You may post your review there now if you’ve reviewed an early copy.
If you want a free ecopy to read in exchange for an honest review, I have a few I am willing to give away! The only requirement is to leave a review on Amazon.
You can preorder the paperback, hard copy, eBook, or bundle now at blkhistorybook.com.
About.
Black History Facts You Didn’t Learn in School is a historical guide on Black Americans’ accomplishments, contributions, and struggles. It includes the experiences of Black individuals who have often been marginalized, overlooked, or omitted from mainstream historical accounts.From the resilience of women like Anna Douglass, first wife of Frederick Douglass, to the many Black communities that prospered, recognizing and celebrating Black history helps to ensure that these stories are acknowledged and that the achievements and resilience of Black people are valued and appreciated.
When I first decided to put my book up for preorder in September (2023), I wondered if I had made the right decision. I had never run a preorder campaign that far in advance of the release date. And I was wondering if I could keep the momentum up. In my experience, people forget after a while, and the excitement fades.
Still, I took the leap of faith and put it up anyway.
The result is a book that has been selling every month since September and is currently a #1 New Release on Amazon for the ebook edition. The book doesn’t officially come out until the end of next month (Feb.).
“What if I fail?”
“Oh, but what if you fly?”
There is a common belief that if you give too much of your book away, people won’t be interested.
While I don’t think you should reveal everything, I do believe that talking about topics related to your book never gets old and, in that sense, you can never give away too much information. You can never know too much about your topic. You can never over study. The more you know, the more you can give.
And the more you give, the more interested people become.
This is my first nonfiction book about Black history. My other books cover these topics, but they are fictional. The nonfiction authors I admire and respect and who have done well with their launches all have something in common. They all educate their audience on their topic.
Whether in the form of a story and lesson learned or just putting fun facts out on social media, they have garnered interest in their books by talking about them.
My biggest worry is not knowing enough, which (from a not-so-positive end) sometimes causes me to shrink. However, from a positive end, it keeps me searching, reading, and studying to show myself approved. It keeps me humble and hungry.
So, I thank you for supporting this work and I hope it inspires you to take the leap on whatever that might be. You might discover that you can fly!
A pre-order is when you make a book available for purchase before its official release date—typically a week to a year in advance.
Traditionally, publishers have books available for preorder as early as six months to a year in advance. They do it because strong pre-sales tell retailers the book will be in high demand, affecting the number of books stocked at stores and allowing them to make bestseller lists.
Self-published authors can learn from this, not necessarily to make the bestsellers list but to gauge interest in their new book and give them time to market/promote it.
I believe studying the traditional publishing model can help Indie Authors become better self-publishers in some areas, but that’s a conversation for a different day.
By putting my book up for preorder, I have not only made early sales but already have a bookstore interest in stocking it. (I am also aiming for schools. We’ll see how this goes!)
Reasons for setting up preorders depend on your marketing strategy, which could be:
To gauge interest in the book based on preorder sales
To increase sales ranking
To get the proof copy of the book into the hands of early reviewers, bookstores, and organizations
To give you time to market /promote the book (on/offline)
To prepare your audience for the next book in a series
To build excitement and anticipation
Preorders that tend to do well
Authors with several books published and larger audiences tend to do better with preorders because they already have people waiting for their next book.
Even if the author has a small audience, preorders can be good if the book is in high demand. It is one of the reasons I put my black history book up for preorder so early.
I’ve built up enough hype and awareness for the book that people were already looking for it on Amazon and asking where they could buy it. Putting it up for preorder ensures I take advantage of the opportunity to catch interested readers while the book is on their minds.
blkhistorybook.com
Authors writing a series also do well. They might offer the first book at a discount and then have the next book on preorder. People who love the first book in the series will likely buy the next one.
Preorders that don’t do as well
First-time authors who don’t have an audience do not always do well with preorders and might benefit from just releasing the book. As stated, preorders are more useful for experienced authors because they already have an audience.
It is also not a good idea to set up preorders if you’re not able to commit to a publication date in advance.
The most important thing to remember is that you have much more flexibility and creative control as an independent author than if you were traditionally published. You can play around with different strategies and see what works.
