by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig
Last year, I decided to try listing a book as a pre-order. That’s to say, I decided to try out a pre-order for my self-published series. My trad-published books had long been offered for pre-ordering, but that wasn’t anything I had any control over.
I remember, years ago, on the trad-published email loops I was on, authors were concerned about pre-ordering. Specifically, they were concerned that the books would ship early, retailers would put them out early, customers would purchase early, and then the pre-orders wouldn’t count toward the title’s release day. This would mess up their chances with the New York Times list, either extended or short.
I was never very worried about the list. I don’t know anyone who finds their books that way, so to me it seemed like more of an ego thing or maybe a bragging rights thing.
But what I am worried about is confused readers. And what I can tell you is that my pre-order for a future Myrtle book has resulted in some confused readers.Continue reading