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amazon pre-order question
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You may upload the final manuscript file no later than the 22nd of September (three days before the release date). Until then you may do any changes you need.
Great! Thank you so much!It's been a drag with all that with Amazon and converting the ebook and whatdoIknowelse... It was easier writing the book than dealing with it now when it is finished :)
Yes you can upload an incomplete manuscript, but it can also be risky business to set up pre-orders this way. The 3-day-prior deadline to upload the final can be more like 4 days, depending on your time zone, and once KDP locks you out of the book editing option (at the 3 days prior mark), there is nothing that can be done to get in and change anything. I try to have my final files uploaded at least a week before release date, just to be safe. But I have started several pre-orders with a file containing only a chapter or two. Not saying I recommend doing this :D.
I'm ridiculously paranoid about things going wrong, so I don't upload my manuscript until I'm sure it's ready, but I *have* set up some preorders with out it. Instead of an incomplete book, I first upload a file titled 'oops' which contains the follow message:If you are seeing this, then something has gone horribly wrong. Clearly this is not your pre-ordered copy of (book title). I apologize for the inconvenience. Please email me at (email address) for an immediate replacement as it may take a while to get the issue corrected with Amazon.
Fortunately, no one ever sent me an email.
indeed it is!I just wanted to know if it is possible. I'll have to reconsider my decision of making preorder.
I did a pre-order last year and had the problem that Marie described. I went to upload the final version within the time frame, but because of some time difference (even though I'm in the same state as Amazon), I got locked out. I frantically called Amazon and they apologized and said they couldn't do anything so people who ordered got an incomplete book. If you do a pre-order, make sure to upload your final version well before the deadline.
A slightly different question, but still on the topic of the Amazon pre-order function: if you put a book up for pre-order, when are the pre-orders counted as sales in terms of them translating into Amazon book rankings? Am I right in thinking that it does not lead to a first-day surge in ranking when the book becomes available, but rather counts towards its chart position around the time that the pre-order is placed? If the latter should be the case, does this mean that the book does not perform as well as it would have done otherwise on its release day? Is it better to 'save up' sales for the launch so to speak, or have a lengthy lead-up? What are your experiences of making a book available for pre-order?
H.E. wrote: "A slightly different question, but still on the topic of the Amazon pre-order function: if you put a book up for pre-order, when are the pre-orders counted as sales in terms of them translating int..."I investigated about it and as far as I understand - preorders do not count as regular sales. Maybe I got it all wrong, but I think I'm not.
My idea of preorder was actually of different nature - its purpose was to make pressing on me and finish the book (i thought having the deadline would be a good thing).
Now I've changed my mind and will not go after preorder.
I believe it is better to save up sales for the launch.
Frederick wrote: "H.E. wrote: "A slightly different question, but still on the topic of the Amazon pre-order function: if you put a book up for pre-order, when are the pre-orders counted as sales in terms of them tr..."Amazon pre-orders count as a 'sale' when the pre-order is placed, which means that you don't get an impressive surge of sales on your release date to push up your ranking, if that is what you were after. I've been told that's why Amazon pre-orders may not be such a good idea, but each to their own as with so many other things!
Pamela wrote: "Frederick wrote: "H.E. wrote: "A slightly different question, but still on the topic of the Amazon pre-order function: if you put a book up for pre-order, when are the pre-orders counted as sales i..."Thanks Pamela. I thought that that was how it worked. In that case, I think it best to hold back and just reveal the next book when it arrives.
BookBub sends out emails on various topics to those who sign up and one of them was about doing pre-orders. It stated that pre-order sales accumulate and count as sales on the day the book becomes available. So, if you manage to get a lot of pre-orders, you can get a surge of sales on Day 1 which can propel your book up the rankings. You can sign up for BookBub "Insights." I've found they have all kinds of valuable information. You can also look at past ones and find the one on pre-orders.
You say "you can sign up for BoobBub 'Insights' - is this a typo?
I heard the same thing as D, only through a webinar. It's one of the best things about pre-orders as you can collect them for months and then it counts like a sale all on that first day. I totally plan to do that!
Marie-Anne wrote: "You say "you can sign up for BoobBub 'Insights' - is this a typo?"Apparently! I believe BookBub used to call it "Insights." Now they call it "BookBub Partners Blog."
When I did a pre-order, all sales appeared on the release day.
Alex is correct. For ranking purposes, your sale is counted when it happens. What Book Bub is talking about is your sales are all "counted" on the day the book is released for purposes of tracking bestsellers from the major newspapers. This is why new releases are usually on a specific day of the week (Tuesday? Don't quote me). You would have to have a LOT of pre-ordered books through all sales channels (we're talking no less than 10k) in order to hit USA Today.
My experience is the same as Alex's. Pre-orders do not impact rankings on the first day.
Christina wrote: "Alex is correct. For ranking purposes, your sale is counted when it happens. What Book Bub is talking about is your sales are all "counted" on the day the book is released for purposes of tracking ..."Ha ha, okay! So that is not likely to impact me, LOL. Major newspapers mean we're talking 6,000 books sold to be in a ranking of top 100. Yeah....I'll not be counting on that one.
