Even before you’ve finished pouring everything you have into your book, you’re expected to start spreading the word and making sales.
Plan Your Author Marketing - 2020 Holidays Observances by Book Category and Genre
Authors who keep their fingers on the pulse of the daily, weekly, monthly, and annual holidays and observances can find timely connections with readers.
Browse the list of holidays and observances below—but please know that not all of these are going to be for you! I recommend that you make a month-by-month calendar and plan which events could be most interesting for you to post about this year.
For more help joining conversations, here’s my post on hashtags for author marketing.
Need help? Schedule an Author Strategy Call or sign up for my email newsletter at the bottom of this post for tips.
Book, Writing, and Literary Events
Jan — National Book Blitz Month (read as many books as you can during the month)
Jan 5-13, New Delhi World Book Fair (New Delhi)
Jan 14, National Poetry at Work Day
Jan 22, Library Shelfie Day
Jan 22-25, ABA Winter Institute (Albuquerque)
Jan 24-28, ALA Midwinter Meeting (Philadelphia)
Feb — National Haiku Writing Month, Library Lovers Month
Feb 2-8, Children's Authors & Illustrators Week
Feb 10-15, Freelance Writer Appreciation Week
Feb 14, International Book Giving Day
Feb 14, Library Lovers Day
Feb 13-16, San Francisco Writers Conference
Feb 13-16, Savannah Book Festival
Feb 20-22, PubWest (Portland)
Mar — National March Into Literacy Month, Small Press Month
Mar 1-7, National Ghostwriters Week
Mar 2, Audie Awards
Mar 2, NEA's Read Across America Day
Mar 4-7, AWP Conference & Bookfair (San Antonio)
Mar 5, World Book Day
Mar 8, International Women's Day
Mar 10-12, London Book Fair
Mar 14-15, Tucson Festival of Books
Mar 15, Ides of March (Shakespeare reference)
Mar 18-20, Virginia Festival of the Book
Mar 19, World Storytelling Day
Mar 21, World Poetry Day
Mar 26-29, SleuthFest
Mar 30-Apr 2, Bologna Children’s Book Fair (Italy)
Apr — National Poetry Month
Apr 2, International Children's Book Day
Apr 3-4, IBPA Publishing University
Apr 3-5, The Muse and the Marketplace, GrubStreet
Apr 10-12, WonderCon/ComicCon
Apr 18-19, LA Festival of Books
Apr 19-25, National Library Week
Apr 21, National Library Workers' Day
Apr 23, World Book Night
Apr 24-25, YALL West (Young Adult & Middle Grade, Santa Monica)
Apr 25, Independent Bookstore Day
May — Get Caught Reading Month, Latino Books Month, Short Story Month
May 2, Hudson Children’s Book Festival (Hudson, NY)
May 2, Bay Area Book Festival (Berkeley, CA)
May 4-10, Children’s Book Week
May 10-17, Reading is Fun Week
May 27, Book Expo & uPublishU (NYC)
May 30-31, BookCon (NYC)
Jun — Audiobook Appreciation Month
Jun 25-30, ALA Annual Conference (Chicago)
Jul 7-11, ThrillerFest (NYC)
Jul 23-26, ComicCon (San Diego)
Aug 9, National Book Lovers Day
Aug 13-16, Writer’s Digest Conference (NYC)
Aug 29, Independent Bookstore Day
Aug 29, National Book Festival (Washington, DC)
Sep 6, Read a Book Day
Sep 8, International Literacy Day
Sep 14-15, Digital Book World (Nashville, TN)
Last week of September, Banned Books Week
Oct — RomCon
Oct — National Book Month (no longer sponsored by the National Book Foundation, but we can celebrate anyway)
Oct — National Reading Group Month
Oct 8-11, New York Comic Con
Oct 8-17, Litquake (San Francisco, CA)
Oct 14-18, Frankfurt Book Fair (Germany)
Oct 16, Dictionary Day
Nov — Miami Book Fair (Date TBA, Miami, FL)
Nov 1, National Authors Day
Nov 7, Indie Authors Day
Quirky, Fun-to-Post-About Observances
Jan 4, Trivia Day
Jan 15, National Hat Day
Jan 18, Thesaurus Day
Jan 24, National Compliment Day
Jan 29, National Puzzle Day
Feb 14, Galentine’s Day
Feb 16-22, Random Acts of Kindness Week
Mar 4, March Forth Day (Star Wars reference)
Mar 14, Pi Day
Mar 18, Awkward Moments Day
Mar 20, American Crossword Puzzle Days
Mar 20, International Day of Happiness
Apr 18-26, National Park Week
Apr 20, “420” Marijuana Celebration Day
May 20, World Limerick Day
Jun 5, National Donut Day
Jun 8, World Oceans Day
Jun 30, Social Media Day
Jul 7, World Chocolate Day
Jul 30, International Day of Friendship
Aug 12, World Elephant Day
Sep 19, Talk Like a Pirate Day
Sep 22, Hobbit Day
Oct 1, International Coffee Day
Oct 4, National Taco Day
Nov 13, World Kindness Day
Nov 28, Small Business Saturday
Dec 21, Crossword Puzzle Day
Pet Observances and Events (Hey, everyone loves pets!)
