In Praise of the Pre-Order

I have a humble request for you folks on this happy Friday.

For those of you planning to pick up a copy of THE BLOODBOUND or MASTER OF PLAGUES, please consider pre-ordering. These links are for Amazon, but you can pre-order in any number of ways, including at your local bookstore.

Pre-order numbers are taken very seriously by publishers, and can be a crucial factor in determining the success of the series. Intuitively, you’d think that would be less true for debut authors and relative unknowns, but it’s not — we get no quarter, no consideration. We need to compete out there on the vastly crowded marketplace, or our sequels don’t get picked up. If pre-order numbers are flat, the publisher takes it as a sign that there isn’t much enthusiasm for the book.

So far, there are no plans for a third Lenoir book. If sales of MASTER OF PLAGUES aren’t lively enough, there won’t be. Pre-orders are important. If you love a series and want to see more of it, pre-ordering (along with spreading the word) is one of the most helpful contributions you can make.

For those of you who have already pre-ordered, huge warm heaps of thanks.