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Writer's pictureTaylor Mills

Does Your Book Need A Pre-Order Campaign?


KWE Publishing Newsletter - 07/20/23


Once you've done the work of creating your book, the marketing begins—and sometimes, that includes a pre-order campaign.


What is a pre-order campaign? It's somewhat self-explanatory, but a pre-order campaign is a campaign effort that promotes your book before it launches, and this campaign leads readers to pre-order your book. These campaigns can start weeks or months before a book launch; typically, having a longer pre-order campaign is preferable and most effective.


Not every author does a pre-order campaign, but there are several reasons why you might want to consider doing one! So, let's jump into the ways a pre-order campaign could benefit you and your book!


A solid pre-order campaign can boost sales (and improve your book's status when it launches).


When you do your pre-order campaign, you're sharing your pre-order link with others. The more people who order your book prior to its release date, the better your sales will be when your book is published! This is because all pre-order sales are officially "counted" on release day.


If you can get readers to leave a review once they've received your book, that's even better! Readers are more likely to purchase a book that has lots of sales and reviews, so your pre-order campaign can actually benefit you well after your book launches!


If you sell a large number of books during your pre-order campaign, this means that your book is likely to do well in its categories when it releases. If a book sells well in its category, it may be listed as one of the top releases in its category, and that puts it in front of more readers! Of course, if you want to be a top release in a saturated category, such as the category of fantasy, you'll need to sell more books than if your book was in the category of fantasy books with dragons and elves. Still, doing well in your category is a nice bonus!


Experiment with marketing strategies and see what works.


There are a lot of marketing strategies out there, and it can be overwhelming to choose which strategies will work best with your book! Even if you're working with a marketing expert, knowing how you want to market your book can feel like a big decision.


This is where having a pre-order campaign can be beneficial. Your pre-order campaign affords you a good chunk of time to experiment with a variety of strategies. If one strategy doesn't work for you, or if you feel like a particular marketing method just doesn't fit your brand, no worries! You have ample time to explore other options.


For many authors, a combination of strategies tends to work best. For example, you might find that sending out advanced reader copies (ARCs), doing influencer campaigns, sending out newsletters, and appearing on podcasts are all methods you'd like to try. After trying these practices, you might end up preferring just a few of them, and when you're embracing marketing options that you enjoy, readers will take notice!


Keep your book relevant to readers.


When you're promoting your pre-order campaign, you're continuously reminding readers that you have a new book coming out. This can feel a little excessive sometimes to authors, but in reality, your potential readers aren't thinking about your book as often as you are, so reminding them of your upcoming book is a good thing!


With a pre-order campaign, you can customize these reminders. If your book has any ties to a holiday, for example, you can create graphics for the holidays, offer discounts or extra perks (like signed copies or a bonus chapter), and keep readers interested.


As we mentioned, a longer pre-order campaign is usually preferable, and in this case, it's beneficial to readers. If you spread out your messages and use a variety of techniques, readers won't feel like they're being bombarded. Instead, their curiosity will be piqued, and hopefully, that leads to a sale.


So, do you need to do a pre-order campaign for your book? Not necessarily; many books achieve great success without any pre-order campaign! However, you can take advantage of a pre-order campaign, especially if you give yourself enough time to play around with different marketing techniques, and you might see your book sales rise as a result.


Have you ever done a pre-order campaign for your book? What questions do you have about the publishing and writing process? Send us an email and let us know; we appreciate hearing from you!

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