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Poll: Are you less likely to pick up holiday releases? (Patreon)

Published:
2022-12-10 18:11:46
Edited:
2022-12-17 17:11:04
Imported:
2026-06

Poll

Poll: Are you less likely to pick up holiday releases?

  • Less likely to notice books in early December 5
  • Less likely to notice books near Christmas 20
  • Less likely to notice books between Christmas and New Years Eve 31
  • Less likely to notice books in early January 4
  • No holiday impact on book releases 155
  • 2022-12-10
  • —2022-12-17
  • 215 votes
{'title': 'Poll: Are you less likely to pick up holiday releases?', 'choices': [{'text': 'Less likely to notice books in early December', 'votes': 5}, {'text': 'Less likely to notice books near Christmas', 'votes': 20}, {'text': 'Less likely to notice books between Christmas and New Years Eve', 'votes': 31}, {'text': 'Less likely to notice books in early January', 'votes': 4}, {'text': 'No holiday impact on book releases', 'votes': 155}], 'closes_at': datetime.datetime(2022, 12, 17, 6, 0, 55, tzinfo=datetime.timezone.utc), 'created_at': datetime.datetime(2022, 12, 10, 15, 24, 11, tzinfo=datetime.timezone.utc), 'description': None, 'allow_multiple': False, 'total_votes': 215}

Content

There's some conventional authorial wisdom on this subject, but I thought I should ask patrons directly. To be clear, the answers will have no impact on the release of TWC7 chapters, but they could alter the release date of finished books.

Now, I assume that people here are more enthusiastic than the average reader for TWC. But thinking about books in general, series you only somewhat follow, are you less likely to notice or purchase releases around the holidays? In my experience the internet is pretty quiet around Christmas and New Year's because people are spending time out or with family. I don't really take time off, though, so my sense for things has gotten fuzzy. Are people still recovering from New Year's Eve the first week of the new year, or does going back to work return things to normal? Would any of this change how likely you are to notice a new release?

There's usually a glut of new titles in December, both of large traditionally published authors and this year apparently a lot of LitRPG books. For that reason, I'm thinking of releasing TWC6 on Amazon in early 2023 and perhaps taking advantage of preordering. But meanwhile I'd appreciate your input, in the poll or comments!

I am getting a handle on TWC7. Expect an update later in the month amid the other updates. ^-^

THOUGHTS

Interesting responses. I didn't anticipate so many people saying they were more likely to buy books in early December, but then again, this is the same Christmas sales concept that leads publishers to pump out titles then. I don't think I'm a large enough author to necessarily compete there.

One thing that was useful was that the highest period was between Christmas and New Years. I wasn't sure how much the holidays would distract people during that interim, as it's always a heavy work period for me, so that's good to know.

What does this mean for the release of TWC6? Nothing, as I'm somewhat locked into a January date already. However, in the future I'll consider doing an early December book release if that's how the timeline falls out. Thanks to everyone for their votes and comments!

Comments

Elliott

FWIW: I put book release dates in my calendar to remind me! Even if I didn’t have a chance to read it immediately over holidays, I’d still purchase it there and then 1. So it’s ready on kindle 2. To support an author. In terms of hooking new audience though… in general is there a seasonal peak for releases? Is too close to Xmas bad? What are other authors’ opinions on holiday releases, out of interest?

DiAlpha

A fancy hard cover for the shelf perhaps, but a release in general esp if it's an ebook sees no impact

Craig

I love reading and the holidays are the perfect time to dive into a new series. I like to figure out what I am reading before the holiday so that I can download the book onto my e-reader. So I like when releases are out and advertised before the holiday

Curtis

If anything, I would say I'm more likely to pick up books more around the holidays, since I have more time off to read them.

bcdp

Yeah, I am missing the option of "more likely". During the holidays I am more likely to pick up a book. And before chistmas I am more likely to pick up books as gifts. (So I have chosen "no impact" - "less likely early January doesn't work for that, because I am still on vacation usually)

Donncha crowley

Release time for the peak Christmas market

Pete

I am less likely to do idle browsing when occupied. So accidental discoveries are down for things not gift related. However between Christmas and New year I usually have free days, so whether I have more or less time then depends on whether family is visiting for the week and whether friends are in town and want to meet. So I might have free days during that time which could compensate for Christmas. And while I am an indoor person anyway the cold months likely cut down on outside activities giving people more time that can be spent reading. So hard to say

JKincaid

I'm honestly on the market for new reading material all the time. I have a bit less time to read on the holidays themselves (though I usually still sneak some reading in) but I always like to find new reading material around Christmas. All throughout December.

sarahlin

Conventional wisdom is that big releases will be early December, to take advantage of Christmas purchases - good if you're a huge name, but easy to get lost in the shuffle if you're not. For other events in general, it's usually wise to avoid holidays.

Beelzy

I read a ton during the holidays.

Tuba Khan

I tend to notice them more because I have holidays/travel so there is more reading time!

Jerek Kimble

More likely to notice during the holidays. I have more free time.

Alexander Dupree

I don't know really it's true I'm more busy then but it's also true I'm more likely to fly so I need a book for the flight.

Desertopa

Probably at least somewhat less likely when it comes to ebooks in particular. I've never bought ebooks as gifts, and there are so many other things which tend to be discounted around this time of year that if I'm thinking of getting something for myself, my attention will tend to be more focused on large purchases which I'm less likely to make at other times of the year. I don't know how much this would generalize to other people, but if the conventional wisdom is that this isn't a great time for book releases, that strikes me as plausible.

JT

You're asking a biased source. If it's a series I dont regularly follow but read out of boredom, I may miss the threads on forums that'd normally tell me to check out a new book.

taswyn

Honestly, if we were talking paper book releases, I would say it's important to hit by or a bit before the start of December, when people are looking for gifts or making gift lists. But with ebooks, I'd say (a) I'm not any less likely to notice an ebook release around Christmas and (b) I don't generally gift ebooks, so any related marketing concepts don't apply [for me] and maybe most importantly (c) I'm actually MORE likely than other times to purchase ebooks in the week after Christmas (so, including Boxing Day) if I've received gift certificates to related stores (and more likely to be *shopping* for books then, rather than just grabbing latest releases of series I had planned to get anyway or had even already pre-ordered). But maybe I'm just weird like that =^,^=

Tom Pulk

The issue is in the past about 10 yrs ago I knew releases because they came all through publishing houses and their catalogs we're available 6 months ahead. This is something that indie authors don't have which is still hit or miss depending on how I follow each author. The holiday issue is we know their are people with new gift cards and money after the holidays but this is money in hand which trends for impulse buys. This however requires the book to be available at the time of purchase. This has in the past meant early Dec has had some of the largest authors releases and Jan the books that the pub houses wanted to push. After the pandemic and all the issues in the last two years I honestly don't know what would be best.

Nikolay

I read almost exclusively ebooks, and if anything on the holidays I normally increase the amount of books that I buy, as I have more time to browse around and look for new stuff, or check if there are new releases for series that I read.

Cameron Pickerill

Personally I just read books constantly year round. Something releases and it sounds good, I pick it up and read it immediately. But I feel like the kind of people who subscribe to author's patreons to read a book as it releases might have some self selection bias.

Cicero

Maybe take this poll with a grain of salt. People like to imagine themselves as independent actors free from context influencing their decisions. Just imagine if you made a poll asking, "Do ads influence what you buy?"

sarahlin

Entirely true! However, because it's nearly impossible to do a controlled experiment with books, I don't have good access to less biased sources of data.