Amazon Pre-Order Now Available!

[Captcha]

I just got the e-mail saying Amazon is going to allow pre-orders for KDP books. That's good news, I'd say!

I don't have anything ready to self-pub right now, but I definitely hope to take advantage of this in the future.

Maybe if anyone uses it they can come back and let us know how it went?

 

[ShaunHorton]

This is exciting. I think more than simply a perk for self-published authors, this will actually help encourage higher quality works.

Many people get excited once it looks like everything is set and ready to go and they can't wait to push the big publish button. Otherwise it feels like the files are just sitting on your computer, wasting time.

Now that we actually have the chance to upload, but have a real delay for release, it will slow things down a bit, and people (well, those that care enough) will be able to start marketing, looking for release reviews and get some extra feedback before being released to the public. This could result in better edited and written stories being uploaded just before release, as opposed to the good books that are just uploaded too early as we could come across before.

 

[RevanWright]

Funny thing is, flying blind as I was, I uploaded to KDP a month before I intended to release. I was going to put out the hardcover and ebook at the same time, and thought I'd be able to set the publish date with Amazon like I did with Ingram. Nope. Suddenly it was live, and I thought, "Uh...okay! Ebook is out a month before hardback, I guess! Wooooo!"
This is great news, though. I'm glad we'll get the option to set up and get everything rolling before release.

 

[Captcha]

And pre-sales will count towards ranking, which could be useful too - let people be aware of it as soon as possible.

 

[Mclesh]

Hey, thanks, Captcha! I'm going to check this out. I've been ciphering, trying to figure out how to have my paperback and e-books available for sale at the same time. Yay!

 

[Captcha]

It's always been an aggravating part of publishing with Amazon, for sure - hard to coordinate a release date with any real precision. I'll post the text of the e-mail for anyone who didn't get it:

Hello,

We're excited to announce that you can now make your new books available for pre-order in Kindle Stores worldwide. With a few quick and easy steps you can create a pre-order page up to 90 days in advance of your book's release date--your pre-order product page will be created within 24 hours. When you make your book available for pre-order, customers can order the book anytime leading up to the release date you set. We will deliver it to them on that date.

One advantage of using pre-order is that you can start promoting your Kindle book pre-order page on Author Central, Goodreads, your personal website, and other places ahead of its release to help build excitement for your book. Also, pre-orders will contribute toward sales rank and other Kindle Store merchandising ahead of release, which can help more readers discover your book.

Visit your KDP Bookshelf to set up your new book for pre-order.


Best regards,
The Kindle Direct Publishing Team

Questions? Learn more about pre-order on our Help page.​

 

[Mclesh]

Awesome! Thanks, Captcha!

 

[RevanWright]

It's always been an aggravating part of publishing with Amazon, for sure - hard to coordinate a release date with any real precision. I'll post the text of the e-mail for anyone who didn't get it:

Hello,

We're excited to announce that you can now make your new books available for pre-order in Kindle Stores worldwide. With a few quick and easy steps you can create a pre-order page up to 90 days in advance of your book's release date--your pre-order product page will be created within 24 hours. When you make your book available for pre-order, customers can order the book anytime leading up to the release date you set. We will deliver it to them on that date.

One advantage of using pre-order is that you can start promoting your Kindle book pre-order page on Author Central, Goodreads, your personal website, and other places ahead of its release to help build excitement for your book. Also, pre-orders will contribute toward sales rank and other Kindle Store merchandising ahead of release, which can help more readers discover your book.

Visit your KDP Bookshelf to set up your new book for pre-order.


Best regards,
The Kindle Direct Publishing Team

Questions? Learn more about pre-order on our Help page.​

That's fantastic. And pre-orders counting toward rank is great, too. I didn't get this email, but I got another one from Amazon this morning informing me of the changes to KOLL and Amazon Unlimited regarding KDP, which I think are good. Anyone else get that one?

 

[Literateparakeet]

I just got the e-mail saying Amazon is going to allow pre-orders for KDP books. That's good news, I'd say!

That's great news! It's about time. Smashwords has been set up that way for awhile.

Nope. Suddenly it was live, and I thought, "Uh...okay! Ebook is out a month before hardback, I guess! Wooooo!".

LOL, I've had many of those "Ooops!" moments in my self-publishing journey too!

 

[Celeste Carrara]

I got this email today too. I think it's great and I'm excited to use it.
FYI, Kobo has pre -order too just incase anyone was looking for other sites that offer this.

 

[Captcha]

That's fantastic. And pre-orders counting toward rank is great, too. I didn't get this email, but I got another one from Amazon this morning informing me of the changes to KOLL and Amazon Unlimited regarding KDP, which I think are good. Anyone else get that one?

No, I didn't get that.

What the hell are they doing, sending these things randomly?

 

[Mclesh]

No, I didn't get that.

What the hell are they doing, sending these things randomly?

That's funny. I did receive the KOLL/KU email a couple of hours ago.

 

[RevanWright]

Okay, looked back at the email and realized it may be because I'm currently under KDP Select, which many of you may not be. But here's the text in case anyone is interested:

Since you are enrolled in KDP Select, we wanted you to know about some important updates regarding the global fund.

