1. Publishers can shape demand – not just respond to it.

When we started publishing Advent devotionals – short books for Christians to read during December – we were not responding to a need from our customers. These kind of books were something that more traditional Christian denominations did, but not evangelicals, who are our main audience. We had to do a little convincing – but we were rewarded by significant sales. We printed 3,000 copies of our first Advent devotional, and it sold out – in 6 weeks! Since then we have published a new one each year, and our backlist of older titles continues to sell. Our most popular devotional Love Came Down at Christmas by Sinclair Ferguson, has now sold over 70,000 copies since publication. The same can be said of a number of other categories of Christmas book we have launched: evangelistic books, short tracts for people to send with Christmas cards, family devotionals and advent calendars. We launched all of them to a non-existent market, but the right book with the right marketing can create a market.

2. Christmas is a time when many churches put on special services

It may be different in your culture, but many people who do not normally go to church might respond to an invitation to sing familiar Christmas hymns or carols. Many churches use Christmas as a time for significant outreach – there are ways that publishers can resource that. We have published each year a specifically evangelistic book – often just 64 pages – or a shorter 16-page booklet – and offered them in bulk to churches at low prices so that they can give them to people who come to church at Christmas. The results have been spectacular. How to have a happy Christmas has sold over 125,000 copies. A short evangelistic book by Rebecca McLaughlin Is Christmas Unbelievable sold over 80,000 copies in its first year.

3. It shows that you are in tune with the rhythms of life

Like it or not, people love seasons – the weather patterns that change through the year; or just the rhythms of everyday life. People think in seasons, so reflecting that in the way you serve your readership demonstrates that you are in tune with their lives, and gives you something fresh and different to offer at different times of the year. Books for holidays in Summer; books for dads on Father’s Day, and so on.

4. It makes your list (and your marketing) more interesting

If you are emailing your customer list with the same old things year on year, they can quickly become tired of you. But having seasons in your marketing will make you look more interesting to your readers, and help your sales effort have more traction. You could try a special “back to school” event for the start of the new school year. Or have a special offer on Valentine’s day or another festival that your culture celebrates. For any book licensed from The Good Book Company, we offer free access to the huge range of marketing materials and videos that we create around a book – like this trailer for a graphic novel version of the Christmas story from Luke’s gospel. When you licence a book from us for translation, it’s yours to adapt and subtitle as you wish at no extra cost.

5. Give the gift that brings the gift of life

Gift-giving may not be a big thing in your culture – but it is in many other places. And Christmas is a great time to promote the giving of books, when God gave his greatest gift to us – his One and Only Son. In the UK and US, publishers focus a huge amount of effort into this season. Bookshops do almost half of their annual trade in the 12 weeks before Christmas. By offering great gifts for adults, teens and children, you can encourage gift giving that is an appropriate response to the seasonal celebration of Jesus’ incarnation. These might be Christmas themed, for example The Christmas Promise or The Promise and the Light or they could be something that children or teens could enjoy after the excitement of Christmas is over. My picks would be The Big Questions Series for younger teens or Seek and Find books.

I have one last suggestion: start small and try it out. Why not just publish a simple short Christmas tract such as one of these? See what kind of response you get to a promotional push in October and November as churches are planning their Christmas services. A positive response may encourage you to extend your offering the following year…

Want to start a conversation with us?

Click here to book an online meeting with us or click here to send us an email.