As they say, pumpkin spice and everything nice! Welcome to our list of October observances and unique content ideas for authors for your monthly author marketing plan.
If you’re committed to making this year one of your most successful yet, we can help. If you haven’t already downloaded our Monthly Book Marketing Planner, grab it at the bottom of this post in our resources section.
Remember, without regular connection to readers, you’re just another book on the shelf. Take the time to make yourself stand out by using our monthly observances and tips to create interesting content with your own unique twist.
This is part of building your brand!
Timely content that uses popular and trending search terms and hashtags is a great way to enhance your visibility and improve SEO in a very simple way.
And what’s really key: content ideas don’t always have to stem from your genre or topic.
When it comes to author marketing and building a brand, ensuring fans and followers have ways to connect with you on a more personal level is as powerful as speaking about your genre and topic.
How to Use My Content Ideas
Below are holidays and just plain wacky and fun October Observances for 2020.
I’ve also included a few content ideas and angles to help spark your creativity!
Not all of these are worth an entire blog post or article, but nearly all of them can be turned into a fun or thought-provoking social media post or blurb in your newsletter – so it’s like getting triple the ideas!
There are always a lot of holidays around food, drink, and cooking, so get ready to share recipes or tag local fave establishments and ask followers to share theirs. The same goes for activities: this is a great chance to take selfies and/or share a bit about yourself outside of being a writer.
These also open up opportunities for you to make recommendations for products – no, not official ads, but again, people love to follow someone who’s a great resource. Think outside the box to come up with ways you can help people out and make their lives easier or more exciting.
Keep in mind: ALL of your posts should encourage your fans and followers to respond, chime in, share their feedback, insight, stories, etc. Don’t forget to work at that angle and let them know you want to hear from them.
Also remember: your goal is to encourage engagement – never post flat content; be creative with how you pull others into the conversation and offer ways for them to easily engage.
If you feel a little guilty about the lack of promotion planning you’ve done so far this year, use this list as a productive kick in the rear. Commit to writing some form of content every day and use it on social, for your blog, in your newsletter – get creative! Giving yourself a bar to reach is the first step in upping your game.
Do polls, giveaways, fan art contests: remember to make it about your readers – not about you – and you’re guaranteed to see better engagement.
If you need some additional support on how to translate these ideas to actual content and posts, please consider signing up for email coaching with me and we’ll get personal!
Getting Started with Content Ideas
Adopt a Shelter Dog Month – Time for a selfie with your pound puppernutter or a post highlighting your favorite animal rescue organization. If this is a cause close to your heart, you might even consider donating a portion of the month’s sales and invite followers to let you know that they bought one of your books so that you can personally thank them on behalf of cute dogs.
Breast Cancer Awareness Month – Think pink. Add a filter to your Facebook profile photo and post about your favorite women who have battled this disease. Invite your followers to add their own stories to your page.
Computer Learning Month
Cookie Month
Domestic Violence Awareness Month – Use your platform to call attention to this issue and provide readers with at least one resource should they or someone they love need help.
National Book Month – A book a day keeps the boredom away! Here’s a great opportunity to share your favorite books with your followers. Guaranteed to start an ongoing conversation about your choices.
National Diabetes Month
National Graphic Novel Writing Month
National Pizza Month
National Reading Group Month – Share photos of your own reading group – virtual or in-person – or ask followers to post about great books they’ve discussed in their own groups. Ten to one, at least one of your superfans will suggest one of your titles!
National Vegetarian Month
National Popcorn Popping Month
Sarcastic Month – Humor writers rejoice – or don’t. But be sure to share!
Weekly Celebrations – Unique Content Ideas for Authors
Week 1 Get Organized Week
Week 2 Pet Peeve Week – After you honor your best self by getting organized during the first week of October, give in to your devilish nature by hosting a week of Pet Peeves on a social media channel. One per day. They say misery loves company….
Week 3 National Friends of Libraries Week – Consider a post a day on your great library loves: an anecdote about your favorite childhood librarian, a description of the carrel where you spent half your college career, a drawing one of your children made during a library activity, a photo of a stack of library books, a link to a current article about the role libraries play in American life. As a lover of libraries, I could go on…. Ask your followers to respond in kind.
Daily Observations for October
October 1
International Coffee Day – show off your favorite mug and ask followers to post photos of theirs. Raffle off a small Starbucks card to those who participate.
National Homemade Cookies Day – recipes! Bonus points for photos of your flour-covered nose.
World Vegetarian Day – recipes! Bonus points for photos where you use the ubiquitous zucchini harvest.
