In my last post, I wrote about how I really don’t want to tell you to pre-order my book. I feel weird doing that. So, instead, I’m going to explain why pre-orders are so important and let you draw your own conclusions. Sound good? Good.
It’s like this: Pre-ordering an author’s book is pretty much the best thing you can do to support them. Here’s why:
- If publishers see that a book has a lot of pre-orders, they’re likely to increase the print run to meet the anticipated demand. If they increase the print run, they may increase their marketing efforts to sell all the copies
- If a bookstore (online or brick-and-mortar) gets a bunch of pre-orders, they’ll realize their customers are interested in the book and they might stock more of the book when it’s released. Rumor has it that for every copy of a book that a customer pre-orders on Amazon, Amazon orders 3 copies
- For an author whose book might have a chance at making the New York Times bestseller list (a girl can dream), pre-orders can make a huge difference. The bestseller lists are compiled based on weekly sales data, and pre-orders count toward the first week’s sales
Basically, pre-orders build buzz and buzz is good. Buzz gets publishers and booksellers to pay more attention.
And then there’s the bigger picture: Pre-orders can help convince the publisher to say yes to the author’s next book. For me, this is what’s most important. I want to write books for years to come. I have so many stories in me. For me, a pre-order is a vote in my favor for a future in this publishing thing.
To anyone who has already pre-ordered my book, THANK YOU! I can’t tell you how much that means to me. I have no idea how many pre-orders I have in total so far, but every one counts. If you want to pre-order, you can do so here or here or here. Someone asked me the other day if I pre-ordered my own book. You bet your ass I did:
Thanks to everyone for the support so far! I can’t wait for May 24.