How long does it take for amazon to publish your book?

[idontknowyet]

From the moment you hit the  publish button, how long does it take for amazon to actually make the book live.
I want to release all 3 books on the same day, but pre order is supposed to depress ranks so i was thinking about just hitting the publish button on book 2 and book 3.
Do i push the button 24, 48 or 72 hours before i actually want it released?

[TimothyEllis]

Back before I started using pre-order, going live time for me was about an hour.

First book in a series took longer, but never more than 4 hours.

I used to time it for around midnight Hawaii time on the day I wanted it to release, and it would be available for breakfast time on the East Coast.

If you're releasing a month apart, I'd still do pre-orders on books 2 and 3.

I know what people say about pre-orders and ranks, but if you get KU reads on day 1, any loss of sales rank for the pre-orders is offset by the downloads.

Having the pre-orders for the next book there on release day locks in the sales when people like the book they just read. Otherwise, people can forget or be distracted from buying when the next book comes out.

[Writer]

Do i push the button 24, 48 or 72 hours before i actually want it released?

I publish before going to bed at night and the book is live by morning.

[alhawke]

For me, it's always within 12 hours. But I've read of many other writer's that haven't been so lucky with it taking a few days, even longer (I'll keep my fingers crossed for the future).

With the series you've got going, put some serious thought into doing preorders (for 2nd/3rd book)--like Tim is saying^^. Preorders aren't too useful for 1st books, but for series books ready to go, you might get a lot of momentum.

People who are against preorders are often not considering the extra publicity through hot new releases, fans, and readers who are waiting to binge. But I do think that if you have a single book only, holding off on preorders might be wise (unless you already have a big fan base).

edit{ for clarity

[hungryboson]

I published today in the morning and it took about 3 hours.

[idontknowyet]

For me, it's always within 12 hours. But I've read of many other writer's that haven't been so lucky with it taking a few days, even longer (I'll keep my fingers crossed for the future).

With the series you've got going, put some serious thought into doing preorders (for 2nd/3rd book)--like Tim is saying^^. Preorders aren't too useful for 1st books, but for series books ready to go, you might get a lot of momentum.

People who are against preorders are often not considering the extra publicity through hot new releases, fans, and readers who are waiting to binge. But I do think that if you have a single book only, holding off on preorders might be wise (unless you already have a big fan base).

edit{ for clarity

i'm definitely putting book 4 up on preorder than 5 and 6 so they can see the next trilogy is ready.

I'm worried about the books i'm dropping on day 1. I want the first trilogy up and good to go all at the same time.

[TimothyEllis]

I'm worried about the books i'm dropping on day 1. I want the first trilogy up and good to go all at the same time.

That's what pre-order is good for.

Release book 1, but with the other 2 on pre-order for a month and 2 months away, and a series page already showing all 3 books, readers can have a lot better confidence that the trilogy will be completed.

I would never publish all 3 on the same day though. Big waste of momentum building. imo.

[idontknowyet]

I'm worried about the books i'm dropping on day 1. I want the first trilogy up and good to go all at the same time.

That's what pre-order is good for.

Release book 1, but with the other 2 on pre-order for a month and 2 months away, and a series page already showing all 3 books, readers can have a lot better confidence that the trilogy will be completed.

I would never publish all 3 on the same day though. Big waste of momentum building. imo.

i still plan on releasing a book a month for at least a year for momentum.
There are several reasons for the three at 1x
1st i write a trilogy with hard cliffs between every book in romance, which is a fairly big no no especially if people have to worry about getting the next book. Many people dont try a new author until book 3 is out. Marketing a single book is expensive whereas at 3 its easier so see a return on investment.
Possiblity of the lillian method actually resulting in a  algo boost.
 

[RPatton]

I'm worried about the books i'm dropping on day 1. I want the first trilogy up and good to go all at the same time.

That's what pre-order is good for.

Release book 1, but with the other 2 on pre-order for a month and 2 months away, and a series page already showing all 3 books, readers can have a lot better confidence that the trilogy will be completed.

I would never publish all 3 on the same day though. Big waste of momentum building. imo.

i still plan on releasing a book a month for at least a year for momentum.
There are several reasons for the three at 1x
1st i write a trilogy with hard cliffs between every book in romance, which is a fairly big no no especially if people have to worry about getting the next book. Many people dont try a new author until book 3 is out. Marketing a single book is expensive whereas at 3 its easier so see a return on investment.
Possiblity of the lillian method actually resulting in a  algo boost.

Try 1-2 weeks apart and not a month. But I wouldn't recommend doing all three at once. All the data I've seen supports spreading out the launch of the books.

[Post-Crisis D]

Old thread, but the data may still be useful.  Maybe we could post time to live times on a regular basis so we can see what Amazon's timing is like and compare?

At the moment, I am approaching six hours.  (It's technically just over five and a half hours right now.)  Still waiting.


UPDATE: Went live after just over six hours.

[TimothyEllis]

Old thread, but the data may still be useful.  Maybe we could post time to live times on a regular basis so we can see what Amazon's timing is like and compare?

At the moment, I am approaching six hours.  (It's technically just over five and a half hours right now.)  Still waiting.


