The importance of pre-orders

A lot of people have been asking me recently why it's helpful to pre-order a book.

Author Kim Hooper has some great insight in her article here, and summarized below:

"• If a publisher sees that a book has a lot of pre-orders, they’re likely to increase the print run to meet the anticipated demand. If they increase the print run, they may increase their marketing efforts to sell all the copies. More marketing means more sales.

• If a bookstore (online or brick-and-mortar) gets a bunch of pre-orders, they’ll realize their customers are interested in the book and they may stock more of the book when it’s released. Rumor has it that for every copy of a book that a customer pre-orders on Amazon, Amazon orders three more copies.

• For an author whose book might have a chance at making the New York Times bestseller list (a girl can dream), pre-orders can make a huge difference. The bestseller lists are compiled based on weekly sales data, and all pre-orders count toward the first week’s sales.

• Decent pre-orders can help convince the publisher to say yes to the author’s next book. For those of us who want a career at this writing thing, this is incredibly important. I don’t want to write one book. I want to write many books, preferably without a decade between them."

In addition, Colby Sharp recently posted a great video about the topic here. You can also visit his website (which is a treasure trove of kidlit info) here.

And if you feel so inclined, visit your local independent bookstore or click on IndieBound, Barnes & Noble, or Amazon to pre-order The Magic of Melwick Orchard. Thank you!!!!!

*** If you do pre-order my book, please send a copy of your receipt to CapraraBooks [at] gmail [dot] com with the subject heading: Melwick Pre-order. Please also include in the body of the email an address where you can receive snail mail. As a thank you for all pre-orders, I will be sending out special Melwick-themed swag (bookmarks, signed bookplates, and other goodies) to each reader.

In addition, for each copy pre-ordered, I will be making a donation to Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation, a nonprofit organization fighting childhood cancer.

Stay tuned! More details about the pre-order campaign coming soon....