion of your book sale proceeds to a charity or organization that you support or is in your local community. People are always looking to give back during the holidays, so this will be great incentive to buy not only one copy of your book but others as gifts for friends and family.
Have you hosted a book promotion event? Share your experience in the comments below.
Image courtesy www.themarysue.com
