Readers will fall for these fun September holidays
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Ahhhhh, September! You can almost feel fall in the air already, can’t you?
The ninth month of the year brings more than a change in seasons and apple cider. It also offers authors a host of fun September holidays to use for book promotion.
You might have already worked annual events and themes such as “back to school” or the start of the NFL’s regular season into your book marketing calendar. Are there ways you can use this list of quirky and crazy occasions to call attention to your book (and your personality!), too?
Examples of book and occasion matching
You can do so much with these quirky occasions. Think in terms of social media images and graphics, blog posts, tip sheets, and conversation-starting social media posts and commentary.
Here are a few ideas.
September 6, Fight Procrastination Day, has lots of potential for the author of a nonfiction time management book such as Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals
The author and illustrator of the popular children’s book Giraffes Can’t Dance could waltz ahead on September 19, National Dance Day,with so many possibilities. They include a YouTube conversation hosted by a children’s librarian, downloadable dancing giraffe coloring pages, or a Facebook Live story time for the little ones.
Jodi Picoult’s Leaving Time
Fun September holidays for book promotion
Here’s a short list of some of the fun occasions coming up next month. Get the full list at HolidayInsights.com.
- September 1 Emma M. Nutt Day (the first woman telephone operator)
- September 3 Skyscraper Day
- September 4 Bring Your Manners to Work Day
- September 4 World Beard Day
- September 5 Be Late for Something Day
- September 6 Fight Procrastination Day
- September 8 National Ampersand Day
- September 8 Pardon Day
- September 10 Sewing Machine Day
- September 10 Swap Ideas Day
- September 11 Make Your Bed Day
- September 12 Chocolate Milk Shake Day
- September 13 Fortune Cookie Day
- September 13 Positive Thinking Day
- September 16 Collect Rocks Day
- September 16 Step Family Day
- September 19 National Dance Day
- September 19 National Women’s Friendship Day
- September 21 World Gratitude Day
- September 22 Elephant Appreciation Day
- September 23 UK’s National Fitness Day
- September 25 International Rabbit Day
- September 28 Ask a Stupid Question Day
There are also several book-related holidays in September to consider, including Library Card Sign Up Month. You’ll find them in the 2021 Literary Calendar on this site.
Which of these holidays is a good fit for you and your book, and why? How will you use it? Please tell us in a comment.Â
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Clever idea – have bookmarked. Will figure out a way to use it for promoting fiction some day.
And can always (fiction) create a new, appropriate for me and my books, day. Why not – I invent almost everything else!
You can absolutely create your own, Alicia! It’s a fun idea.
Sandy
I have tried using several of the ME/CFS days to both sell copies of Purgatory (one of the main characters has the disease) and to donate the profits to the organizations that fight for victims of the disease, for several years.
Nothing ever clicked – the donations ended up being very small. Part of the problems was that the audience – people with the disease – is a lot of sick people, many without the capacity for sustained reading.
Haven’t quite gotten that one up to speed. Partly because of no energy, and also that it’s hard to get endorsements from the activists themselves. Those endorsements would be golden, but they also don’t have a lot of time for fiction.
Whereas I think that fiction is one of the two best ways to learn about the disease (the other is getting it), and that well-written fiction creates a lot of empathy in readers who would otherwise not even think about the problem (e.g., Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Black Beauty).
It’s an uphill battle.
I agree that fiction is incredibly useful for educating people about diseases, and good for you for doing that. I think it makes the information more palatable.
Sandy