Imitation isn’t just the sincerest form of flattery; it’s how we learn what works and what doesn’t work, especially when it comes to book marketing. With that in mind, we decided to go surfing the WWW (world-wide-web) for clever book promotions that publishers and authors are conducting this season. We hope the WWW (Where Writers Win) tribe will weigh in with your own holiday promotions, too; the more, the merrier!

From Simon & Schuster: free ebook of delicious 8 delicious recipes. Sent in an email, S&S has offered up an ebook of recipes from some of their favorite cookbooks of the year. (I’m off to try the balsamic roasted figs!)

From platform and crowdfunding for authors builder PubSlush, we’re loving their 25 days of Christmas book giveaway. Double cool – their efforts also promote literacy, which is a cause every writer should be keen to support.

On Goodreads, we saw a cool promo for The First Frost by Sarah Addison Allen to win a grand prize of an iPad Mini and a Signed Copy of First Frost. 25 runner-ups will receive a signed copy. Way to take the chill off!

Algonquin Books has been blogging their socks off about appropriate titles to read during the holidays — check ’em out at algonquin.com/blog.

Book Promos Big and Small…

Of course plenty of what we’ve discovered isn’t broadcast around the ‘net. It’s the little BIG things that make an author stand out (and proud to be an author, and to work with you authors, too!). Among the coolest:

• Baskets of books (including the authors) to the local library.
• Children’s book donations to the MUSC Children’s Hospital.
• A reminder to readers that a portion of proceeds of a book benefit a charity (in the case we saw, it was the Kidney Foundation).

It’s nearly Christmas – if you’re blogging about your book, take the time to wish your readers and fans a joyous holiday season and a Happy New Year!