2015 is the first full year that self-publishing authors had access to preorder capability for their ebooks on Amazon—meaning that best practices are becoming more established and widespread as people learn how to make preorders part of a strategic marketing campaign. Here are some of the most useful tips and guidelines we saw this year:
- List your preorder as early as possible. Amazon allows you to list your ebook for preorder up to ninety days before it goes on sale. But Smashwords and Draft2Digital, which distribute to all major online retailers except Amazon, allow you to upload an ebook for preorder up to twelve months in advance. Except for Amazon, you can run an “assetless” preorder, meaning you don’t have to upload the actual book files—only the metadata (title, description, price, and so on).
- Add preorder links to your other titles. If you have other books already on sale, revise your back matter to mention and link to your title available for preorder.
- Add a preorder page to your website or blog. Make as much information available as possible about the upcoming title, including links to preorder at each retailer.
- Create a marketing campaign around your preorder. You’ll need to prepare a plan to reach out to your readers or network with specific preorder messages over a period of weeks or months, using social media, email, blog posts, discounts, perks, and any other ideas and tools available to you.
Where you’ll find the most complexity: When it comes down to how preorders affect your book’s sales ranking (and thus visibility), Amazon treats preorders differently than everyone else. When you start gathering preorders on Amazon, those preorders affect your sales ranking immediately. At other retailers (such as Apple iBookstore), the preorders are “saved” and count toward your sales ranking on the day of release, which gives you a big visibility boost.
Therefore, some authors drive all preorders to non-Amazon retailers for that ensured sales ranking boost. However, other authors drive preorders to Amazon because of the many benefits of having a preorder campaign at the largest online retailer for ebooks.
Bottom line: Experienced independent author Lindsay Buroker sums up the situation nicely:
- Preorders on Amazon are ideal if you have other books in a series actively selling and you want to capture preorders from that activity. Amazon preorders are probably necessary if you’re attempting to hit a national bestseller list (e.g., New York Times or USA Today), although keep in mind it will take more than just Amazon sales activity to make a bestseller list.
- Preorders on Amazon aren’t as beneficial if you’re trying to score algorithm love, which typically happens when books sell in a very high volume over just a few days.
- Preorders can also have very little or no effect for new authors who don’t have a superlative marketing plan in place to push preorder activity.
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.
Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.
