Publishing Date

[Post-Crisis D]

I know this has been discussed before but, as of 2024, has anyone in the history of the world ever gotten Amazon to show the correct publication date for a book/eBook?

It seems like no matter what time of day I upload a book, the publication date will show as the day before I actually uploaded it.

It's quite maddening.

For one, sometimes you want a specific publication date.  For example, recently, I published the 40th anniversary issue of my newsletter.  If I had put that on Amazon, I would have wanted the publication date to be the actual 40th anniversary day.  Or, if I published a book of jokes, I might have wanted that to be published on April 1st.  Or, you may have various other reasons why you pick a specific date.

For two, I still express concern about copyright registration (U.S.).  When you sign, you are acknowledging that you are giving them accurate information.  So, if I publish on May 8th, I am going to put May 8th on the form as the publication date.  And, Amazon will more than likely show it as May 7th.  That seems like it could be a problem.  (On the other hand, maybe the Copyright Office is aware of Amazon issues by now.  Also, I keep the eMails from Amazon acknowledging when it is uploaded and goes live and all that, so I do have something to back up my claim if there is ever a question.)

Of course, being that this problem has been around for at least 12 years, I am guessing Amazon has no interest in ever fixing it.

[TimothyEllis]

Pre-orders launch in Australia first, and that's the day before in the US. So my dates are always wrong.

If this is not a pre-order, then I'm not sure what it is.

[Post-Crisis D]

I've never done pre-orders.

[alhawke]

Pre-orders launch in Australia first, and that's the day before in the US. So my dates are always wrong.

Yeah, it might be the time difference from Australia to US. I know my preorders are distributed in other countries the day before. My preorder shows the correct date but I published it in the US.

Maybe you need to publish it one day before to show the "right date". But if you do that on the next book, watch, it'll probably show the day before. So   

[TimothyEllis]

Yeah, it might be the time difference from Australia to US. I know my preorders are distributed in other countries the day before. My preorder shows the correct date but I published it in the US.

If it goes live from the US, it should show Australia as the next day, not the previous one. But they're all supposed to go live at the same time, where pre-orders release one at a time as midnight comes around for each store.

[Post-Crisis D]

For non-pre-orders, I still don't think the time difference explains it.

If I were to upload a book right now, it is already May 9th in Australia while still May 8th in the U.S.  I don't think there is anywhere in the world right now where it is still May 7th.  Yet, I can be reasonably certain that if I were to upload a book right now to Amazon, it will show the publication date as May 7th.

I just checked a world clock and I don't see any part of the world where it is still yesterday.