Imagine a world where books you love magically appear in abundance, where your favorite authors are given the green light to write more, and where indie bookstores stay alive and well. That world exists – it just requires a little thing called preordering.
Here’s why that’s a great idea:
1. Shelf it up
When you preorder a book, you’re doing more than just guaranteeing that a fresh copy will land in your eager hands within a couple of days of its release. You are also whispering – no, shouting – into the capitalist void: Hey, we care about this book. Stock this book. Give this book a fighting chance.
Retailers respond to numbers. If a book gets a lot of preorders, bookstores order more copies, ensuring it doesn’t vegetate away in a dark warehouse next to unsold Ayurveda diet guides. If preorders are bad, that book might be DOA before it even gets a chance to charm (or traumatize) readers.
2. Signal to the Publisher
Strong pre-order sales send a signal to the publisher that the book might be thriving and not being avalanched by self-published werewolf romances. The publishing house can now increase the marketing budget and adjust the print run to meet the demands.
3. The self-fulfilling prophecy of lists
Let’s talk about bestseller lists. They don’t just add up what’s sold after release – it’s mostly about preorders. A book with strong preorder numbers can land on Amazon’s “Best in Category XYZ” lists or even make its way onto those prestigious bestseller lists that determine what gets splashed across airport newsstands. In short: preordering isn’t just buying a book – it’s voting for it.
Try it out now
Does that all sound like exactly the world you want to live in? Then we have a recommendation that you can pre-order right now: Our new book HI, EARTH comes out on April 1 (no joke but still a lot of jokes) and we love every single page of it.
It contains our best comics about our favorite planet and its inhabitants.
Get it via Amazon, Barnes & Noble or BAM.
Something Else
We get it: clicking preorder on a big retailer’s website is easy and requires no human interaction. But if you want to be a true literary champion, preorder from your local bookstore. It keeps them thriving, fosters community, and lets you pick up your book in an actual store, where you can also impulsively buy a tote bag you definitely need.
