Dear O'Abby: Is there a time of year that's best for self-publishing a book?

Dear O'Abby,

I'm curious... Is there like a peak season for book publishing?  Is there a particular month or season where self-pubbed books do better?  Or is book publishing kind of a year-round thing?

Sincerly,

Out of Time

Dear Out of Time,

What a good question!  While book publishing is a year-round enterprise, there are certain types of book that do better at different times of the year, so you may want to take that into consideration.

For example, self-help books tend to do well toward the beginning of the year when people are making New Year's resolutions and trying to start the new year off in a different way.  This is also a bad time for kid's books because parents and grandparents have just splurged on their kids for Christmas.

A good time for children's books is before the summer holidays because parents will be looking for things to occupy their little darling while they're out of school (and possibly going on long trips).  This is also a good time for those"beach reads" - thrillers and romances and things that people can consume quickly. 

Halloween is good for horror, obviously, 

And then heading toward the Christmas period, self-help pops up again, as does kid-lit, but this time of year is also good for coffee-table books and other gorgeous-looking volumes that people can be impressed with when they unwrap them.  Cookbooks are good at this time of year too.

I hope that was helpful!

X O'Abby