How and why to use Preorder?

[Author59]

Hi all,

I have my second standalone novel ready to publish. I don't have much of a following yet, so my plan is to go KU for three months, then possibly wide. The novel is Literary Crime. Would putting it in preorder benefit me in anyway? And if so, how would I set it up? Thanks!

[VanessaC]

Welcome.

I've just finished my first series, so take this with doses of salt - and also note that I was writing in a connected series, so a different position to you.

I wrote 2 1/2 books before I put the first one up, had book 2 on pre-order, then when book 2 was out, put the third on pre-order and so on. 

The main reason(s) for me to do pre-order, in no particular order, were: I had something to tell my (very small) mailing list, and post on the facebook page; anyone who wanted the next book could see that it was on its way; and it also gave me a hard deadline to work to. 

Amazon gives you a maximum 3 month pre-order and if you want to extend that, you lose the right to have a pre-order at all for a year afterward, so you need to be sure you can make your pre-order deadline. I was working on the book during the pre-order period, which was a bit stressful at times. 

As you probably know, readers in KU can't pre-order, they can only read books that are live on the Amazon store, but I had a handful of sales on pre-order which meant each book had an actual rank and some also viewed / also boughts when it went live.

All that said, if your novel is ready to go, and it's a standalone, I suspect you may be better off just publishing.

Best of luck.

[Author59]

Thanks VanessaC for your input!

[Bill Hiatt]

I concur with that recommendation. Writers with huge followings seem to do well on preorder, and Vanessa has good reasons for doing it with a series if one can write fast enough, but in other circumstances, it doesn't make as much sense. Personally, I never preorder anything. Particularly with ebooks, I want to be able to download my purchase right away. I don't know how many other people are that way, but I'm sure I'm not alone.

[PermaStudent]

A big consideration for (usually established) indies is comparing potential sales lost during the pre-order timeframe to the rank boost from getting a lot of sales on a non-pre-order launch day.

I.e., if you think your book will launch HUGE because all of the dedicated fans on your email list and social media will drop everything to go and buy it on launch day: no pre-order. If you have a small to modest following, or no following at all, those readers might forget you and move on before your next book launch: so give them a pre-order, and grab those sales while they're hot.