What is the point of pre-ordering a book?

[Amy]

Is there a good reason to do so?

I thought maybe the price is a little cheaper if you pre-order, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

Thank you.

[Dee]

mostly I do it otherwise I might forget when its released, especially if its not an author that a lot of other people read...sometimes books are cheaper, other times not, it just depends...sometimes places will do free pre-orders - i got a book 3 in a series that way, but it only lasted for a few hours

[stormhawk]

I rarely preorder Kindle books, usually I do that for DTBs. The couple Kindle books I've preordered have been ones that were free for preorder.

Free is a big incentive for me.

[Lahni]

I preorder the "gotta have it" sequels. Then I don't have to worry about then. They just show up! And since I gotta have it now I'll pay what ever the price is. Not many books fall into this category for me.

[Marvin]

Some pre-orders will be cheaper, sometimes even free. I pre-ordered Under The Dome by Stephen King for eight dollars (hard cover not Kindle, but the Kindle pre-order was the same price) and James Patterson's Tick Tick was free for a very limited time. But most of the time it doesn't matter. The main reason for pre-ordering is just to make sure you get that "must-read" book right away and without hassle.

In you're interested in finding out about free and bargain pre-orders, Books on the Knob does a great job in bringing them to your attention as soon as they appear.

[Awesomevegan (AKA JenReads)]

You can also pre-order a book when you have gift card money (before you go spending it all) and it will send it to your Kindle as soon as you turn the wireless on when it releases. So then no worries. You have that must have series book. :)

[Terrence]

Pre-order pricing is at the discretion of the author/publisher.
I have a book on preorder on Amazon (YA / Science Fiction) until March 28. Right now it's discounted 65% below the final release price. "Hailey Sharpe and the NullBot Swarm"

[CBRetriever]

see this post:

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Erin *Proud Book Hoarder*]

Sometimes there are discounted but sometimes it's just if you are really excited about the release. I rarely preorder either.

[CBRetriever]

I've seen them be discounted during the pre-order phase and go up to regular price when they're released. In those cases, you save money if you pre-order

[Marie]

I have pre-ordered twice since I have owned my kindle, but it was only because I knew I would forget to get them when they actually came out. Also I think one of the books was like $.99 to pre-order, but on release date it was going to be higher, so that one I grabbed.

[Tom]

Marie wrote: "I have pre-ordered twice since I have owned my kindle, but it was only because I knew I would forget to get them when they actually came out. Also I think one of the books was like $.99 to pre-orde..."

I'm beginning to wonder. I did find a lower price for a pre-order a few times, but I just cam across an absurd pre-order price for Mark Billingham's new release 'The Killing Habit: A Tom Thorne Novel'. The price is $19.76. That's insane for a Kindle book.

[CBRetriever]

no, these are unreasonable:

$Encyclopedia of Language & Linguistics, Volume 13 at $9994.00 is insane.
and
Collier on Bankruptcy, Volume 1 at $12,579.00

Often times pre-order Kindle books are listed by the publisher with a placeholder price that is the same as the hard cover book. If pre-orders are priced like that, I usually just wait and they'll go down either when they're released or when the paperback version is released.

On the other hand, this book seems quite low for a pre-order:
The Expert System's Brother at $3.99 when most of his books are priced way higher.

[Janette]

I'm new here and this is my first post but the why pre-order got my attention. I just got a Kindle a little over a month ago and am adjusting to learning how to use it so not sure about pre-ordering on it. But I have a couple of authors whose books I love and I always pre-order them, no matter what. Nalini Singh Psy/Changling series and Lynsay Sands Argeneau series.
I don't want to miss a one of them. If I could afford it I would have several more, but right now I can't justify the spending on them.

[Miss M]

Janette wrote: "I'm new here and this is my first post but the why pre-order got my attention. I just got a Kindle a little over a month ago and am adjusting to learning how to use it so not sure about pre-orderin..."

Don’t forget about your local library - almost all have ebooks available now. I get almost all of my new-release genre books there. If your library uses Overdrive, they have a system where you can recommend a book for purchase, even before the release date, and if the library honors your request you automatically get put on the Holds list for that title (assuming it’s a popular new release.)