Whatever Holiday Shopping Guide 2018 Starts Monday!
Posted on November 30, 2018 Posted by John Scalzi 30 Comments
Every year as the holiday season begins I run a shopping guide for the holidays, and over the years it’s been quite successful: Lots of people have found out about excellent books and crafts and charities and what have you, making for excellent gift-giving opportunities during the holiday season. I’ve decided to do it again this year.
So: Starting Monday, December 3, the Whatever Holiday Shopping Guide Returns! If you’re a writer or other creator, this will be an excellent time to promote your work on a site which gets tens of thousands of viewers daily, almost all of whom will be interested in stuff for the holidays. If you’re someone looking to give gifts, you’ll see lots of excellent ideas. And you’ll also have a day to suggest stuff to other folks too. Everybody wins!
To give you all time to prepare, here’s the schedule of what will be promoted on which days:
Monday, December 3: Traditionally Published Authors — If your work is being published by a publisher a) who is not you and b) gets your books into actual, physical bookstores on a returnable basis, this is your day to tell people about your books. This includes comics/graphic novels.
Tuesday, December 4: Non-Traditionally Published Authors — Self-published? Electronically published? Or other? This is your day. This also includes comics/graphic novels.
Wednesday, December 5: Other Creators — Artists, knitters, jewelers, musicians, and anyone who has cool stuff to sell this holiday season, this will be the day to show off your creations.
Thursday, December 6: Fan Favorite Day — Not an author/artist/musician/other creator but know about some really cool stuff you think people will want to know about for the holidays? Share! Share with the crowd!
Friday, December 7: Charities — If you are involved in a charity, or have a favorite charity you’d like to let people know about, this is the day to do it.
If you have questions about how all of this will work, go ahead and ask them in the comment thread (Don’t start promoting your stuff today — it’s not time yet), although I will note that specific instructions for each day will appear on that day. Don’t worry, it’ll be pretty easy. Thanks and feel free to share this post with creative folks who will have things to sell this holiday season.
I’d love to promote This Is the Year I Put My Financial Life in Order on Monday. It’s just a matter of tacking on a comment, right? Or is there a pre-stacking process that I should engage in?
Just adding a comment will work fine!
Hi John, I have a contemporary romance box set. 10% of the sales go to the National Coalition for the Homeless – there’s a relevant subplot in book 1.
[Link deleted because we haven’t started yet and I don’t want this thread to be about commerce — JS]
Would love to be included. Thank you for doing this!
Carrie Lomax:
Great, all you have to do is show up on the appropriate day and leave a comment then!
Do you allow promotion for unpublished indie video games?
Thank you for offering this every year. :)
This is so very legal and very cool of you to do. I just self-published my first novel and it is hard as hell to get people to actually see it. I will be here Tuesday. :)
What a cool thing to do for others.
Thanks!
Nick Dutton:
Nothing that is not available for sale should be posted. The point is to help people find gifts.
How does one add images or include the kindle preview of a book like I’ve seen others do last year… do the comments accept html? Is there a certain syntax? I couldn’t figure it out last year.
They have to already be somewhere else on the Internet so you can link to them; you can’t upload them. Note that comments with photos in them automatically go into moderation, so I will have to release them at some point; don’t panic if you don’t immediately see them.
Would role-playing games be Tuesday?
Sounds great to me. Can you post what yu want from us? Blurbs? Excerpts? (besides covers, of course).Anything else?
What if we’re looking for something specific that your readers/posters could help with? Like “I want guitar sheet music similar to the A Star is Born soundtrack for my husband”, as a PURELY hypothetical example?
Putting this on my calendar for Tuesday! Thank you!
Dave Weinstein:
Wednesday is probably more on point.
Could I promote someone else’s comic on Tuesday, or do they have to post the comment themselves?
A book published by a small press would be considered non-traditional then, as it is not in bookstores on a returnable basis? Asking for a friend.
