The idea of making an upcoming book available for preorder often sparkles with the promise of early sales, rankings boosts, and that shiny “coming soon” tag. But preparing for a preorder campaign effectively can just as easily become a stress test. Looming deadlines, confusing platform quirks, and penalties for missing file upload deadlines can weigh on authors ahead of their book’s scheduled release and hinder their preorder campaign’s success. Thankfully, with some pre-planning and strategic thinking, it doesn’t have to be that way.
Like many parts of the publishing process, there isn’t a single best approach to preorders, but there are some tried and tested practices around when to set them up, when to skip them, and how to design a preorder strategy that works for your author business.
What a Preorder Actually Does (and Doesn’t Do)
Select publishing and distribution platforms allow authors to make ebooks available for preorder, including Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). Readers can then purchase a book before release day, with the promise that they’ll receive a copy in their ebook library as soon as the book is published. For authors, this means setting up a link that allows readers to purchase their book prior to its publication. It also means committing to deadlines for uploading your manuscript ahead of its final release date.
Pro Tip: Although Amazon doesn’t allow preorders for print books, the company’s Scheduled Release date feature allows authors to schedule a release date from five to ninety days in advance. This doesn’t offer the same marketing and sales benefits as the ebook preorder options offered by KDP, but authors can coordinate it with a digital preorder campaign. Authors wishing to offer print book preorders for distribution to Amazon or other retailers can do so through IngramSpark.
Preorder sales data is recorded alongside regular sales upon a book’s release date, meaning a high number of preorders for a book can contribute heavily to its rankings. However, authors need to be cautious when setting up preorders; some platforms have penalties associated with missing deadlines or delaying book releases that can negatively affect your ability to make future books available for preorder.
Preorders cannot make you an overnight success or guarantee that your book is going to land on a bestseller list. They also aren’t a stand-alone launch strategy—but as a small part of your overall marketing strategy, they can help interested readers find your new book and increase the chance your upcoming title will launch strongly on release day.
When to Use a Preorder
Determining whether a preorder window will raise your book’s sales or ranking depends on a few factors, such as your established reader base, whether your book is part of a series or a stand-alone, and the impact of a preorder on your production cadence.
For authors with an established audience, announcing preorders in a newsletter or series back matter can be a great way to boost sales, stay connected with readers between launches, and introduce fans to new books or series.
For stand-alone books or for less established authors whose backlist or fan base may be small, preorders can still work, though they will require more of a concerted effort to advertise.
Jane Friedman writes in her blog post “A Beginner’s Guide to Amazon Pre-orders,” “There’s a certain amount of momentum that a book captures organically when it first appears on Amazon. It sits in the ‘new release’ section of Amazon, which can be a great spot to attract additional interest. However, if your book is on pre-order and then hits the Amazon system on launch day with little to no buzz, no reviews, and no activity, it’ll quickly plummet due to low sales.”
Friedman continues, “In order to avoid your book tanking on Amazon, you need to plan a solid promotional campaign for the day it launches. You can start to drive some interest to the book by letting your friends, family, and followers know it’s coming. If you have anything you can give readers access to that might generate a strong motivation for them to pre-order, then do so.”
Preorders also work well when you have a clear timeline. If you’re disciplined about hitting your target dates for writing a draft, completing edits, finalizing cover design, and completing formatting, then adding a preorder to your release schedule can be a real boon for your sales.
A preorder link allows you to directly invite readers to buy your book before it’s published. They’re a great way to drive sales through things like cover reveals, ARC teams, and newsletter incentives that keep readers engaged between releases and help you time launches around seasonal promotions or collaborations.
When Not to Use a Preorder
As beneficial as preorders can be, there are times when the juice just isn’t worth the squeeze. Preorders won’t solve discoverability issues for new authors. Having great launch-week buzz may be a better strategy than preorders until you’ve built a following. Additionally, preorders may not make sense if you don’t have the time or desire to develop a solid marketing plan around the preorder.
The ability to set and hit deadlines is perhaps the most important factor in deciding whether preorders are right for you. If you struggle with setting or meeting deadlines, preorders can add additional pressure to an already stressful process. Many platforms, including Amazon, impose penalties for not uploading your finished manuscript on time or for pushing back your launch date. Infractions like these can prevent you from being able to do future preorders—in the case of Amazon, for one year after your missed publication date.
