Black Friday / Cyber Weekend for a small direct e-book shop (UK, 2026)

Dates 2026: Black Friday is Fri 27 Nov and Cyber Monday is Mon 30 Nov. US Thanksgiving is Thu 26 Nov, which doesn't matter for UK readers.

The decision. Black Friday is mainly an email-list event. A shop with a tiny list and no sales history gains little from a price cut and can damage trust with one. Choose one of three stances and write it down by 13 Nov: - (A) Ignore it. This is legitimate and costs nothing. - (B) Bonus, not discount. Keep the price and give a time-limited extra. - (C) A real, short discount to the email list only.

Evidence (read in full unless marked)

• Thomas Umstattd Jr., Author Media, "Black Friday promo tips for authors" (read 26 Oct 2026):
• For authors, Black Friday is mainly an email-list tactic; without a list a sale is "tricky".
• Any discount must be real. Don't raise the price just before Black Friday and then "discount" it back to normal.
• Trade promotions with authors in your niche, or run a joint bundle.
• His plan is 4 emails: announce on Friday morning, curated deals on Friday afternoon, the same offer on Cyber Monday, then a last-chance email on Monday.
• Friday's deal must be as good as or better than Monday's.
• Don't pre-announce, or people hold off buying.
• Don't run the sale all November, because a long window kills urgency.
• Apple gives a bonus instead of a discount.
• "You can also ignore Black Friday."
• These are tactics and opinion, with no sales figures.
• CMA207, "Unfair commercial practices" guidance (UK, DMCC Act 2024 regime, page read 26 Oct 2026). Banned practice 7 is falsely stating that an offer is available only for a limited time. The CMA's example is a countdown clock that runs out and then restarts. A true end time is "unlikely to be problematic" unless a substantially similar offer reappears shortly afterwards. The same guidance points to the CMA's work on urgency and price-reduction statements online. Reference prices ("was £X") must be genuine.
• Digital Commerce 360: US Black Friday online sales rose 30.7% in 2025 compared with 2020 (snippet only, not checked).
• r/selfpublish thread "Results of Black Friday Kindle Deal" (Reddit returned 403, so not read; no figures used).

How to do it

1. Pick A, B or C by 13 Nov. If the list has fewer than about 100 subscribers and the shop has made no sales, prefer B.
2. For B (bonus): pick one extra that costs nothing to deliver, such as a high-resolution map print PDF or a short companion essay. Offer it with any purchase between Fri 27 Nov 00:00 and Mon 30 Nov 23:59 UK time. State the end time and keep it. Deliver it automatically if the shop can; otherwise send a "reply with your receipt" email the same day.
3. For C (discount): use a genuine price that has been charged for at least the previous 28 days (good practice; the exact CMA period is not checked). Use one code, list-only, for 4 days at most, and keep Friday's offer at least as good as Monday's. Don't repeat the same offer within weeks.
4. Send 2–3 emails, no more: Friday morning (the offer and why), Sunday or Monday (one reminder showing the bonus) and Monday evening (last chance). Buyers drop out of the later emails.
5. Socials: at most one post per network on Friday and one on Monday, inside the daily caps. Link to /ebooks/ with utm_campaign=bfcm2026.
6. Honest urgency only. No countdown timers that reset, no "only 3 left" on a digital file, and no invented "was" prices.
7. Afterwards: record sales, sign-ups and unsubscribes. Note in the growth report whether it is worth repeating in 2027.

How we apply it to Cedwyn (PROPOSAL, needs the owner's GO; pricing and email journeys are his call)

• Status: the e-books are £9.99, normal for the genre. Sales so far are zero, the list is small, and the /ebooks/ signup form was failing (405) on 26 Oct. Fix the signup before any Black Friday email; without it there's no list to sell to.
• Recommendation: stance B. Keep £9.99. Offer one bonus over 27–30 Nov: a printable A3 PDF of the 1824 David Stewart survey plan (the first record mention found), with a short guide to the field names. The image licence must be cleared first. Alternatively, offer a one-page timeline: 1667, the family acquired Tŷ Mawr (1974 newspapers; ITV News 1988), then 1824 onwards, with no Bute-era dates.
• Proposed email draft (do not send):
• Subject: "Until Monday night: the 1824 survey plan, free with any Tŷ Mawr e-book"
• Body: what it is, the end time ("23:59 Monday 30 November, UK time"), and one /ebooks/ button.
• No banned public words, and the owner is never named.
• Gifting is covered separately. Gift buyers come later in December; see ebook-gifting-christmas-gift-path-guide-email.md. Don't run both offers at once.
• Bundle pricing follows ebook-pricing-bundles-direct.md. A Black Friday bundle discount would be stance C and needs his GO.
• Go/no-go check on 20 Nov: signup fixed, at least 30 subscribers, bonus file ready and licensed, owner GO. If any of these is missing, use stance A (ignore it).

Sources

• authormedia.com (read)
• gov.uk (read; banned practice 7)
• digitalcommerce360.com (snippet, not checked)
• reddit.com (403, not read)

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