Jan 14, National Dress Up Your Pet Day
Feb 20, Love Your Pet Day
Mar 23, National Puppy Day
Apr 11, National Pet Day
May 9, National Dog Mom Day
May 20, National Rescue Dog Day
Jun 4, Hug Your Cat Day
Jul 31, National Mutt Day (also in Dec)
Aug 17, Black Cat Appreciation Day
Aug 26, National Dog Day
Oct 4, World Pet Day
Oct 29, National Cat Day
Dec 2, National Mutt Day (also in Jul)
Film & Movie Events
Jan 5, Golden Globes
Jan 19, Screen Actors Guild Awards
Jan 23, Sundance Film Festival
Feb 9, Academy Awards
May 12-23, Cannes Film Festival
More dates to come!
Health & Wellness Observances
Jan — Cervical Health Awareness Month
Feb — American Heart Month, Relationship Wellness Month
Feb 1 - 8, Women's Heart Week
Feb 4, World Cancer Day
Feb 7, National Wear Red Day (Heart Disease Awareness)
Feb 3-9, Children's Mental Health Week
Feb 21, National Caregivers Day
Mar — National Nutrition Month, National Kidney Month
Mar 21-28, National Physicians Week
Mar 30, Doctors Day
Apr — Alcohol Awareness Month, Autism Awareness Month, Cancer Control Month
Apr 7, World Health Day
Apr 20, Boston Marathon
May — Mental Health Month, Women's Health Care Month
May 6, National Nurses Day
Jun — Alzheimer’s & Brain Awareness Month, Men’s Health Month, National Safety Month
Jun 7-Jul 19, Tour de France
Aug — National Breastfeeding Month
Sep — Childhood Cancer Awareness Month
Sep 11, Stand Up to Cancer Day
Oct — National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, National Bullying Prevention Month
Oct 5, Child Health Day
Nov — American Diabetes Month, Lung Cancer Awareness Month
Nov 1, New York City Marathon
Dec 1, World AIDS Day
Non-Fiction Business, Finance, Entrepreneurship
Jan — National Mentoring Month, Financial Wellness Month
Jan 13, Make Your Dream Come True Day
Feb — Time Management Month
Feb 11, International Day of Women and Girls in Science #womeninSTEM
Feb 11, National Inventors Day
Feb 15-22, National Entrepreneurship Week
Apr 15, Tax Day
Apr 22, Administrative Professionals Day
May 3-9, National Small Business Week
Oct 16, Boss's Day
Major U.S. Holidays and Observances
Jan 1, New Year’s Day
Jan 20, Martin Luther King Jr. Day
Jan 25, Chinese New Year
Feb — Black History Month
Feb 2, Groundhog Day
Feb 2, Super Bowl Sunday
Feb 14, Valentine’s Day
Feb 17, Presidents' Day
Feb 25, Mardi Gras
Feb 29, Leap Year Day
Mar — Women's History Month
Mar 8, Daylight Savings Begins
Mar 8, International Women’s Day
Mar 9-10, Purim
Mar 17, St. Patrick's Day
Mar 19, Spring Equinox
Apr 1, April Fool’s Day
Apr 8, Passover
Apr 10, Good Friday
Apr 12, Easter Sunday
Apr 22, Earth Day
May 5, Cinco de Mayo
May 10, Mother's Day
May 25, Memorial Day
Jun 20, Summer Solstice
Jun 21, Father's Day
Jul 4, Independence Day
Sep 7, Labor Day
Sep 19, Rosh Hashanah
Sep 22, Fall Equinox
Sep 28, Yom Kippur
Oct 12, Columbus Day
Oct 31, Halloween
Nov 1, Daylight Saving Time ends
Nov 3, Election Day
Nov 11, Veterans Day
Nov 26, Thanksgiving Day
Nov 27, Black Friday
Nov 30, Cyber Monday
Dec 11, Hanukkah
Dec 25, Christmas Day
Dec 31, New Year's Eve
Sources:
Publisher’s Weekly for Book Events
Brownielocks for Quirky Events
