'Tis the Season

One thing leads to another, and yesterday, one of the Seekers mentioned Christmas stories, and I got to thinking, which can be dangerous, by-the-way.

Do most books come out in the month/season in which they are set?

I checked my shelves, and the only ones I can really tell about is the Love Inspired books because they have the month and year they were published. Most trade-size CBA published books just have the year, not the month they were published, so it makes it a little difficult to pinpoint exactly which month they were published without more time for research.

A quick spot check of Seeker books reveals that Ruth Logan Herne’s Winter’s End comes out in March 2010, and Glynna Kaye’s Dreaming of Home was set in the fall and also published during the fall of the year.

So far so good.

But further investigation reveals that isn’t always the case. Glancing at my shelves, I discovered a book published in August a few years ago that starts out in the spring. And I found another one published in April where the prologue is in September, but the first chapter starts in spring.

Ruthy says, “I've read lots of books in winter with warm weather settings, from all kinds of publishers. Not so much the other way, though. It seems winter books do better released in fall/winter, but nice weather books can hit the stands any time.”

That seems to sum it up nicely, don’t you think?

But it does make me wonder if publishers get too many stories with warm weather settings, too many Christmas books, not enough set around other holidays?

Do holiday-themed books sell as well as non-holiday themed ones? And if non-holiday books sell as well when released in November/December as they would at other times of the year?

And, finally, my question to you is, do you care?

Do you care one whit if the book you just bought in December is set in the sweltering heat of the desert, or on a beach in July, or the Appalachian Mountains in September?

Maybe if you’re like Mary with head-high snow drifts, you’re craving a book set in the desert!

Would you buy a Christmas themed book even if you don’t have time to read it? If you acquire such a book mid-year, would you hold on to it until closer to Christmas before delving into it? Would you be more inclined to purchase a holiday-themed book at Christmas than a non-holiday themed one?