So, it’s now possible to put a book up for pre-orders, just like the big publishers do–at least on certain sites. Smashwords has the option and through Smashwords, it can be delivered for pre-order to Barnes and Noble, Apple iBookstore, and Kobo. Amazon doesn’t have the option, at least for KDP authors, yet.
Now, the idea of pre-orders is that you create a little buzz to get people to pre-order. Then all those sales hit on the day of the release and drive the book up in the rankings. Of course, this would work a lot better if Amazon was part of the mix. It’s the mysterious Amazon rankings that make the most difference in sales.
But then you go and try to generate that buzz, like by setting a low pre-order price. You still have to find a way to let readers know about it. Marketing of any kind is always a lot of work–especially if you’re trying to do it on a shoestring. And then . . . and then you find out all the places where you might just be able to list your book to create that buzz–well, they either want the ASIN (the id Amazon applies to all KDP books), which won’t be available until I publish it on Amazon, or, worse yet, they want the book to have some minimum number of reviews. Neither of those is going to work until after publication. But, if I go ahead and publish it on Amazon, without the pre-order buzz, then I won’t get the bump in sales.
Checkmate. Catch 22. I am still trying to find a way to untie this Gordian knot.
In the past, I’ve always buckled and just released early. I’m not going to do that this time. I’m going to keep trying to figure this out.
Meredith Mansfield, Author 
Let us know if you figure that out. *sigh*
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I will. There’s GOT to be a way.
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This is a great project, Meredith. Probably as valuable as the work you put into your writing! Just asking the question and explaining a little about yourself like you just did is an amazing start. Now we’re on your side and cheering you along. My books are published by mainstream publishers (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, HarperCollins…), but my card deck for writers that I put on Kickstarter (Success! Yay!) isn’t published yet, so I’ll be anxious and curious to see what you learn. I know I’ve seen blog posts on this, and there are certainly a lot of experts and classes on this topic. A simple, concise list of best practices would be helpful instead of slogging through all that’s out there. I think you’re on the right track, and I’ll be following your progress! Thanks for your time and effort on this…
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Thanks for the encouragement. It’s one of the great things about the writing community. How willing we are to help each other.
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Hi Meredith,
It’s great you’re putting this question out. I recall reading about an author who took her own pre-orders (through live events where people paid cash for a book, plus a Paypal button on her website, I think? can’t remember exactly), and then she used her own credit card to order them on Amazon on the launch date. It sounds like a lot of work entering all the addresses, but very savvy, as Amazon shipped the books directly and it gave her a huge numbers boost at launch. (And she probably got some points on her credit card, too.)
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There has to be a better way than that in the digital age.
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[…] posted a short while ago about the problem of pre-orders in connection with the launch (in less than two weeks) of THE SHAMAN’S […]
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