UPDATE: Went live after just over six hours.

Is that by when it was findable in search, or when you got the email?

[Post-Crisis D]

Is that by when it was findable in search, or when you got the email?

When there is a live URL you can send to your list with a message to "Buy my book!"

[TimothyEllis]

Is that by when it was findable in search, or when you got the email?

When there is a live URL you can send to your list with a message to "Buy my book!"

Is that searchable?

I use pre-orders these days, so I have the url already, and it goes live at midnight for each store, with the US store being NY time.

I find pre-orders go live in about an hour, although book 1's always seem to take longer.

But that the search live, not the email live, which always takes 6 to 8 hours.

[Post-Crisis D]

And Amazon still can't get the day right.  Says it was published yesterday and I am reasonably sure when I uploaded the only place where it was still yesterday was New Zealand.  I doubt Amazon is on New Zealand time but who knows.

[Post-Crisis D]

Is that searchable?

No idea.  I only know the URL works and it shows up on my author page with my other books.

[TimothyEllis]

Is that searchable?

No idea.  I only know the URL works and it shows up on my author page with my other books.

The author page is only updated after you add it manually. Unless that changed and I didn't notice.

[Post-Crisis D]

Is that searchable?

No idea.  I only know the URL works and it shows up on my author page with my other books.

The author page is only updated after you add it manually. Unless that changed and I didn't notice.

The author page on that's linked from your name in the book listing.  All my books show there without me having to add them.

[TimothyEllis]

The author page on that's linked from your name in the book listing.  All my books show there without me having to add them.

They must have changed that then.

I'll check with the next one I list.

[Post-Crisis D]

The author page on that's linked from your name in the book listing.  All my books show there without me having to add them.

They must have changed that then.

I'll check with the next one I list.

It's been like that since 2012 for me. 

[TimothyEllis]

It's been like that since 2012 for me. 

That makes me think we're not talking about the same thing.

This is Author Central, right?

[Post-Crisis D]

It's been like that since 2012 for me. 

That makes me think we're not talking about the same thing.

This is Author Central, right?

No.  Just your author page that comes up when someone clicks your name on your book listing.

Unless the Author Central option overrides that?

All I know is all my books show up on that page and I don't have to add them manually.  Never have.

[TimothyEllis]

It's been like that since 2012 for me. 

That makes me think we're not talking about the same thing.

This is Author Central, right?

No.  Just your author page that comes up when someone clicks your name on your book listing.

Unless the Author Central option overrides that?

All I know is all my books show up on that page and I don't have to add them manually.  Never have.

Sounds like your talking about normal search.

If you have an Author Central account, it overrides that and displays the AC page. That has the book slider top right, and your bio on the left. Then lists your books down.

If you don't, it just uses your author name as a search term and displays the search result.

The search will always find your just added book. But AC, unless they recently changed it, needs you to add it manually.

[Post-Crisis D]

Well, I used to have an Author Central account, but now it asks if I'd like to join and claim my books. 

[LilyBLily]

FYI: I submitted a paperback nearly five hours ago; it's still in review.

[alhawke]

What I said up there is not totally true, ime. My ebooks usually take around 12 hours. My paperbacks can take up to 72hrs. Not sure why, but there's a greater delay with paperbacks.

I haven't ran into week long approvals. I've heard of that. And I hope I'm not jinxing myself in the future mentioning it.

[Post-Crisis D]

My guess is that the paperback takes about 12 hours.  That's how long it took from submission to, oh, your cover bleed is 1/32" too short so try again.  Based on that, my paperback should go live around midnight EST.

Then again, it's Friday, so who knows what Amazon's bots do on Fridays?  Virtual liquor party?  Simulated drunk rejecting of books?  Who knows?

[Post-Crisis D]

Well, I used to have an Author Central account, but now it asks if I'd like to join and claim my books. 

Okay, so I logged in and it had all my Author Central account info from before and it also has my latest release listed among my books but it does not show in the slider on my author page.

Maybe it takes time to show up.  Not like people are looking at my author page anyway.

[LilyBLily]

More FYI: It took 17 hours to get the notice the paperback has been reviewed and is available for sale.

It appears on my Amazon author page as well--and today there is no slider on same, just a headline, "Top ___ titles for you" with four of my books. One of them is my worst-selling title ever.

However, using an incognito window, I found the usual slider, which only shows the ebook versions, not the paperback.

[Post-Crisis D]

More FYI: It took 17 hours to get the notice the paperback has been reviewed and is available for sale.

Same here.  Meanwhile, I had discovered an issue and you can't make a change while it's pending review so I had to wait for it to go live before I could fix it.  So, now back to pending . . .

On the upside, no one is buying so no one bought a problem copy.

Another issue is that the "Look Inside" shows boxes around my title that are not in the original artwork nor do they show up in the PDF I uploaded nor did they show up in the Previewer prior to approving.  Guess the only way to see is to order an author copy once it's live.

[writeway]

Speaking of publishing, Amazon changed something months back to where erotica books now take at least a day and a half now to publish even on preorder. They used to publish fast but I guess they got the bots doing extra checking these days. Or so-called.