Maybe you preorder because you're ADHD like me, saw a recommendation, and didn't want to forget about the book before it launches. Maybe you preorder because you like to give yourself a little surprise treat down the line. Or maybe you're in-the-know about the publishing industry, and you preorder because you know how big of a boon it is to your favorite author.
Whether they're traditionally published or an enterprising self-published indie, authors all benefit from readers preordering, though it matters for slightly different reasons for each.
Why do preorders matter to traditionally published authors?
Tradpub often estimates the future demand of a book and sets a number for its initial print run—say, 10,000 books—to distribute pre-launch to all the retailers who will be carrying the book. If they're wrong, and the book explodes in demand, the book can go out of stock on its first day! When readers preorder, it communicates early how much demand to expect.
A high number of preorders also communicates to booksellers and publishers that the book will perform well, so they stock more, market more heavily, and prioritize displays and events around the book's launch. The "rich get richer," in a sense, as all of these things result in more sales once the book has launched.
Why do preorders matter to indie authors?
Most indie authors work through a print-on-demand printer and distributor, so print runs aren't an issue for them. But the same rich-get-richer concept applies to indie books with good preorder traction, as retailers like Amazon can start listing the book as a "Top Release" before it even launches, and higher placement in Amazon search results and page listings means more preorders pre-launch and more sales post-launch.
And for both tradpub and indie authors, preordering has a huge effect on the possibility of ending up on a bestseller list. The New York Times, USA Today, and other bestseller lists count preorder sales in the first week's sales for the purposes of selecting the week's best sellers, so high preorders can propel a book into bestseller status for its launch week.
This is even more important for indie authors, who often don't have the marketing resources and publisher support to compete with the sales numbers of tradpub books from large publishers. So if you love an indie author, order that book ahead and help them pump up those numbers!
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