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Use crazy July holidays for book promotion

BySandra Beckwith

There’s a lot more happening for authors in July than Independence Day in the U.S. It’s time to lighten up your book promotion by leveraging crazy July holidays to get attention.

Find and leverage a fun holiday from the short list below, or browse the expanded list on HolidayInsights for one you can link to your book. Then brainstorm how you might combine the two — the holiday and your book — to create content or get attention.

Ideas for those crazy July holidays

Here are just a few examples from the abbreviated list below:

  • Do you write science fiction? World UFO Day on July 2 is for you.
  • You’re a children’s book author? Have fun with Teddy Bear Picnic Day on  July 10.
  • Is your book on a technology topic? Embrace Your Geekness Day, July 13, is for you.
  • Do you write historical fiction? Consider using Amelia Earhart Day on July 24 a springboard.
  • Is ice cream one of your major food groups? (Raising my hand on that one.) Use your Facebook page or group to poll people about their favorite flavor on National Ice Cream Day on July 15.
  • Are you a Buffalo, N.Y.-area author? July 29, National Chicken Wing Day, is tailor-made for you and those tasty Buffalo chicken wings you’re so well known for.

Crazy July holidays

Let this list of crazy July holidays inspire you to review the longer list.

  • July 1 Build A Scarecrow Day
  • July 2 World UFO Day
  • July 3 Disobedience Day
  • July 5 Workaholics Day
  • July 7 Chocolate Day
  • July 8 Video Games Day
  • July 10 Teddy Bear Picnic Day
  • July 11 Cheer up the Lonely Day
  • July 13 Barbershop Music Appreciation Day
  • July 13 Embrace Your Geekness Day
  • July 14 Shark Awareness Day
  • July 15 Be a Dork Day
  • July 15 Cow Appreciation Day
  • July 15 National Ice Cream Day
  • July 16 Fresh Spinach Day
  • July 16 Global Hug Your Kids Day
  • July 18 National Hot Dog Day
  • July 20 Moon Day
  • July 22 Hammock Day
  • July 24 Amelia Earhart Day
  • July 24 Cousins Day
  • July 26 All or Nothing Day
  • July 28 National Day of the Cowboy
  • July 29 National Chicken Wing Day

Authors who have used this tactic have been happy with the attention they’ve brought to their books.

Now it’s your turn to have fun and get creative with these crazy July holidays.

Have you ever used a holiday to help promote your book? What did you do? Tell us in a comment.

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Sandra Beckwith is an author, book marketing coach, freelance writer, and national award-winning former publicist whose Build Book Buzz book marketing blog is ranked 7th among thousands globally and has been honored as a top website for authors and writers seven times.

10 Comments

  1. Yes! I have started marking my calendar for the wacky holidays that seem fitting for my books. For my first novel, I participated in “Talk Like A Pirate Day” (Sept. 19) and “Day of the Ninja,” (Dec. 5) since the book features a war between pirates and ninja. You can definitely have a lot of fun with this stuff.

    Reply

    1. I’m so glad you’re doing this (and having fun), Laura! I’d love to know more about what you do with these!

      Sandy

      Reply

  2. I have written a novel called READ BETWEEN THE LIES where I have used the Rendlesham Forest incident as a backdrop to my story. I have updated it and moved the setting but the initial essence of what happened is really there. How can I promote this as I am hoping to have it published on the 23rd November 2018, with CreateSpace. I have already used most social media options and posted the first two chapters on CreateSpace’s review page, and so far had 160 views. But it’s taking it to the next level I need guidance on.

    Reply

  3. Thanks for the list! I’m going to use the July 28 National Day of the Cowboy in a blog post to promote my father-in-law’s book that we sell.

    While it isn’t a crazy holiday link, I just wrote post (it’s “from” my husband but I really wrote it) that tied the book in with the release of the movie Book Club. Here is it http://alandremembered.com/5-why-reasons-a-land-remembered-should-be-your-next-book-club-selection/

    You can use this as a sample if you like. We also get a lot of email signups by offering this list of discussion questions for book clubs.

    Reply

    1. Thanks, Kim. Looks like National Day of the Cowboy will be perfect for your book. I love the blog post — what a great idea! You were smart to use the movie as a jumping off point, but you also executed your idea beautifully. (And I’ll bet you had fun with it.) Congratulations!

      Sandy

      Reply

  4. Yes. I created specific ads for both Mothers Day and Fathers Day and promoted my award-winning book on prayer. This resulted in over two thousand downloads Mothers Day weekend. Several pages of my book were read the past month- with a few reviews sprinkled in as well.

    Reply

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