When is the best time to release a new book?

I have no idea, so when scheduling a preorder date, I usually just pick a round number far enough in the future that I feel I can make the upload date without dying of stress. I have come to believe it’s impossible to schedule a preorder date too far in advance. I’m feeling time pressure for INVICTUS now and it’s only July. Two months to go! It doesn’t seem like enough time. Of course technically I only have to get INVICTUS: CAPTIVE ready to go by Sept 11th, but I will feel pretty uncomfortable if I don’t already have INVICTUS: CRISIS ready as well. I have some revision to do and then there will be as many iterations of proofing as I can fit in. My goal in life — well, no, but a nice bonus — would be someday to release a book where no one catches anything at all.

Anyway, I never know whether it might be better to schedule a new release for, say, Saturday vs Monday or anything like that. I guess if I thought about it, I would think it might be best to drop a new book on the Friday before a long holiday weekend, but the kind of weekend that isn’t too much about family and therefore leaves people looking for something to do. I doubt I will ever put THAT much thought into this, but here is a post at Writers Helping Writers that is about that: When is the Best Time to Release a New Book?

Oh, no, it isn’t about that. Or not only that. It’s mostly about the best time of YEAR to release a new book:

The first quarter of the year is the perfect time of year for business, self-improvement, health, and writing craft books, as people are eager to stick to their New Year’s resolutions. Genre fiction also does well in the first quarter. For many of us, the first quarter means terrible weather (I’m in New England). We’re looking for new books to pass the time while stuck indoors. Also, many readers received new tablets, e-readers, or gift cards for gifts. Shiny, new books become irresistible. Peak reading and buying season are very much tied to the weather. February and March are generally good times to release a novel because the weather’s not great. Snow and ice forces readers to browse the web for their next adventure.

I find January and February are months where royalties drop significantly. I haven’t ever managed to schedule a new release for those months — it just hasn’t worked out that way. I have been musing upon the likelihood that I will be able to schedule something to drop maybe the end of January 2024, when people might have recovered from spending a lot during the leadup to Christmas. Not sure, but that seems fairly plausible. If SILVER CIRCLE looks iffy for a December release this year, then maybe January 2024 will be ideal.

Oh, I see this post is saying that December is a terrible time to release a new book. Hmm. Seems like that can’t be true. Look at the Christmas-themed mysteries that come out in December. I often buy one because I like Christmas-themed mysteries. Theresa Romaine has several. I like her novels. They’re generally sexier than I would really prefer, but I like them anyway. I see she has a Christmas mystery I haven’t read. Fine, I’ll pick it up now and hopefully remember it’s there next December, which is a fine time to buy books in my opinion. Anyway, maybe December is a bad time to release some books, or most books. Could be! Maybe January would be good for SILVER CIRCLE even if I think it could be ready by December. We’ll see.

Here’s something mildly funny:

October is a terrific month for horror, thrillers, and mysteries—these genres dominate the marketplace, the darker the better. A cozy mystery or HEA romance may not do well in October. Historical fiction, depending on the subject matter, or dark romance might be all right. Really think about your genre and when you tend to buy books. It will help you understand the best time of year to release your book.

Okay, how about that advice? Think about when YOU tend to buy books! That will help you understand when you should release your book! Is everybody laughing? When is the last time the month mattered to YOU when you bought a book? I mean, seriously? I may not have a lot of time to read right now, but that doesn’t do a thing to stop me from buying books (and, to be fair, downloading samples). Time of year makes absolutely no difference to me whatsoever. I buy books when —

–Someone here recommends a book

–An author I love drops a new book

–Someone emails me to recommend a book

–I happen to be on Twitter and someone recommends a book in exactly the right way to catch my eye

It would do no one any good at all to look at MY book buying habits. But fine, moving on. How about day of the week? Looks like the linked post thinks that early in the week — Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday — work better than later in the week! I had no idea. Oh, that seems to matter only if you’re trying to hit bestseller lists. Never mind, I don’t care. Ah, early in the month for the same reason. Fine, maybe I will try to shift to earlier in the month eventually.

Oh, yes, I can see how that might help! I wasn’t thinking of this particularly, but you know how to get a bonus from KU? By having enough pages read in one month. I think it’s four million and change, which is way above what I’m going to see per month even this month, but I can see that dropping a book on the first of the month would certainly make that more plausible if you’ve got any chance at all. Hmm, now I’m wondering if TASMAKAT might have gotten a single-title bonus if I’d dropped it at the beginning of the month? Well, I’ll see what I can do with that in the future.

One final note from this post:

But if you’re releasing series novels and your readers are foaming at the mouth, you may want to publish as soon as they’re ready, regardless of the date.

We’ll go with that: a hope that readers are foaming at the mouth and planning to leap on your book with cries of joy the moment it drops, including the end of the week, at the end of the month, at the end of the year.

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