Ups and Downs...navigating the waves of marketing!

As a small publisher with three titles to our name, we are learning that there is an ebb and flow to the book business. We have a niche audience for our books, which makes it easier than the average to find our customers, but on the flip side, there seems to be only so many roads and many are dead ends

Our struggle now is that we have had some successes, but they do not always translate into repeat buyers. The Military is our target audience. The largest consumer group in the nation, but still we find that it is not an easy group to get in to. We have had good sales of several hundred books at a time when a post is deploying soldiers and one large order of 2000 to the Navy that got us our book distributor.

We have had a mostly active run so far, but now the slower times have come and my reaction is panic!
I know the Military has a buying cycle, and it is not in January. I know that the Military has certain months we can capitalize on, April, the month of the military child, and November, the month of the Military Family. I am sure that most of you also have certain opportunities that fit into the subject matter you have written on.
What do you do with your slower times, are there things we could be doing in anticipation of the stronger months?
I would love to hear what others do and thanks to this site I look forward to learning more about riding the waves!