Seasonal Success

One thing that I've learned from having various online ventures is that sales will ebb and flow according to the time of year. Since I have a few different businesses, each one seems to be peaking at a different time.

My jewelry sites went through a lull at the beginning of November. I was concerned about the sudden drop in sales, but when I asked some people in my jewelry class about it, they shrugged and assured me, "Oh, it's always slow early in the month. Don't worry, things will pick up around Thanksgiving." Sure enough, things indeed picked up around then and Etsy sales have been going really well since (knock on wood). It does make sense when you think about it; in early November, people are probably saving up to purchase holiday gifts and are holding off on spending for themselves. It's around Thanksgiving that the holiday season truly kicks off.

My writing sales also go through waves. I write articles for HubPages and though I make money from that pretty steadily, I always do really well around Christmas. I do have a lot of holiday-themed articles, but I also have articles relating to other holidays and seasons. I guess readers are more interested in finding about Christmas and Chanukah events than say, ones for Mother's Day, so the HubPages holiday season is good to me.

Unfortunately, December is turning out to be a slow month for sales of BAND GEEK. Since this is my first published novel, I'm still learning about the typical yearly sales patterns for books. I was really pleased with sales in October and November. Granted, I was doing the book tour in November, but I continued to sell well for a few weeks after it ended. It was a few days ago that things began to slow down for me. My guess is that with the holidays here, people are shopping, partying, cooking, wrapping presents and decorating their homes -- and aren't really taking the time out to read. What's helping me make sales on Etsy is hurting my book's numbers. I suspect, though -- I hope, anyway -- that once Christmas hits (and people receive Kindles!) my book sales will go back up. Of course, my Etsy sales will then drop, but I already know to be ready for that.

I'm just glad that I have businesses that do well at different times. I love what I do and am happy that I'm finding ways to make my job(s) work out.

Please read and review REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD.