Amazon Offers Preorder to Help Launch E-Books

Most questions I get asked revolve around launching a book appropriately  (and how getting reviews plays into that!). New authors seldom understand the benefits Amazon offers for getting exposure or how to utilize them. I often cover topics like these in my SharingwithWriters newsletter--often as brief tips like this one from the August letter:
E-Book Publishing Tip: Amazon just announced that they have instituted a pre-order program to help you promote the launch of your e-book on Amazon just as the big publishers do for their hardcovers and their paperbacks. Learn more about the program on Amazon's page and more about setting your launch date ahead in The Frugal Book Promoter. You'll learn how this tactic helps you take advantage of both pre-order time and also allows you to apply for reviews with big review journals like Publishers Weekly that require up to 16 weeks of pre-pub notice for your book to qualify for a review. There is still more on that process at this page in the Writers Resources section of my HowToDoItFrugally Web site: http://howtodoitfrugally.com/reviews_and_review_journals.htm. And there is a whole chapter on how to make the power of Amazon work for you in The Frugal Book Promoter, too.  
To subscribe to SharingwithWriters, send an e-mail with SUBSCRIBE in the subject window to HoJoNews@aol.com. Your welcome letter will include a few additional free benefits you can use to promote your book.  
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Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and how to books for writers including the award-winning second edition of, The Frugal Book Promoter: How to get nearly free publicity on your own or by partnering with your publisher; The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success; and Great Little Last Minute Editing Tips for Writers . The Great First Impression Book Proposal is her newest booklet for writers. She has three FRUGAL books for retailers including A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor .

5 comments:

Karen Cioffi said...

Being able to preorder ebooks on Amazon a great feature for us authors. You certainly have useful tips in your newsletter.

Debra Eckerling said...

Very cool. Thanks, Carolyn! Will keep this in mind as I prep for my next ebook launch!

Melinda Brasher said...

Smashwords has been doing it for a while. I'm glad Amazon is following.

Carolyn Howard-Johnson said...

Amazon has so many benefits for writers--little ways to help expose a title. I figured this was something you could all use. I don't know what happened to the formatting, though. Yikes!

Anne Duguid Knol said...

Thanks Carolyn. My Halloween book ShriekWeek is up for pre-order now on Amazon. This was set up by my publisher and I had no idea how to take advantage of this until you clued me in.

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