Karenawyle:
They would. You, however, could post on Thursday, which is “fan favorites” day.
Hi John! My name is Paula Billups – I am an artist and a friend of Angelique Jamail. She let me know about you. I have three self-published books from my imprint. Two have the profits going to charity, and one is fiction, so not sure what deadline I would be aiming at, but Ange suggested I get in touch. Cheers!
Paula:
Self pubbed is on Tuesday.
Timothy Gwyn:
If it’s non-returnable, Tuesday is the best day.
Hello, John. Thanks so much for helping promote indie- and self-published works. My publisher is a small indie press that doesn’t take returns, so looks like Tuesday for me.
Would Thursday also be the day for gifts the poster (e.g. me) gives to others?
I have a traditionally published viral-apocalypse book that is perfect for the holidays! When you need an escape from the cozy fire, the warmth of mulled beverages, and the safety of monster-free family gatherings, come to my world.
A great gift for fans of Michael Crichton’s “The Andromeda Strain”, Robert Kirkman’s “The Walking Dead”, Steven Soderberg’s “Contagion”, and the “Resident Evil” franchise.
https://mkmartinwriter.com/books/
John, thanks for doing this. 83comments so far on the traditionally published, and I have ten and bought one.
What time does the holiday shopping guide post appear each day? Or do you keep that secret, so we don’t all line up to hit the comment stream at the exact same time, risking breaking the internet for all of the USA? Because that would be so unkind of us.
I wrote a children’s Christmas book that I have available on Amazon. It’s about 2 boys who go to see Santa to find out what he wants for Christmas. I wrote it and my niece drew the pictures. I hope you all check it out. Thank you. https://www.amazon.com/Going-North-Pole-Michael-Cotton/dp/1503167496/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1543930081&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=going+north+to+the+pole&dpPl=1&dpID=515o7SQzxVL&ref=plSrch
MEGGE OF BURY DOWN, Book One of The Bury Down Chronicles, published by Zumaya Publications, is available as an ebook, paperback, and audiobook. Set in medieval Cornwall, it is the story of a mother who has wagered her life that she will bring her daughter to accept a birthright vital to their family’s survival…and of Megge’s struggle to renounce a terrifying destiny.
http://bit.ly/Audiobook_Megge
http://bit.ly/Paperback_ebook_MEGGE
MISTLETOE AND MAGIC: A holiday anthology by YA Books Central authors. My short story A SHOT OF MAGIC introduces readers to a new god that will appear in book three of the GODDESSES series. It’s available in ebook and print format:
https://www.amazon.com/Mistletoe-Magic-Central-Holiday-Anthology-ebook/dp/B07K23DV7G/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1543959920&sr=8-2&keywords=mistletoe+and+magic
Also the books in the GODDESSES series are available:
Book One:Jordan Lake discovers an ancient bracelet in her grandmother’s house and uncovers a family mystery that links her favorite actress, Audrey Hepburn, a romantic movie, and an aunt she never knew. Jordan hopes the bracelet will bring her love. Instead, it brings one nightmare after another, unleashing Hathor, the Egyptian love goddess, who decides it’s fun to mess with the McKnight High School social scene.
https://www.amazon.com/No-More-Goddesses-Kim-Baccellia-ebook/dp/B00DKC20WQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1543960049&sr=1-1&keywords=No+more+goddesses
Book Two Takes place in Paris!
https://www.amazon.com/Goddesses-Wait-Myths-Mayhem-Book-ebook/dp/B071V5DX1J/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1543959995&sr=8-1&keywords=goddesses+can+wait
Hi all Fantasy lovers. I’m promoting my multicultural children’s book (pre-readers age 2-7), The Bad Little Fairy. Jenny, the fairy, knows how to play and have fun. She’s far too busy to learn the joy of being considerate. Thankfully, Curiosity is the Fairy of invention.
https://bookofvenus.com/index.php/product/the-bad-little-fairy/