What Are Publishing Seasons?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 12 ก.ย. 2024
- Today I'm explaining publishing seasons, and what some of the pros & cons of the various seasons are. If you're just curious, or if you've got a book coming out and want to know what your season means--I'm sharing my thoughts!
I should say: editorial, of course, also uses seasons--I just focused on how sales/marketing/publicity use them.
If you want to jump right to a specific season, here are the timestamps.
03:58 WINTER
05:41 SPRING
08:03 SUMMMER
10:42 FALL
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Interesting! Thanks for the info.
I do have some theories about seasons, but some of mine are month-specific, too. I've been doing some research and splitting up YA contemporary into 4 categories. As silly as this may sound, I call them grits (dark and gritty), eggs (serious, but not super-dark), pancakes (light and fluffy), and bacon (humorous, but with some serious underlying themes). I don't include thrillers, horror, or most mystery/suspense in these groups. I like to keep an eye on Simon Pulse, and they do a lot of grits and some eggs. But they did put out When Dimple Met Rishi and some other pancakes, usually in April-June. That goes with what you said about fluffy books. I also watch Harper Teen and Katherine Tegen. (If I'm not mistaken, these are the two imprints featured on Epic Reads.) They seem to have 3 seasons: Jan-Apr, May-Aug, and Sept-Dec. They do a ton of fantasy in the fall, plus some eggs. This year, they have one piece of bacon in the fall called Your Own Worst Enemy. Winter (Jan-Apr) for them seems like a time for some grits and a few dark fantasy titles. Summer is kind of split. May and June are all about pancakes, and July and August are a time for eggs.
I'm not certain of any of this and may need more research for the other major houses. I'm not sure where scifi usually falls--maybe some in summer and some in winter. As you know, 2018 saw like 10,000 space operas in February, and few more in the summer.
I feel like 2019 is going to obliterate the norms, because there are so many books coming that are genre-bending or weird in a good way. I'm interested to see how it plays out.
Side note: You're right about the film industry. Seasons are changing. It used to be that January and August were for garbage, February was for romantic comedies, March and April were unspecified, May-July were for "popcorn movies" (superheroes, disasters, action, anything that appeals to a wide audience), and September-December were for Oscar bait. These things are still kind of true, but with the sheer abundance of popcorn movies and big franchises, we're seeing studios plant metaphorical flags in months outside the summer. It's wild. And there are anomalies like Get Out, which you mentioned, that come out in a slower season and become huge hits.
This is awesome! I had no idea publishing seasons even existed. Great information!
I planned on self publishing my book (whenever I finish it) during the summer. I figured there wouldn't be much competition, and my audience would mostly be free to buy and read. You are amazing though, this gave me a lot to think about.
"Whenever I finish it"
SAAAAMMMMMEEEE
I'm Australian and I'm thinking of releasing mine in December... or maybe November. People have a consumerism mindset then because of the holiday season. Fingers crossed!! It's a strangely nerve-wracking decision to make.
Your videos are always so helpful, even for people who are not planning to be traditionally published. This is very useful information for self published authors, too!
Question for you: why do some books get a hardcover release and then a later paperback release, but some books only come in paperback?
I think Alexa answered this in a previous video, but I can't recall which one so I'll relay her information. Basically, new releases are usually hardcovers and then come out in paperback later to get new buzz around the older product. Books that only get paperbacks are usually smaller titles, romances, indie published, or self published.
Example: Harlequin Romance Novels are all mostly paperback since they publish SO many novels at once and the covers usually don't impact their sales for that sub-genre.
Hope that helps!
Sorry I totally missed this! You nailed it, Jenna!
As always you give great publishing advice through your content. Love getting the insights and knowledge of the publishing industry. Awesome video Alexa. Thank you very much.
Interesting video! I'm sure these seasons could also be utilized for self-publishing.
Love your videos, Alexa! So interesting and well presented!
I'm gonna thumbs up all of these because I want all the videos demystifying the weirdness of publishing.
Thanks for the video (a year later)!
I'm planning on releasing my self published novel next week because it's probably going to be crickets no matter which season I choose. I'm a realist.
Hi Alexa, I love your videos (I've sort of taken your advice and watching less television... but that's be replaced by me bingeing your videos.)
I have a question, do genres influence when books are released?
As an example - crime, spy, mystery etc are published in Autumn/Winter; and romance, YA etc are Summer/Spring?
There are definitely some trends, though they are not set in stone. All genres get releases year round, however, publishers do look at the books themselves and make seasonably specific choices. For example, anything that could be a "beach read" is released close to/during summer--so light romantic comedies, frothy women's suspense fiction, lighter commercial fantasy, etc. Darker YA fantasy tends to release in Fall or Winter. Certain types of books will be released when school starts to take advantage of back-to-school time. None of it is set in stone, but there are some trends!
This was super informative! I love fall, and I feel like it would be a dream of mine to be published on fall, but on the downide, too many competition! I also feel like fantasy is more likely to be published on fall and contemporaries on the spring, maybe because of the weather type?
Thanks for this explanation! I never knew!
Do you think there's a particular season when it's better to query?
How do you think these season effect agenting/query seasons?
That's a good question. First, I tell authors not to psych themselves out too much, re: timing b/c you really can query almost anytime of the year. BUT... I think one reason the biggest submissions seasons are Fall and Spring is that editors are acquiring, 2 years out, for those big seasons... so it can behoove you to query ahead of those major submission seasons. BUT... you can't predict how long it will take to get an agent/before you go on sub, so you can calculate all you want, re: timing, but it doesn't always work out :)
Oh no, she told my secret!!
My biggest problem right now is make people understand my writting is serious. My wife gets mad sometimes cause I dont give her half as much love as I used to... it breaks my heart and she can't understand how serious I am about since I'm actually a professional designer, so its like a totally different kind of work. :/
Harry Potter usually released in the summer I think. Perfectly timed for my birthday 😊
I have never read a Harry Potter book but my birthday is July 31 lol
I'm wondering if someone who is considering self-publishing could use this as a guide for when they should plan to publish their novel? What do you think?
Sure, you definitely could! It's good to know what big, competing titles are releasing at the same time.
Alexa Donne Good point! Thanks so much!
Thanks for asking this, Amanda - and your answer, Alexa! I had the same question. :-)
Do the publishers choose your festivals you attend or do you ask to attend? I am a bit confused on how that process works?
So what's the best time to submit your query?
Does this impact when it's better to go on submissions once you have an agent?
I have a feeling weird question. Say I’m working on two wips at the same time and they reach the same stage in editing and I’m really happy with both of them but I don’t know how to choose which one I want to query first?
BoneStudios15 I can help. Go with your first WIP. Whether I know anything about your works makes no difference. You obviously want someone else to choose for you and I’ve done that. You’re welcome.
Choose the one that would make the best debut and shape your career/brand for years to come.
BoneStudios15 Look at publisher's weekly to see what kinds of books are being acquired a lot. If one of your books fits in enough to be marketable but is still able to stand out, go with that one. If you don't have querying success, you can wait 3-6 months and query the other manuscript.
Aaron Lewis thanks for the help!
Alexa Donne thank you! :)
I disagree with the opinion that “Get Out” was an amazing movie. It sure made a lot of money, but I don’t understand why it is considered great and still shake my head to think it got an Oscar nomination.
It was one of my favorite movies of the year, so we'll have to agree to disagree!
Same here. I don't get it