Preorder Pitfalls to Avoid
If you decide to create a preorder window for an upcoming title, be mindful of a few common missteps with preorder campaigns and how you can avoid them.
- Announcing your preorder too soon can cause more issues than benefits. Be cautious about setting a preorder before you have a finished draft, polished cover, and solid blurb—on some sites, you’ll need your title and blurb to create your project anyway.
- Do not miss your deadlines. Although this may sound repetitive, it bears repeating because it can and, sadly, does happen often, even to experienced authors.
- Avoid overhyping without delivery. Don’t fall into the trap of overpromising and underdelivering, or readers will cancel their preorders and move on.
- Respect your audience. A yearlong preorder window with no updates is just a long, awkward silence—not to mention a turnoff that readers will remember. Along with the deadlines required of your publishing platform, be sure to share information and updates regularly with your audience via social media and your newsletter.
- Don’t view preorders as mandatory. Preorders are a tool, not the only way to publish. Skip them if they stress you out or don’t serve your author business goals.
Platform Preorder Rules at a Glance
Amazon KDP
- Preorder window: Up to one year before release date.
- Upload: Placeholder file allowed; final files due three days before release.
- Date changes: One delay allowed (up to thirty days); a second delay or cancellation will bar you from creating preorders for one year.
- Sales: Number of preorders tracked until release day; sales data recorded on release day.
Apple Books
- Preorder window: Up to one year before release date.
- Upload: Metadata within preorder window; files up to two days before release date.
- Date changes: Flexible.
- Sales: Recorded as they come in.
Kobo
- Preorder window: Up to one year before release date. Kobo encourages long preorder windows for visibility.
- Upload: Placeholder file allowed; final files due three days before.
- Date changes: No restrictions, though publication may be canceled if final files aren’t uploaded within three-day window.
- Sales: Recorded as they come in.
According to the Kobo Writing Life website, all books available in the Kobo store automatically provide a preview for the first 5 percent of a file, including those available for preorder. If using a placeholder file, contact Kobo’s support team to disable the preview feature—then contact them again to restore the preview once your final files are in place.
Google Play
- Preorder window: Up to two years before release date.
- Upload: Final files due three days before release date, or upon creation if release date is within the next seven days.
- Date changes: Flexible, though preorders cannot be created within three days of release date.
- Sales: Number of preorders tracked until release day; all sales data recorded on release day.
Pro Tip: According to the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi) AskALLi team in The Ultimate Guide to Pre-orders for Indie Authors, “On Amazon, a pre-order counts only on the day of the order itself,” meaning the longer your preorder lasts, “the harder it is to sustain a high ranking on that book. This is because the sales are distributed across a longer period rather than being concentrated in one hit.”
Stores such as Kobo, Apple, and Google Play count the sale on the day of the preorder, but they also “give you a ranking boost on the launch day,” according to the AskALLi team. The team recommends trying to run a preorder when you have a set of activities, advertisements, or other marketing strategies in place to keep momentum going.
Are You Ready for a Preorder?
Answering a few quick questions can help you determine whether you’re ready to create a preorder.
- Do I have an audience to notify?
- Is my manuscript on track for my deadline?
- Are my cover and blurb finalized?
- Do I know each platform’s rules?
- Do I have a promotional calendar for organizing and tracking newsletter swaps and announcements, social media posts, ads, and author takeovers?
If you answered “no” to more than one of these questions, consider holding off on a preorder campaign until you’re confident you’ll be able to leverage your preorder without causing yourself unnecessary stress or encountering penalties from your chosen sales platforms.
How to Promote a Preorder
Once you’ve created your preorder, it's time to get the word out. Consider adding a link in the back matter of your current book or offering preorder buyers a bonus novella or deleted scene from the book.
Advance reader teams are another great way to leverage your preorder runway. Send ARC team readers a copy of your manuscript during your preorder period with a review deadline tied to release week, and you’ll be able to start posting reviews as soon as you release.
Countdown content like weekly teasers or character snippets can also be used during your preorder window to boost sales prior to release.
When planning your next release, it may help to remember that preorders are a strategic tool, not a requirement. When done right, they can boost rankings, keep readers hooked, and add polish to your launch, so use them when your book, and your business, are ready.
Jenn Mitchell
