- Have you heard people saying,
you have to put your book on pre-sale?
Do you know what that means?
Even more importantly, do you know if it's that important
for your book launch?
Stick around, we're going to chat about that today.
(upbeat rock music)
Hey, I'm Julie the book Broad with BookLaunchers.com,
your fabulous professional self-publishing team
to help you write, publish, and sell non-fiction books
that will grow your business and make you money.
But first!
♪ Happy birthday to me ♪
♪ Happy birthday dear me ♪
Well, anyways, yup, it's my birthday today.
Don't worry, I filmed this video in advance
and even scheduled it in advance
'cause I am not working today
so I won't be responding to your comments
but still, comment on this video,
I'll tell you why at the end of the video.
But before we do that,
let's get into this important subject, what is a pre-sale?
Now let me show you what it looks like on Amazon.
This is our client's book, Christian Buck,
this is a screenshot of his book, The Sport of School
when it went on pre-sale.
This says the book can be purchased
but it's not available yet.
It tells you when it's scheduled to launch right here.
So what is pre-sale?
In technical terms, it's the period of time
between when you upload your book or get retail listing
to when it's actually available to be shipped to readers.
Now here's when things get a little confusing
and can be kind of tricky.
A pre-sale period is optional
and if you're only doing Amazon distribution via KDP,
you can upload a book and have it for sale
pretty much 48 hours later.
So a (stuttering) pre-sale period,
that's a tongue twister (stuttering) period.
A pre-sale period is not mandatory
but we have to back things up 'cause I stumbled.
A pre-sale period isn't necessary
but if you want distribution anywhere other than Amazon,
especially if you're uploading to Ingram Spark,
you need more time.
Even if you aren't doing pre-sale period,
you need more time.
It is your job, that's you, you, you, you,
it's your job to make sure Amazon, Barnes & Noble,
Chapters Indigo, Kobo, Apple,
or wherever your book is going to be available,
it's your responsibility to make sure
these companies have it set up right.
If you work with a company like Book Launchers,
we take care of all of that for you but it still takes time.
Each retailer has its own schedule,
its own process, or process, I'm learning (laughs).
And here's something you need to hear loud and clear.
If you want to have a big, successful book launch,
you need to give yourself time.
Our client, Ryan Berman, had his book done in October,
he had 150 copies printed and sent to him
and he started sending them out to media, influencers,
and supporters early.
His launch date was January 15
and he launched to a Forbes.com interview,
Inc. coverage, podcast interviews, radio,
he had pre-book speaking engagements
where people were buying 400 copies of his book.
I could go on but I'm only sharing this
to point out the fact that Ryan didn't rush it.
Results were more important than super speed for him.
Bottom line, a pre-sale period isn't just a time to relax
and wait for your book launch.
♪ Relax, don't do it ♪
- It's a period of time that gives you
an opportunity to build a foundation of success
for your book's launch.
And depending on the goals of your book launch
and your book marketing, you should be spending a minimum
of two weeks in pre-sale and as much as three months.
So what are you doing during this pre-sale period?
Well, here's a few things.
Number one, I already touched on this,
making sure the distribution is set up,
pricing is right, and your book is where it should be.
Number two, sell copies
to your early reviewers at a discount.
You can see Chris Buck's book right here
it's listed on Kindle for pre-sale at 2.99.
His Kindle price for launch will be $9.99.
At 2.99, he can get his early reviewers, his book army,
which by the way,
I have a video coming out on that very soon
so many sure you've subscribed to the channel right here
so you're going to catch that video.
But this allows his book army to buy his book
for very cheap cost and when they post reviews,
they'll be Amazon Verified reviews, yes!
Okay, three, the longer your book
is available for pre-order,
the more time you have to send readers
to Amazon and other stores to buy books.
Here's something super important to know.
If your readers are buying print copies,
these pre-sale orders all add up
and count as sales on your release date
when the book ships out
which gives you a good chance at cracking
some top 100 bestseller sub-genres lists (beep)
top 100 bestseller subs on (beep)
top 100 bestseller sub-genre lists.
- [Kids] Yay!
- On sites like Barnes & Noble and Apple.
If readers buy on Amazon, it counts the day
the purchase is made but here's a fun fact.
For the E version of your book on Kobo,
the sale counts twice.
It doesn't pay you twice, that would be kind of cool (laughs)
but it counts twice, it counts for a pre-sale
and then it counts on launch too.
So woohoo for Kobo.
Number four, pre-sales help prevent
inventory shortages on launch day,
this is so important and you don't even know
how important it is until you have a killer launch day
and Amazon shows this temporarily out of stock message.
Your readers can still purchase your book
but sometimes Amazon is going to tell them
the title is going to ship in four to six weeks.
(imitates sad trombone)
So you will lose sales if it does that.
So pre-sales tell Amazon to back that truck up,
fill that warehouse, so they've got stock.
Titles that are in stock will be listed
as available and will ship immediately
and that's what you want.
Unless there's a really good reason
to get your book out right now,
it's a timely subject that's all over the media
or your book is on something that's just happening
like a tax loophole or some brand new technology
nobody else is writing about,
then I would not rush the release of your book.
I've got more launch videos for you to check out
but first, smash that thumbs up button
so YouTube knows you dig this content
and it makes me happy and please subscribe
so we can be YouTube besties.
Thank you so much for celebrating my birthday with me,
it means a lot and as an extra big thank you,
if you comment on my birthday,
that's the day this video is released,
not only will you be entered to win
the usual awesome Book Launchers swag
but I'll also draw for an extra winner
and they can choose from one of the books I mentioned today,
The Sport of School or Return on Courage, yes!
Birthdays are best when you share it with friends, right?
So when you comment below, let me know if you win,
which of those two books you want.
Oh and what else should you be doing for launch?
Well, in this video, I talk about what needs to happen
in the 90 days post-launch and in this one,
I talk about what has to happen in the 365 days post-launch.
Go ahead, click on one of those videos,
you'll be happy you did!
Keep on watching, I know you want to!
(upbeat rock music)