Seasonal Sales Work for Me - Lynne Garner


A few of years ago I wrote two picture book stories 'Where It's Always Winter' and 'The Perfect Christmas Tree.' As the titles suggest they both have a festive or seasonal link. Once I'd completed them I sent to various publishers who I believed (because I'd researched their previously published titles) might be interested in them. Again and again they were rejected, which is something you sort of get used to as a professional writer. However a couple of the publishers didn't send me the standard rejection letter. They told me they'd enjoyed the stories but were withdrawing from seasonal books so weren't in a position to take.

This is where my journey into becoming a publisher started. MadMoment Media Ltd was set up and with a very limited budget we had these two picture stories (plus a few others I'd received good feedback on) into apps for the iPhone and iPad. This meant a steep learning curve and a fair few hours spent in a recording studio, as yours truly narrated them.  By the end of 2010 they were ready and uploaded onto the iTunes store. A few months later we converted all of the stories into picture eBooks and uploaded onto Amazon (Amazon UK, Amazon US). Our non-seasonal stories sell a few copies all year round. However although 'Where It's Always Winter' and 'The Perfect Christmas Tree' are seasonal we sell as many if not more of them than our non-seasonal titles.

Now you may be wondering why I'm sharing this with you. Well I wanted to demonstrate that just because a large publishing house doesn't see the point of selling seasonal picture books it doesn't mean there isn't a market for them. So if you have a book that's received good feedback but isn't marketable all year round why not give it a go yourself. It's worked for me it could work for you.

Lynne Garner 

I also write for:
The Picture Book Den - all things connected with picture books
Awfully Big Blogging Adventure - subjects connected with writing
The Hedgehog Shed - concerned with hedgehog rescue
Fuelled By Hot Chocolate - my own ramblings
The Craft Ark - craft how-to blog

My online classes with WOW starting January 2014:

Comments

Lydia Bennet said…
Is it just picture books you can make into apps? Great idea!
Lydia Bennet said…
Is it just picture books you can make into apps? Great idea!
Lydia Bennet said…
Is it just picture books you can make into apps? Great idea!
madwippitt said…
Good for you taking matters into your own hands! On the Amazon forums last year I found a whole lot of enquiries from parents who wanted to buy some seasonal reading - so there is a demand for it, even if it is for just a part of the year. Good luck with it.
Lynne Garner said…
Lydia B - You can turn anything into an app. Just go and take a look there is a huge range of stuff available. It's not as easy as eBooks (which many of us can do ourselves) you do need someone to build the app framework for you (and it can be expensive). But once the framework is built its just a case of filling the 'pages.'

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