Kindle Unlimited (KU) is off to a great start with a strong early response from customers. Due to this early surge in demand, we are adding a KU “launch bonus” of $500,000 to the KDP Select global fund for July 2014. This is on top of the base fund amount of $2 million in July. This brings the total funds paid on borrows to $2.5 million, which is more than double the size of payments in June.

We also have news about how KU and Kindle Owners’ Lending Library (KOLL) borrows appear in your reports. Since KU launched, our reports have been showing KOLL downloads plus all KU books *opened*, instead of books read to 10%. As previously announced, we plan to pay royalties on books read to 10%. We apologize for any confusion this created. In the next few days, we plan to backfill our reporting to reflect borrows in this manner (KOLL downloads + KU books read to 10%).

For July we have decided to extend payment to all KU books downloaded and opened in July, even those not read past 10%. To support this, we will add an additional $285,000 in July payments, making the funds paid to authors in July $2,785,000.

Key points about recent fund activity
- Your July payment report shows your total earnings, including the additional funds paid during July for books opened and borrowed but not read to 10%.
- Next week, we will update all other KDP reporting for July and August to show KOLL downloads plus Kindle Unlimited borrows that have been read past 10%.
- Even after we backfill all other reports, your July Prior Month Royalty report will remain showing all KOLL downloads plus all Kindle Unlimited borrows that were opened in July, including those not read to 10%. All future reports, including future Prior Month Royalty reports, will reflect KOLL downloads plus KU borrows read past 10%.
- If a book was opened but not read to 10% in July but does pass 10% after July, you will also receive credit for the borrow when that happens.

For August, we will pay authors for KOLL borrows upon download and Kindle Unlimited borrows read past 10%.

 

[Captcha]

Okay, looked back at the email and realized it may be because I'm currently under KDP Select, which many of you may not be. But here's the text in case anyone is interested:

So did you get your July earnings report? Do we know yet how much people are going to be getting for each "borrow"?

 

[RevanWright]

So did you get your July earnings report? Do we know yet how much people are going to be getting for each "borrow"?

The AU/KOLL units are showing up on my report, but not on my royalties. I have no idea how much, if any, I'm being paid for them. This is either due to the fact that they don't qualify for me to be paid based on the 10% thing yet, or it's just not giving me that information in the current setup.
EDIT: I would know if it was supposed to show me my royalties for those units. I've sold almost as many KOLL units as regular units, averaging 1 of each a day right at this moment.
EDIT 2: I also can't tell whether each KOLL unit sold is borrowed under KDP Select or downloaded through Amazon Unlimited. It lumps them both into one category, as far as I can tell, and my book is available for both those options.

 

[slhuang]

Huh, I didn't get the email about pre-order buttons. Weird. I hope that doesn't mean anything; the ability to pre-order -- or at least set a hard release date -- was the #1 thing I would have changed about KDP.

Now if only B&N would do that too so I could have a synchronized release day across all major channels . . .

 

[aruna]

Okay, looked back at the email and realized it may be because I'm currently under KDP Select, which many of you may not be. But here's the text in case anyone is interested:

Huh, I didn't get the email about pre-order buttons. Weird. .

I have one KDP self-published book, and I didn't get the email either. My book is in Select.

However, this is exciting news for small presses -- and as I have a new book coming out in October (with an independent publisher), the timing couldn't be more perfect!
Pre-orders are one of two things I would like to see changed in KDP. The other: small presses being able to list their books in more than two categories.

 

[slhuang]

I have one KDP self-published book, and I didn't get the email either.

Well, I just clicked "Add New Title" and the option to set it for pre-order is there , so presumably our copies of the email are just winging their way with the carrier pigeons. I have noticed before that sometimes KDP emails come in waves.

 

[SBibb]

I'll admit, I was excited when I saw this in my email. Granted, I don't have anything I'm planning to self-publish right at the moment, but it's nice to the know the pre-order option exists.

 

[WriterBN]

So did you get your July earnings report? Do we know yet how much people are going to be getting for each "borrow"?

You probably have yours by now, but mine worked out to $1.81 or thereabouts...

 

[shelleyo]

And pre-sales will count towards ranking, which could be useful too - let people be aware of it as soon as possible.

It's important to understand that pre-sales affect ranking when the pre-order hits, but not on the day the book goes live. This can be a huge, huge drawback. If you get enough pre-orders to hit lists while it's in pre-order status, that can be beneficial. But if what would normally be a big sales surge in the first few days of release is scattered over a longer period, bad news.

If you have a thousand pre-orders, for example, over a 90-day period, your rank will fluctuate each day as the orders come in. They don't all affect the ranking the day your book goes live. They do count as sales as far as things like the NYT and USA Today bestselling lists are concerned--that day will show you with a thousand sales in that regard--but they won't affect your Amazon ranking any more than a thousand books over the last 90 days.

Apple, on the other hand, gives you better ranking during the pre-order and then reflects those sales in your ranking when your book goes live.

Amazon pre-orders can even be a bad idea for some authors by preventing that huge spike of sales they would normally get in the first couple of days of release. A shorter pre-order window, maybe a couple of weeks if that, would be best for taking advantage of big numbers.

Like most things, it all comes down to your individual goals whether pre-orders are a good idea for your book(s).