Quote:
Originally Posted by Alisa
I have a question. I don't mean it as a criticism. I'm just curious. Why do people pre-order ebooks? It's not like they're going to sell out or you'll have to wait. Personally, I always get samples and buy the book when I'm done even with an author I like.
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Pre-ordering a book is just about the best thing you can do for an author being published in hardback. The fact is, pre-orders have a direct influence on how many copies the major chains will order. If a store has a larger number of pre-orders, then the normal order will also be increased because the book is "popular". In some cases, pre-ordering can happen before the book is actually printed, and will therefore affect how many copies are printed in the first run.
Now granted, I've never pre-ordered a book. This is all based on comments made by publishers on their own websites, including both Baen Books and TOR. But, This is the reason for watching the "to be published" or "coming soon" lists, so you can choose to reward those authors that you think are good enough to buy hardbacks from. (and yes, I'm not one of them. In the last 10 years, the only hardbacks I've purchased were when the author was on tour and I wanted her to autograph it.)