Welcome to our list of February observances and unique content ideas for your monthly author marketing plan!
If you’re committed to making this year one of your most successful yet – we can help you do that.
If you haven’t downloaded our Monthly Book Marketing Planner yet you can grab that at the bottom of this piece in our resources section. We’ve updated it for 2020 with even more prompts and tips!
Remember, without regular connections to readers, you’re just another book on the shelf (literal or virtual) they have no vested interest in…so 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!
Another great reason to bookmark this author marketing resource? 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 equally as powerful as ensuring you also make time to really speak to your genre and topic.
How to Use My Unique Content Ideas
Below are holidays and just plain wacky and fun February Observances for 2020.
I’ve also included a few content ideas and angles to help spark your creativity!
Remember, not all 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!
Keep in mind: ALL your posts should encourage your fans and followers to respond, chime in, share their feedback, insight, stories, etc. so don’t forget to work in that angle to let them know you want to hear from them.
I mention it as part of my recommendations occasionally, but please know that encouraging engagement is always the goal – so never post “flat” content, always get creative with how you can pull others into the conversation, and easily.
And if you’re feeling 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, use it on social, for your blog, in your newsletter – get creative – but 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 Unique Content Ideas
- American Heart Month
- An Affair to Remember Month
- Black History Month
- Canned Food Month
- Children’s Authors & Illustrator Week (1st week of February)
- Creative Romance Month
- Great American Pie Month
- Library Lovers Month
- National Bird Feeding Month
- National Cherry Month
- National Children’s Dental Health Month
- National Grapefruit Month
- National Weddings Month
- Spunky Old Broads Month
February 1
Take Your Child to the Library Day – Our libraries are fantastic resources and supporters of authors and publishing, please spread the word and get your networks involved.
Read Aloud Day – Encourage your fans to post a video reading aloud one of their favorite parts of one of your books!
Eat Ice Cream for Breakfast Day
National Freedom Day
No Politics Day
Spunky Old Broads Day – This is super fun, encourage the “old broads” in your life to share what makes them fabulously spunky.
February 2
Candlemas
Ground Hog Day – Start taking polls to see if your fans predict a long winter!
Superbowl Sunday
February 3
Feed the Birds Day
February 4
Thank a Mailperson Day – One of the many people in our community who are often overlooked, encourage people to take a moment to wave and say thank you today!
February 5
National Weatherman’s Day
February 7
Bubble Gum Day
Wave All your Fingers at Your Neighbor Day
February 9
National Pizza Day – Tag your favorite local pizza slinger, share a fave recipe, post a poll about a controversial topping, pizza is something that brings everyone together!
Oscar Night
February 10
Clean out Your Computer Day – This would be a fun day to release something from your cutting room floor, a deleted chapter, a deleted character, maybe an old cover you’ve since changed or old titles you were considering – get creative.
February 11
Make a Friend Day
National Inventors Day
White T-Shirt Day
February 12
Abraham Lincoln’s Birthday
National Lost Penny Day
February 13
Get a Different Name Day – This is fun, do you have an alias, an alter-ego, share it!
February 14
Library Lovers Day – Today is the day, visit your local library and encourage your networks to do the same, tag their library, share what they did there or what they checked out, remind people how fabulous their local library is.
National Organ Donor Day
Valentine’s Day – Consider penning a love letter to your readers. Or sharing love letters between your characters if there’s a romantic element to your book. And be creative, this is for ANY author who includes romantic elements, including mysteries and thrillers, historical fiction – think outside the box even if you’re not categorized as romance.
February 15
Singles Awareness Day – Similar to Valentine’s Day, you can use this opportunity to highlight another one of your characters, be humorous, have fun.
Susan B Anthony Day
February 16
Do a Grouch a Favor Day – “If you understood how frequently people cope by projecting, you would learn to take absolutely nothing personally.” – Octavia Butler
February 17
President’s Day
Random Acts of Kindness Day – Spread the word and share what you’re doing!
February 18
National Drink Wine Day
February 20
Cherry Pie Day
Love Your Pet Day – Pets break the Internet, take advantage of how awesome your furry friend is.
February 21
Card Reading Day
February 22
George Washington’s Birthday
Be Humble Day
International World Thinking Day
National Margarita Day
Walking the Dog Day – Great day to take a doggie selfie!
February 23
International Dog Biscuit Appreciation Day – Another great photo opportunity.
Tennis Day
February 24
National Tortilla Chip Day – What about a poll on the PERFECT dip?
World Bartender Day
February 25
Mardi Gras / Fat Tuesday
Pistol Patent Day
February 26
Ash Wednesday
Carnival Day
National Pistachio Day
Tell a Fairy Tale Day – There’s so much history rooted in fairy tales, figure out a fun way to honor this storytelling tradition.
February 27
Polar Bear Day
No Brainer Day
February 28
Floral Design Day
National Chili Day – Share a recipe, ask for recipes, secret ingredients, etc. winter isn’t over yet, so this is a great reason to get some comfort food simmering.
Public Sleeping Day
February 29
Leap Day – 2020 is a Leap Year
Open That Bottle Night – We often save that special bottle for a “special day” and we keep putting it off. This holiday is about showing appreciation for everything positive in your life, share that with your network and encourage them to share whatever they’re celebrating.
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 February observances should really help.
Have plans for a fun take on any of these ideas? Share below in the comments!
Resources
Monthly Book Marketing Planner
How to Create Video Content for Social Media
Irresistible Bonus and Giveaway Ideas for Authors
Please use the social share buttons below if you learned something from this post – your shares really help educate other authors, which raises the bar for publishing and gets more books in readers hands!
Topic is really excellent !