Alex wrote: "Bookbub is incorrect. I have a pre-order going at present, and have done another previously, so I can tell you positively that any pre-order purchase counts as a sale the moment it is made, with th..."Interesting point about books on pre-order gaining potential additional weeks on the Amazon new release charts. I hadn't realised that. Is this the first time that you've tried this approach, or have you done so and found it beneficial in the past?
So Amazon gave me a heart attack this morning. I've set up a pre-order for my next book as usual, but I had uploaded the maybe finished manuscript so that I could make a mobi for another few rounds of proofing. Well, I had forgotten that I did that and did not have the 'oopsie' file I mentioned above in place. Given that the book has gone through many rounds of edits, I wasn't terribly worried, but figured I would swap out for the oopsie file just to give myself some peace of mind while I proof the final draft. Well, the wording on the email I got today was "Thank you for uploading the final version of your pre-order book!" Not a good thing to read before my morning coffee.
Luckily, it was just bad wording or an older email version because yes, I was able to go in to edit my pre-order and the normal countdown clock is still there. Just thought I'd pass this info along and spare someone the possibility of peeing themselves. 😂
Yeah that's some scary stuff right there! Thanks for the heads up!
Christina wrote: "So Amazon gave me a heart attack this morning. I've set up a pre-order for my next book as usual, but I had uploaded the maybe finished manuscript so that I could make a mobi for another few rounds..." I feel for you. I am not sure what I would have done except after the frantic calling I would be totally exhausted. I'd need to go back to sleep and try and restart my day.
Ghee... I would have fainted...just fainted...
Something similar happened to me recently, but I was able to go in and fix it. Next time have your coffee before you read anything. Glad it worked out.
I've been following this discussion and wondering what a good pre-order time period would be. How much time do authors here typically make a book available for pre-order before actually releasing it? Have you tried different time periods and found that one works better than another? Does it depend on whether it's a book in a series or not?
Noor wrote: "I've been following this discussion and wondering what a good pre-order time period would be. How much time do authors here typically make a book available for pre-order before actually releasing..."
I've done everything from a few days to several weeks, but to be fair, I never do a lot of pre-order hype, so I don't see a lot of difference. For me, it's just an easy way to 'set it and forget it' while I work on other things. I usually try to angle most of my promotion to where folks get my book on release day to pad the stats.
Thanks for the insight Christine. I was thinking of having my novel up for pre-order for a while and revealing a new little bit of information or picture or excerpt every little while to get people interested, but I was wondering too if leaving it on pre-order for too long might also backfire with people losing interest. I'm still not there yet, but I'm at the stage where thinking about it and any info/advice is much appreciated! :)
Because I am a complete klutz I don't put mybooks on preorder until I have crossed every i and dotted every t.
I put the book on preorder and I think it's better not to do so. People have been contacting me saying the want a real book and the one on pre-oder is a Kindle version. So it is not a clear indictor of interest in the book at all. My Goodreads giveaway begins today and I am hoping that gives me a better indication of interest, but I guess I have to just walk through this and see what happens. I felt I had to do some hype because it is a debut novel. I ry to post about things going on about the book, but wonder if that leads to people thinking "Does she have a life?" LOL
Delores wrote: "I put the book on preorder and I think it's better not to do so. People have been contacting me saying the want a real book and the one on pre-oder is a Kindle version. So it is not a clear indicto..."This doesn't seem to have anything to do with whether or not your book is on pre-order. It sounds like you have a lot of folks you know who are unfamiliar with ebooks. You should make sure to have both versions of your book linked, so that if you are directing people to purchase on Amazon, they have both options.
Marie Silk wrote: "Yes you can upload an incomplete manuscript, but it can also be risky business to set up pre-orders this way. The 3-day-prior deadline to upload the final can be more like 4 days, depending on your..."Marie Silk wrote: "Yes you can upload an incomplete manuscript, but it can also be risky business to set up pre-orders this way. The 3-day-prior deadline to upload the final can be more like 4 days, depending on your..."
Doing it :D.
Pre-orders work best for sequels (if the first did sell some, well, a lot of copies). Aside from the free publicity, it helps advertise the first one. The advice about submitting it a week before the deadline is an excellent one. Though in my situation, it led to sleepless nights. May have been too optimistic in a one and a half month pre-order release scheme.
Christina wrote: "I'm ridiculously paranoid about things going wrong, so I don't upload my manuscript until I'm sure it's ready, but I *have* set up some preorders with out it. Instead of an incomplete book, I first..."Thanks, this is helpful. Setting up pre-order this week and have been nervous because I'm still editing, but wanted the lead time.
I need advice. I'd like to release my debut novel on 25th of September and I wanted to create a pre-order on KDP. Now, the question is - can I upload only a sample of the book (as it will be no possibility to see the content, only a cover) and upload the full manuscript before the release date (novel is in final editing and I have a few last-minute changes so it requires a bit of work).
Thank you for any advice on this!