Publishing Talk: The Pre-Order Push
Or what all authors wish would actually work out in their favor
It’s always exciting when a book goes live! It’s especially exciting when a story you love, that you started writing after a magical night in a hot tub, that you then managed every single aspect of it’s production—except making the art and interior, that was all Corina’s genius—and figured out one of the most complicated publishing platforms out there (Waving at you Ingram)…when that book goes live it’s nothing short of miraculous.
Monolith is a story about a boy who finds a monolith in a cornfield, and the events that unfold change his life forever. It’s about conquering things in your life that just feel too big to even understand.
(Kinda like this indie-pub journey)
So, what’s the point of a pre-order?
If you know anything about the industry or you’re an avid book buyer, you’ve probably heard of “pre-orders”. For others, I’m sure it’s pretty self-explanatory: the period of time when a book is listed for sale, and you can order/pay for it, but won’t be shipped until it’s official publication date.
When one is traditionally published, they have no control over this process. The publisher puts the book into distribution channels and lets the author know when they can start pushing for pre-orders. The more pre-orders a book gets, the more attention, the more movement in the Zon algorithms, and potentially more sales as retailers begin to see the interest build. If you can plan it just right, there can be a quick blast of orders that really moves the needle and since all these pre-orders count toward your first week of sales, the really fortunate few might even make a list or two.
The same goes for those indie-publishing, except that since you actually DO have control of when that pre-order goes live, you can create a much better marketing plan.
Did I do that, however?
Of course not.
Why? Because it still really comes down to your monetary investment and personal reach. If you don’t have a massive following or money to invest in paid advertising, it’s going to be very difficult to get enough attention for significant pre-orders.
With social media, reaching an audience has become much easier, however most people don’t target well enough and end up simply throwing spaghetti at the wall. I’m definitely one of those people, but also, I don’t like bombarding my socials with too much promotion (there is a proven balance of just how much promotion is too much before you risk people simply tuning out, and if you’re paying for it, losing money. More on this in another article.). And this has been my first venture into indie-publishing, so the learning curve just to get the book created and into the proper distribution channels was hard enough! But now that I know, and am taking a fantastic digital marketing course, I am going to be better prepared for the next book, be it indie or traditional.
So, all that being said, I’d love for you to order and/or share Monolith’s preorder link (Or pull the link from your own local bookstore!) and watch for the paperback pre-order coming soon. I will say I have planned most everything with this book identically to the traditional houses, but I’m rolling out the paperback early because the sale price is significantly cheaper. How’s that for self-promotion. <facepalm>
I have been checking several small bookstores and it is on their websites, which is very encouraging. Even if the store doesn’t choose to stock it, and a lot probably won’t because it’s indie (more on why that happens later also: hint: it’s not the store’s fault) you can still order it through them which supports the store AND me.
Lastly, a couple other things you can do that would be even more helpful is to put the book on the radar of your local library or buy one for a classroom. It would be a great addition for a classroom library for grades 3-6. In an upcoming newsletter, I’m going to share the first chapter, so stay tuned for that as well and get your friends to subscribe! :)
