It’s easy to add a little warm-weather pizzazz to your book promotion calendar, too. Just link your book to any of the fun, unexpected, and wacky holidays and occasions offered by this mid-year month.

After all, July is Cell Phone Courtesy Month, National Anti-Boredom Month (you’re never bored when you’re reading a book!), and National Grilling Month.

How to use these unusual occasions

Let’s look at a couple of special days in July and how they might help you bring more attention to your books.

• July 10 is Teddy Bear Picnic Day, an occasion tailor-made for children’s book authors. Collaborate with your library to plan and host a stuffed animal picnic in the children’s book section. Write a guest post for a mom blog about how to plan a neighborhood teddy bear picnic.

• Is one of your book’s characters lonely? Use Cheer Up the Lonely Day on July 11 to blog about what people can do to make someone like your character smile. Maybe your nonfiction book encourages self-care. Create a series of social media images that explain how supporting someone who is lonely will cheer us up, too.
• Some of us (raising my hand here) are happy to finally be recognized with Be a Dork Day on July 15. If your characters are dorks (or if you are one), distribute a tongue-in-cheek tip sheet about 10 ways to be a dork. Turn those tips into a series of social media posts. Ask people on Facebook to share the dorkiest thing they’ve ever done.

You might want to brainstorm with a friend about how to use these holidays or events to your advantage. Open your mind to the possibilities and have fun with them.

Use these July book promotion possibilities

Expand your book promotion with this short list of unexpected and fun July holidays. Look for more on the Holiday Insights site, too.

• July 1 International Joke Day
• July 2 I Forgot Day
• July 2 World UFO Day
• July 3 Disobedience Day
• July 5 National Workaholics Day
• July 6 International Kissing Day
• July 7 Chocolate Day
• July 10 Teddy Bear Picnic Day
• July 11Cheer Up the Lonely Day
• July 13 Barbershop Music Appreciation Day
• July 13 Embrace Your Geekness Day
• July 14 National Macaroni and Cheese Day
• July 14 National Nude Day
• July 15 Be a Dork Day
• July 15 Cow Appreciation Day
• July 15 National Give Something Away Day
• July 17 National Ice Cream Day
• July 20 Moon Day
• July 22 Hammock Day
• July 23 National Day of the Cowboy
• July 24 Cousins Day
• July 26 All or Nothing Day
• July 27 Walk on Stilts Day
• July 30 International Day of Friendship

Be sure to check out the list of book-related occasions during May in our 2022 literary calendar, too.

How can you link any of these to your book or its theme, message, characters, or mission? Please tell us in a comment. 

Find and leverage a fun holiday from the short list below, or browse the expanded list on HolidayInsights for one you can link to your book. Then brainstorm how you might combine the two — the holiday and your book — to create content or get attention.

Ideas for those crazy July holidays

Here are just a few examples from the abbreviated list below:

• Do you write science fiction? World UFO Day on July 2 is for you.
• You’re a children’s book author? Have fun with Teddy Bear Picnic Day on  July 10.
• Is your book on a technology topic? Embrace Your Geekness Day, July 13, is for you.
• Do you write historical fiction? Consider using Amelia Earhart Day on July 24 a springboard.
• Is ice cream one of your major food groups? (Raising my hand on that one.) Use your Facebook page or group to poll people about their favorite flavor on National Ice Cream Day on July 15.
• Are you a Buffalo, N.Y.-area author? July 29, National Chicken Wing Day, is tailor-made for you and those tasty Buffalo chicken wings you’re so well known for.

Crazy July holidays

Let this list of crazy July holidays inspire you to review the longer list.

• July 1 Build A Scarecrow Day
• July 2 World UFO Day
• July 3 Disobedience Day
• July 5 Workaholics Day
• July 7 Chocolate Day
• July 8 Video Games Day
• July 10 Teddy Bear Picnic Day
• July 11 Cheer up the Lonely Day
• July 13 Barbershop Music Appreciation Day
• July 13 Embrace Your Geekness Day
• July 14 Shark Awareness Day
• July 15 Be a Dork Day
• July 15 Cow Appreciation Day
• July 15 National Ice Cream Day
• July 16 Fresh Spinach Day
• July 16 Global Hug Your Kids Day
• July 18 National Hot Dog Day
• July 20 Moon Day
• July 22 Hammock Day
• July 24 Amelia Earhart Day
• July 24 Cousins Day
• July 26 All or Nothing Day
• July 28 National Day of the Cowboy
• July 29 National Chicken Wing Day

Authors who have used this tactic have been happy with the attention they’ve brought to their books.

Now it’s your turn to have fun and get creative with these crazy July holidays.

Have you ever used a holiday to help promote your book? What did you do? Tell us in a comment.