Labor Day Does Not Mean The End of Summer Reading

Today marks the start Labor Day Weekend which is also the unofficial end of summer. Summer reading is a great marketing tool. Publishers, bookstores, and libraries use it to remind busy adults to take time read. It harkens back to our memories of summers off from school, and if you have kids, it’s a great way to stop the summer slide and have the whole family read together. Everyone gets so excited about summer reading, but here’s the thing....

Summer reading is only a construct. The lists, the websites dedicated to it, all the titles can actually be read any time of the year, even though every thing you see might make you think otherwise.

So here’s a reminder, as summer ends, that summer reads are good all year long. I have tagged years worth of summer reading lists and you can pull the up to find a great read. Use this year’s titles, or ones from 5 years ago. But use them all year long as a a suggestion resource.

I am reminding you today because you can use these lists to make a really fun and eye catching display for next week.

That’s right, be crazy and put up a "Summer Reads Are Good Reads Anytime of Year” or “Hang On To Summer A Bit Longer” type display just when everyone is preparing for Fall. People will notice. And, that is the point with displays, we want them to notice, we want them to see that we are trying ti help them find a good read, we want them to know we aren’t just phoning it in.

Not only will the display will be fun to put up and start conversations at the desk for sure, but also, do not forget to use my summer reading tag as one of your go to places to find great reads all year long. Often the titles included in summer reading marketing are a better choice than year end best lists because summer reading marketing allows for genre titles.

You know I love genre titles and think they are just as good as literary fiction, but they rarely make “best lists.” Not so in summer reading lists.  Summer reading embraces the joys of genre and provides excellent, compelling, and satisfying titles for readers in all genres. In other words, you can help more readers find high quality titles with the summer reading lists than with the highly literary best lists. And that alone is a great reason to remember summer reading even after the season ends.

Keep Summer Reading in your back pocket as a tool to help readers all year long with this link. You will be pleasantly surprised at how well it works even after Labor Day.

Have a great holiday weekend.