If you follow some of your favorite authors, you know when they start sharing an upcoming book and announce pre-orders are open. Why pre-order?

first week sales

For books, the first week is critical in determining whether or not it’ll be noticed for awards and bestseller lists. This is why many authors who go on book tours time it right when their books come out!

Fortunately, all pre-orders made count towards these sales numbers for the first week. With more pre-orders, the better the numbers. And the better the numbers, there’s a higher chance for the author’s book to get a shot at even more recognition!

visibility to publishers

Another reason to pre-order a book is to show support for the author as he or she pitches more books to the publisher. A strong pre-order showing can indicate a robust fan base, which in turn helps authors continue to create more books!

show support

Finally, it shows support for the author as well, directly! With every pre-order, you’re helping authors pitch more books and sometimes, if it’s a series, pitch more books in the series.

pre-order giveaway!

Sometimes, authors and/or publishers will give you something special to say thank you for pre-ordering! For my upcoming graphic novel A SKY OF PAPER STARS, if you pre-order and fill out this form below, you’ll get a beautiful glass jar with 100 origami paper to make your own galaxy themed paper stars.