October 2
Name Your Car Day
World Farm Animals Day – who doesn’t want to visit a farm in October to pick some apples, drink some cider, and take selfies with cute animals? Post a few photos with those piglets!
World Smile Day – don’t pass up this chance to share your emoji addiction.
October 3
National Boyfriends Day – Romance writers, create a poll for your readers and ask them to vote for Best Boyfriend in your books. At the end of the day, reveal your own pick.
Techies Day
October 4
National Golf Day
National Frappe Day
October 5
Do Something Nice Day
World Teacher’s Day – Combine these two holidays into one and do something nice for a teacher, then post what you did and encourage others to celebrate with you by following your example.
October 6
Mad Hatter Day – if you loved Alice in Wonderland as a kid – and if you still love it – it’s time to celebrate the endearingly annoying Mad Hatter. He’d probably recommend a tea party. You can decide whether or not to invite your own March Hare and Dormouse.
October 8
American Touch Tag Day – you might want to skip this one this year – unless your version involves using pool noodles to tag other players It.
October 9
Curious Events Day
National Motorcycle Ride Day – show off your beast, and the ride that you take to celebrate this holiday, by posting a few photos and some video of the open road.
October 11
It’s My Party Day
Myths and Legends Day – this one is perfect for all of you SFF writers. Plan out some festivities surrounding your own mythic creations.
October 12
Columbus Day
Indigenous People Day
Cookbook Launch Day
Moment of Frustration Day
October 14
National Dessert Day – celebrate by offering a beloved recipe that is part of your ethnic identity: German chocolate cake, Italian cassata cake, Australian pavlova, German sachertorte…. If baking ain’t your thing, this is a perfect opportunity to highlight a local business that makes the best [fill-in-the-blank].
Take Your Teddy Bear to Work Day
October 16
Bosses Day
Dictionary Day – A perfect opportunity to connect with your fellow word nerds. Ask followers for five favorites – at the end of the day, you’ll all have more interesting vocabularies.
October 17
Sweetest Day – Will you honor the October love holiday with roses and chocolates? You could send them to a lucky reader by doing a one-day contest: each follower to post a quotation above love gets an entry and you pick a winner at the end of the day.
National Pasta Day
Wear Something Gaudy Day
October 18
National Meatloaf Appreciation Day
Newspaper Comic Strip Day
No Beard Day – instead of a cover reveal a face reveal? It might be time to get rid of that pandemic face scruff….
October 19
Evaluate Your Life Day – do it yourself and encourage others to do the same. If you’re a self-help author and have worksheets or tip sheets, offer them as a free resource.
October 20
International Chefs Day
Sukkot – if you’ve built a sukkah, share a few photos of it with your followers and encourage people to share photos of their own or to ask you questions about the holiday.
October 21
Babbling Day
International Nacho Day – go live on Instagram to demonstrate your mad nacho making skillz.
National Pumpkin Cheesecake Day
October 22
National Nut Day – Sometimes you feel like a nut; sometimes you don’t. If you feel like celebrating, be sure to steer clear of those with allergies.
October 23
TV Talk Show Host Day – Ellen? Oprah? Merv Griffin? Phil Donahue? Jimmy Fallon? Jimmy Kimmel? Choose your favorite and go to YouTube to find him or her in action during an iconic moment. Share the video on social and nominate your pick for Best TV Talk Show Host of All Time, then sit back to see what your followers have to say.
October 24
Make a Difference Day – this holiday is about neighbors helping neighbors, so highlight the ways your neighborhood comes together to support and care for its own.
National Bologna Day
United Nations Day
October 25
Mother-In-Law Day
International Artist Day
World Opera Day
World Pasta Day
October 27
Black Cat Day – if you’ve got an inky little whiskered furbaby, give him a little social media love and invite others to do the same.
October 28
Plush Animal Lover’s Day
October 29
Hermit Day
National Frankenstein Day – green face paint. A couple of bolts. Maybe a bad wig. You can do it! But if you’re not a costume kinda human, a passage from Mary Shelley’s classic novel or a clip from Gene Wilder’s Young Frankenstein can also be love letters to the Halloween season.
October 30
National Candy Corn Day
Mischief Night
October 31
Carve a Pumpkin Day
Halloween
Increase Your Psychic Powers Day
The Takeaway
Remember, being an author demands creativity, and it also demands authenticity.
Coming up with unique content ideas as part of your author marketing plan is a great way to take your success seriously, without taking yourself too seriously! And these October observances should really help.
Resources and Free Downloads
Monthly Book Marketing Planner
How to Create Video Content for Social Media
Irresistible Bonus Content & Giveaway Ideas for Indie Authors
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