In Writing

In anticipation of my book coming out next year, I’ve been wondering what makes a great book pre-order campaign. The reporting on the first week a book is out compiles sales data from ALL the books sold in the months leading to the publication date. This means that the books sold prior to publication are the ones that make the biggest impact. That’s why pre-order campaigns are important!

But, of course, it’s not just about sales, but about delighting readers. To that end, I asked my newsletter subscribers what they like best about book pre-order campaigns. Their responses were awesome! A few were a little surprising. Read on.

To make sure I got the maximum number of replies, I made the survey only three questions long. I gave readers the opportunity to add their own comments as well. Here are screenshots of the results:

The first question was “Have you ever bought a book through a pre-order campaign?” The majority of readers said “Yes.” This question was important to me because I wanted to know how much education to engage in before asking readers to pre-order. Turns out, not much, since most readers were familiar with the concept.

book pre-order campaign

 

 

 

 

 

 

Their main reason for doing so was heartwarming. The line that is cut off reads, “I wanted to support the author.” Option 2 was, “I like being the first to know about new books,” 3 was “I wanted to get the swag,” and the last one was open-ended.

book pre-order campaign

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Digging in a little deeper into the question of what kind of swag readers like in their pre-order campaign, I was surprised to learn that tote bags won over things like branded notebooks.

book pre-order campaign

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My favorite part was when I asked the open-ended question of “What other kind of swag would you like?” The creativity of my subscribers made me smile (and gave me some great ideas!). Here’s a sample of a few of my favorite responses:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you all who participated. Stay tuned as I craft a pre-order campaign for my book that comes out in May of 2023. If you’d like to be the first to know when the giveaway is ready and want first-glimpse look at the cover and all that fun stuff, subscribe to my newsletter here.

Recent Posts
Questions? Comments? Reach out!

I'd love to hear from you!

Not readable? Change text. captcha txt