A Goodreads user asked Michael J. Sullivan:

I know I have asked this before but cannot find it - I just saw Age of Empyre is available to pre-order on Audible.com - does it in any way diminish your chance at hitting best-seller lists if I pre order it? Is it better to wait until first week of release? Sorry for repeat question but I have memory issues yet a zeal to proselytize your sales :)

Michael J. Sullivan Hey thanks for asking. So, the way bestseller lists work is the pre-orders count for the "first week's sales." So an author's BEST chance to hit a bestseller list is if readers/listeners do a lot of pre-ordering. Also, a lot of preorders signal to the publishers how much marketing to do. While it sound scounter intuitive, publishers will do a lot more marketing for a book with high pre-orders than for one with low numbers. So, whenever you want to support your favorite author, pre-ordering is a great way to go.

Thanks for the support and for spreading the word! It's because of people like you that the books have the wings that they do.

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