Guide to Publishing a Book at Christmas

By Tom Hankin and Natasha Charles

As the festive period approaches, the publishing world enters one of its busiest and most opportunity-rich seasons. Deadlines tighten, content demand spikes, and audiences become more engaged than at any other time of year. For publishing professionals, it’s the perfect moment to sharpen skills, learn new tools, and position yourself for a strong start to the new year.

Good Christmas Marketing Campaigns: What Actually Works 

Book marketing campaigns during the holiday break need to be managed efficiently in order to reach maximum engagement. While it can be tricky to get sales going when it comes to all the Christmas competition, if you focus on the right areas, it is easier to get the public’s attention for your books. Here are some useful elements for a good campaign to capture your readers interest during Christmas season: 

Christmas-oriented Designs

Whether it is the book cover art or marketing leaflets and banners, making it using wintry, holiday-esque designs (think snowflakes, gingerbread man, etc.) helps you attract your target audience. People are looking for cosy laid-back reads during this time, anything that can get them into the holiday vibe is a good way to go.

Holiday Themed Bundles 

If more than a couple of Christmas themed books are coming out at the same time, or if you can put together a Classic Christmas books bundle, people are more likely to buy it. They make for the best gifts for readers. 

Add Freebies

Since Christmas can be one of the most expensive seasons, people are more easily persuaded to buy stuff that offer freebies with them. This can be lowkey like a couple of Christmas crackers, chocolates selection boxes, book-themed advent calendars, and so on.  

Best Shops to Stock Christmas Books In

When planning to strike a chord with holiday shoppers, not all stores are equal. Here are the best types of shops to aim for when getting your books onto shelves over the festive period.

National Chains

Big high-street names like Waterstones, WHSmith and other familiar chains remain go-to destinations for Christmas book buying. Their national footprint and high customer footfall mean that a presence there offers maximum visibility.

Independent Bookshops 

Independent shops across the UK continue to play a crucial role in festive trade. Despite challenges on the wider high street, the indie-bookshop sector remains resilient, with many reporting year-on-year increases in sales and footfall during Christmas.

Online Marketplaces

Retail platforms like Bookshop.org and similar services allows customers to shop from home while still supporting independent retailers. For publishers and authors, these offer a way to reach a wider audience without compromising ethics or the high-street bookshop ecosystem.

Using a mix of these outlets, from national chains to the old local bookshop will significantly improve the chances of your books being accessible to festive gift-buyers. 

How to Get a Book Trending 

Christmas season or the holidays or to put it better, the time when everyone is relaxing and are on their phones, is the perfect opportunity to reach an incredible range of social media users and even build a global audience for your content. The following are ways through which you can create the best reels, tiktoks, blogs to get trending: 

Pitch it Right

Gone are the days when your reel can go randomly viral and reach a million people overnight, nowadays the stakes are high. Only quality content makes the cut and breaks the algorithm. You can tackle this by tactfully pitching your book, without overtly seeming like you’re desperate. For example, if it is a thriller, your pitch can look something like, “What’s better than getting cozy with a warm tea and immersing yourself in a psychological thriller? Experience the chill in more than one way” or if it is more common bookish content, “top 3 wintry reads for you!”

Publish an Audiobook 

When getting their big holiday shopping done, people are more likely to listen to an audiobook on their headphones. Even if they don’t find time to relax with a physical copy, audiobooks always come in useful to listen to when they are cooking, cleaning, or setting up their Christmas tree!

Hop onto Social Media Trends

The most popular way to reach more people is hopping onto a current TikTok, Instagram reel, or YouTube shorts trend. If your content adheres to a trend or uses a trending audio track by taking it in an unexpected direction, people are keener to check your book out. (Example: “When I say I would push a guy named Bunny from a cliff this winter, but you aren’t nerdy enough to understand” (The Secret History reference)).