Marketing for Gift Giving: The How and the Why

Everybody knows that the busiest time for the book trade is the festive season. But the thing that nobody tells you is that the best time to promote a book as a potential present is before anyone is even thinking about presents.

By the time the first mince pies appear in the shops, the people who write gift guides have usually chosen their lists, booksellers have placed their orders, and the organised readers among us have started our "Christmas ideas" lists. The window for being considered opens now, in October, while the rest of the world is still carving pumpkins.

That might sound like pressure, but I think it's good news, especially if you dread self-promotion. Starting early means you can go slowly. If you start now, you have the time to do a handful of small, sensible things, one at a time. None of them require you to become a marketer overnight. I say that as a marketer.

Book marketing, at its best, isn't shouting uselessly into the void. It's making it easy for the right reader to find your book and feel good about buying it. I’ve put together a plan to help you navigate these treacherous, unforgiving waters, when you’re trying to sell your book to people who might not be your readers.

Why gift-giving is a different kind of selling

Someone buying a present isn't thinking "which book do I want to read?" They're thinking, "what would make this person happy?"

A gift buyer is often not a regular reader of your genre, and sometimes not a regular reader at all. They're not buying something that they want and will enjoy; they’re thinking about someone else, their tastes, and shopping with their eyes and going off the vibes your work puts out to make their choice.

The most important step in any marketing is knowing who your book is for, and I mean actual people rather than just demographics. This is especially important if you’re selling your book as an idea to a person who might not be all that interested in the content themselves.

Are you selling something that would suit the reader who has everything? The friend who's always on the sofa with a mug? The new parent who hasn't had time to read in a year? A useful technique is to finish one sentence: "This is the book for people who ____."

When someone is buying a gift, they are often asking themselves those very questions. “My sister just had a baby and needs something fun and quick to read over the holidays.” You want them to find your book and think, “This is perfect!”

Make your book easy to find and easy to buy

You can't be bought if you can't be found, and nothing undermines a gift like a confusing purchase experience. Before you tell anyone about your book, make sure your home base is in good shape. That might be your author website, knowing which retailers stock your work (with links), being visible on your social media pages, and sending out emails to your mailing list.

If you’re self-publishing and are starting to really push your work, then you need to make sure that your work looks good on phones. That’s often something overlooked in the production process, because you design it big. But especially when people are thinking about gifts, a lot of that purchasing will be happening in bed on a phone or tablet, so you need to start now to check whether both your sales platform, and the book itself looks good at a smaller scale.

The cover should be clear, the price easy to spot, the formats obvious at a glance, and there should be one clear place to click. Broken links and out-of-stock formats cost sales, because people want gift buying to be easy, not a second job. Boring work for you, yes, but it's the boring work that makes sales easier.

It's also worth thinking about whether a gift buyer can get the book in time. If you sell or ship directly, know your last posting date and make that clear in advance. If you rely on retailers, check that your work is available and that the listing looks right.

Describe your book as a gift

A back-cover blurb is written for someone deciding whether to read a book. A gift description is written for someone deciding whether to give it. A gift blurb won’t always be appropriate, but if you're targeting gift guides, or putting together a season sales page of your own, then it's good to change up the language.

When you write a gift-friendly description, think about three things: mood, reader, and occasion.

• Mood is the feeling of the book (cosy, gripping, thought-provoking, funny). Reader is the sort of person who'll love it.
• Occasion is where it fits, whether that's a stocking filler, a thank-you, a book to immerse yourself in while on holiday, or something to press into a friend's hands who needs cheering up.

Here's a made-up example of the shift in tone:

A cosy mystery set in a Cornish bookshop, for readers who like their crimes gentle and their tea strong. A perfect present for anyone who has ever wished the library would stay open late.

It's short, it's specific, and it does the gift buyer's thinking for them. You can reuse it everywhere, from your buy page to your newsletter, to a note to a bookseller.

Reach out to people

This is the part most authors dread, so I want to be clear about what it is and isn't. It isn't a campaign, and it isn't a mass email. It's a small number of considered, friendly messages to people who are used to these sorts of interactions.

For a sense of where to look, think about bloggers, reviewers, or newsletter writers who champion books, or have published gift guides in the past, independent booksellers who champion your genre or local authors, and any podcast or local outlet that regularly talks about books.

If you keep your list small, you can be personal in your approach. Make sure you are clear about who you are, what you write, and what you do. Give them the gift-friendly description, offer them a free copy with no pressure, and most importantly, check any relevant submission guidelines, keep it friendly, and respect their right to say no.

There's nothing pushy about this, even though it might feel like it at first glance. Targeting your approach to people who often interface with authors mean they’re used to emails like this, so as long as you keep it friendly and don’t pressure them, they will never feel like you’ve overstepped. It's also completely normal not to hear back. People are busy, and silence is rarely a verdict on your book. A single polite follow-up is fine; after that, let it go.

Use the audience you already have

A mailing list of thirty people is still thirty people who chose to hear from you, and a handful of followers who interact with you is worth more than a big number who never do.

If you have a newsletter, a seasonal message is expected. People are on your mailing list because they want to hear from you. A few techniques help:

1. Keep it short. Lead with something warm and useful before you mention your book.
2. Make the gift angle clear, using your description from earlier, and include one link and one date so nobody has to hunt.
3. A line like "A book for the person who's hard to buy for" works better than a hard sell, because it's kind and it solves a problem.

If you have no list, a social post or a line in your email signature can be a quick win. The aim is simply to give readers the right framing to think of your book as a present, which many of them might not have considered yet.

A loose sense of timing

You don't need a calendar, but a rough order helps. October is for the groundwork: knowing your reader, tidying your page, and writing your gift description. Late October into early November is a good time for outreach, since gift guide writers tend to plan ahead. Your own audience can hear from you as the season builds, with a reminder of the last order date nearer the end.

Be kind to yourself, and to the people who help

When the season winds down, thank everyone who featured your book, shared your post, or bought a copy for their mum. A short, specific thank-you is the beginning of a relationship that will serve you well next year. Jot down what worked while it's fresh, so next year's you has a head start.

You don't have to be loud to be seen. You do have to be early, clear, and kind, and that is a kind of marketing you can enjoy doing, and your readers can enjoy receiving.