Cover Reveals
Cover reveals are fun and all, but they serve no real purpose if people can’t buy the book or preorder it on the spot. I recommend holding off on showing the cover until you are ready or almost ready to accept orders.
Promoting Preorders
Although preorders are a beneficial marketing strategy for some authors, it is also a lot of work. Here are my top tips:
Consider running your preorders for a shorter time than the traditionalmodel. Just because your celebrity authors release books on preorder a year in advance doesn’t mean you have to. We are Indies. We do what we want. (*wink*) Yours can be as short as two weeks to a month before release. Also for Amazon, the preorder only counts on the day of the order. This means that the longer the preorder period, the harder it is to sustain a high ranking on that book. (If your goal is to achieve a high ranking.)
Preserve most of your energy for when the book is out. Too many authors get hung up on the release date and wear themselves out. Remember that your book will sell for weeks, months, and years afterward, so pace yourself. If your preorders are through Amazon, you still receive your royalties per their regular royalty payment schedule after your book is published anyway, not before.
This is my first experience running a lengthy campaign, but I’m saving most of my energy for when the book comes out. Those of you who know me are aware that I rarely do anything without a purpose. Because I anticipated my schedule would be hectic toward the end of the year, I postponed the release until the new year. I’ll put it to the test and, of course, report back!
Great info over at Live.Write.Thrive on how to use Amazon’s PreOrder feature. Here are some key bullet points in the article that can help you to make wise preordering decisions (please visit the site for the entire article). Penny C. Sansevieri, Founder and CEO Author Marketing Experts, and best-selling author says:
First Time Published Author: If you’re a newly published author, the idea of a preorder probably seems exciting, right? Your book is up on the Amazon site as time ticks down to its release. And while it seems exciting, it’s not advisable to spend a ton of marketing time on the book because you can’t get reviews (though there is a workaround for that), but using this to build a fan base may not be the best idea.
Already Published Author: If you have a book out there (or several), and you’ve built a mailing list of fans, then preorder may be a fun thing to do to build excitement for your upcoming book.
I would still caution that the lion’s share of your work should only begin when the book is actually ready for purchase. Why? Because unless you are some mega-bestselling author, it’s hard to drive significant numbers to a preorder page.
The other issue is immediacy. If a reader wants something now, they may not want to wait for your book to be ready and will, instead, buy another Amazon-recommended book. Also, this is another reason to keep your preorder time short—which I’ll explain next.
<<<I only gave about 2 weeks for my preorders. Penny explains why you should keep your Preorder time short>>>
Timing of Your Preorder: Though I know there are folks who are fans of long preorders, I am not one of them. Amazon allows you up to ninety days, but when I’ve done this, I have found that a month is just about right. That way you can promote it to family, friends, and even your e-mail list, and still build some momentum for it without spending a ton of time pushing a book that no one can read.
Promoting a Preorder: Along the lines of what we discussed earlier, I would share this with your followers and your e-mail or newsletter list. If this is your second, third, or fourth book, the interest is going to be stronger than if it’s your first. But even a newbie author should not be discouraged from pushing this to folks who know you to let them know it’s coming. You can do this through images, blog posts, Facebook posts, and Twitter updates.
Pricing Your Preorder: For reasons I mentioned earlier, I would keep your pricing low— even if you plan on raising it later. Why? Well, you’re competing with millions of titles on Amazon and your book isn’t ready (yet), so the immediacy isn’t there. If you want to entice an impulse buy, keep the pricing lower at first, then once the book is live, you can always raise it.
Help Me Launch for just 99 cents! Pre-Order Stella Book #3 on Kindle before the price goes up! You have until Wednesday, February 24th. Your downloads will help me to move up in rank. I’m trying to make the top 100 before Launch Day!
(Don’t look at me like that, yes I said Top 100. I believe in setting reasonable goals. Gotta crawl before you walk!)
As of today, Friday, February 12, 2016, there is exactly 2 weeks left before The Stella Trilogy is complete. The early reviews are vitally important to authors like myself and your support is greatly appreciated. While you can’t leave a review now, here’s what you can do to help spread the word about this book:
The PBS Blog 