I apologize for not posting much in the last while (as in the last couple months). I have some health "challenges" that I deal with, and they leave me pretty exhausted. As such, I blog when I have energy. The last two months... not so much energy. Today... a bit more.

So... here we go!

I've been wanting to post on setting up a pre-order for a while. It's a big topic for authors.

Let's say you have a book coming out in two months. You want to put it up for pre-order to collect all those early sales from your big fans, but Amazon only allows you to set up pre-orders for your ebook. There is no option for pre-orders for your print book.

Now, on a personal note, let me say that it boggles my mind that Amazon doesn't do print pre-orders. I can't imagine why they don't, but alas... it is what it is.

eBook Pre-Orders

If you're setting up an ebook with Kindle Direct Publishing (Amazon), then setting up a pre-order is simple. You input all the information for your book in the setup process and simply select the date it will be available for sale.

Print Pre-Orders

Print copies, unfortunately, are different. With Amazon, a book is either published and available... or not. That means when you hit publish on your book, it goes live for sale. If you hit that button two months early before you intend for your book to go up for sale, your book is up for sale two months early.

The good news is there are at least two decent ways to set up a pre-order. The one way will give you a pre-order on Amazon and the other will give you a pre-order everywhere (including Amazon). One is a complicated way; the other is a simple way.

1. The complicated way: Using Amazon Advantage

I'm not going to lay this process out for two reasons: first, I've never done it because I think it's unnecessarily complicated, and I prefer the second way; second, I think enough people have described how to do it.
Here's a blog on how to do set-up a pre-order with Amazon Advantage:

http://ericvanderhope.com/how-to-set-up-pre-orders-on-amazon-for-print-books/

2. The simple way: Using Ingram

I've blogged on the topic of Ingram before. They are an incredible company. They are a major distributor of books and their customer service is incredible. Unfortunately, since you need your own ISBN to work with them, a lot of Indie Authors shy away from Ingram and look to Amazon (Amazon gives ISBNs for free). They also have charges for everything you do with them, but if you google, "Ingram Coupon Codes" you can usually get a code to do what you need for free. I've never paid a penny for any of Ingram's services (aside from print/shipping costs of author/proof copies).

To set up a book for pre-order with Ingram is simple. You simply follow their process for setting up a book and select the date when it will be available for sale. You can order ARC copies and author copies (you just have to override the "for sale" date to order these copies. This is simple to do–Ingram just asks you if you want to).

If someone purchases your book on Amazon while it's on pre-order, the sale goes through Ingram. Ingram will fulfill that order when your "on sale" date arrives and will provide the printed book to Amazon. Amazon will then mail it out to the customer.

Your customers won't notice a difference, other than Ingram's print quality tends to be a little better (in some people's opinion) and their prints are thinner (they use slightly thinner paper than Amazon).

So, while you are setting up your book with Ingram, you should also be setting up your book with KDP for Amazon (both ebook and print). Get the book all ready to go exactly as you want it. Set your pre-order date for your Kindle book, but for your print book, DO NOT hit publish. When the day comes for your book to come out, hit publish ON THAT DAY (or a few hours before the day starts).

So, consider again the example above. That book is set to come out on November 5/18. When Nov. 5 arrives, Ingram will print and ship all the pre-orders they have received, but since I'll hit "publish" with KDP on November 5 (or a few hours before) all purchases on November 5 and later will go through KDP (Amazon).

Alright, that's a little bit about the simple process of setting up a pre-order with Ingram.

In the next blog I'm going to walk through some of the pros and cons of this process, but for now, comment below with your experience with pre-orders!

Shawn