in Publishing
What pre-orders are for
Pre-orders are not only early sales. They are a signal to retailers, a planning tool for the publisher and a way to give interested readers somewhere to go.
A pre-order is a purchase made before a book is published, fulfilled when the book becomes available. Readers place them, retailers take them and publishers watch them. They are a routine part of the trade, and yet their purpose is often misunderstood.
They are not mainly about the money. The number of copies sold before publication is usually modest. What pre-orders do is more useful than their total.
A signal to the trade
Retailers and booksellers use early demand to judge how many copies to stock and how prominently to present a book. A title that is attracting pre-orders gives buyers a reason to order more, and a bookseller who sees customers asking for a book before publication is likely to take notice of it.
For the publisher, pre-order numbers provide early evidence about interest. That can inform decisions about print quantity, marketing effort and where to concentrate publicity. A publisher that knows demand is building in one region or through one channel can respond to it.
How pre-orders are counted towards sales rankings or charts varies between retailers and chart compilers, and the rules can change. It is safer not to assume a particular effect on rankings than to plan around it.
Somewhere for readers to go
The more immediate value of pre-orders is practical. When a reader hears about a book months before publication, through an interview, a newsletter or a friend, they need somewhere to act on that interest. Without a pre-order option, the interest has nowhere to go and is often forgotten by publication day.
A pre-order captures that moment. The reader commits while the book is on their mind, and the retailer delivers it when it is ready. For the author and publisher, every announcement made before publication can point to something concrete.
Making pre-orders possible
A book can only be pre-ordered once its metadata has reached retailers. That means the ISBN, title, author, format, price, publication date and, ideally, the cover and description need to be registered well ahead. Listings with missing information, or with no cover, attract fewer orders.
For printed books, pre-orders through physical and online retailers are generally enabled by the book's data being available through the trade's normal channels. For ebooks, many retailers allow the publisher to set up a pre-order directly, often with the requirement that the final file is delivered by a set time before publication. Missing that deadline can have consequences with some retailers, so it is worth reading the specific terms.
Independent bookshops usually take pre-orders for any book they can order. Encouraging readers to pre-order through their local shop is also a way of making the book visible to the bookseller.
Using them well
Give pre-orders a reason to exist. Readers are more likely to order early when they have heard enough about the book to want it: an extract, an interview, a clear description of what it is. A pre-order link on its own does little.
Make the link easy to find and consistent. If several retailers are available, offer a choice rather than a single option, so that readers can buy where they prefer.
Do not rely on pre-orders to carry a launch. They are one part of building interest, not a substitute for the rest of it.
Pre-orders reward planning. A book that is listed early, described clearly and talked about in advance gives readers a way to say they want it, and gives the trade a reason to listen.