The Best Day

One of the more common questions I hear is “What’s the best day to release a book?”

Generally, the question comes from somebody who may have released a book or two and it sank without a burp. They think the reason it sank might be they launched in the wrong season or the wrong day of the week.

It’s understandable when one considers that publishers generally release a spring and fall catalog. Some add a winter calendar. They send those to bookbuyers so that must be when people buy books, right?

Not so much.

Bookbuyers make their selections to stock in the coming season. Publishers collect all the new titles into the glossy catalogs to make those selections easier. Booksellers know that readers enter their shops every day of the year so a seasonal catalog is simply a convenience for the publisher and buyer. The books they order from the catalog may not see a store shelf for weeks.

The year end holiday season offers another possibility for launch. The rationale follows the logical path where people get new e-readers for the holidays and will need fresh reading material to go on them.

In the past, starting around 2010 and on into 2014, that was a reasonable path to follow. Lately, fewer people are buying new dedicated readers, opting for tablets or even smartphones as reader-of-choice. That still offers an opportunity but removing a few million new Kindles from consideration each December limits the utility of this strategy. It’s not a bad idea to release a work in mid-December so that it’s got some traction and visibility by month end, but that’s not a good reason to delay a book that’s ready in October.

There are those who weigh the advantage of the day of the week. Saturday? People are off work and might be looking for something new to read for the weekend? Perhaps Friday night for those who plan ahead? Sunday might be a good day to release a book because – for many – it’s a day of rest and quiet contemplation.

Personally, I favor any day that ends in “Y.” The only exception might be if you plan to launch into Kindle Select. Amazon aggregates page-reads by the calendar month so releasing on the last day of the month will maximize page-reads toward a potential Kindle All-Stars reward. For new authors this is almost never worth chasing. The lowest tier of All-Star reward takes about two million page-reads for a single title. People who ask “What’s the best day?” don’t usually expect to get millions of page-reads. Mostly they only want to give their book the best chance at catching on.

Here’s the thing.

Booksellers know that readers enter their stores every day of the week. Perhaps they get more foot traffic on the weekends when people are off work, but that has less to do with readers wanting books on the weekend that with readers being able to get to the bookstore. For most indie authors, the market is ebooks and the largest bookstore in the world is on every reader’s desk – even in their pocket. A reader who wants a new book only has to log in. Which means – in most cases – the best day to release a book is my favorite day that ends in “Y” – today.