Hi everyone! This is Darlene Franklin (http://darlenefranklinwrites.com/) in my first ever Marketing post for CAN.

Do you ever wonder how to inspire interest in an older title? One that I’ve used with some success is finding unusual holidays. Of course we can use major, federal or Hallmark holidays, but for almost every book you can find a matching holiday. Consider the holidays between now and Christmas:

• MacIntosh Apple Day (Oct 3): Perfect for An Apple for Christmas, since the hero owns an apple orchard and is named “Mac”Intosh Cortland
• German American Day (Oct 6): Works for my three books featuring German American heroes: Lone Star Trail, A Ranger’s Trail, Love’s Glory
• Clergy Appreciation Day (October 12): Great for my stories with pastors as heroes: Miss Bliss and the Bear and Jacob’s Christmas Dream
• Chocolate-covered Anything Day (Dec 12) and National Chocolate Day (Dec 24) both fit my story about a chocolatier, My Candy Valentine

Not to mention all the books with veteran heroes to promote on November 11th, books featuring elections on November 1st, and books with major Thanksgiving scenes.

I’ve already made a note of National Twins Day (early August) for this year’s Christmas release, Matchmaker Mixup.

Finding Funky Holidays

Search for broad subjects related to your book. Enter the subject plus day, week, month. For instance, I am writing a story about a nanny who used to live at the (Denver Home for Girls) and knew Mother Cabrini. It took a few tries to come up with Child Care Provider Appreciation Day (Friday before Mother’s Day) She was an orphan: World Orphans Day, November 16th.

Search for a websites that list unusual holidays, such as Bizarre, Wacky, and Unique Holidays and Food and Drink Holidays.

Using the Holiday to Showcase Your Book

• Make the book free for the day. I’ve stopped doing this, because it doesn’t bring them back for me.
• Hold a Facebook party for an hour (or longer, if others are interested in joining you as hosts). Share facts about the holiday and about your book while offering a giveaway. This generally generates a lot of interest and may lead you to new potential fans and readers for newsletters.
• Did a holiday catch you off guard? Put it on your Facebook page and offer to give away a copy to one of the people who leave a comment.
• Offer the book for a giveaway on your website for the day/week/month of the holiday.
• Live events are also a possibility, just limited for me because of my health/living situation.

When the day is over, you can use the event to build your tribe. Add them to social media such as Facebook and Twitter. Invite them to subscribe to your newsletter. Send them alerts about future events. Follow up on any promised gifts.

Ask permission before you add them, however.

Once you get started, you may end up finding more holidays than you can keep up with.