Let's Chat About Preorders

Oh preorders. Every author’s least favorite word! From what I gather, there has been a preorder conversation happening on Threads recently. Because I need to preserve my mental health, I deleted Threads from my phone, but I do see the occasional snippet pop up on Instagram or TikTok and so I’ve been catching little bits and pieces of the discourse.

Preorders are one of those things that fascinate me as an author because what do you mean my publisher is going to determine how many copies of my book to order and how much marketing money they are going to invest based on the number of people who decide to plan ahead (sometimes by months) and order my book before it’s even been printed? (I would assume other things also go into their decision about how many books to print and how much marketing money they are going to invest, but my faith in the logic of publishing is basically zero at this point so who knows.) I think what’s so interesting about that metric being so important is that the vast majority of readers probably don’t EVER preorder books.

Back before I was a bookstagrammer, I don’t think I ever preordered a single book once in my entire life. And I read constantly! I had favorite authors. I even followed some of them on social media. But it never would have occurred to me to order a book before it came out. I think when you are an active member of the online bookish space, whether as an author or a reader, it’s easy to forget that the VAST MAJORITY of people who are buying books/checking books out from the library/reading in general are NOT in the online bookish world. It can be so easy to assume that all of these sort of inside bookish things are common knowledge, when the reality is, they’re just not. They’re only common knowledge to us because our algorithm keeps it constantly in our feeds or because it’s a standard of our business as an author. (Small aside: when I went to get my deathly hallows tattoo covered, my tattoo artist was like omg why and I was like well, I just can’t align myself with transphobia and she looked at me like I had lost the plot—not because she didn’t agree with me, but because she HAD NO IDEA JK Rowling was transphobic. This was a few years ago. What is common knowledge to those of us in the bookish world can take years and years and years to trickle out to the casual reader.)

So yeah, I get why publishers want to make preorder numbers the be all, end all, but in reality, I think it is much more likely that a book will pick up speed a) closer to pub date and b) in the weeks after pub when word of mouth has had a chance to build. However, none of that changes the pressure authors are currently facing when it comes to preorders, so here’s a little insight from an author who has hit the USA Today list multiple times but has never done particularly well with preorders. (Wish I were evolved enough to say it doesn’t give me a little pang in my chest whenever I see a fellow author signing stacks and stacks of preorders (because that has never happened for me), but it definitely does.)

I have had very little luck with preorder incentives. With the exception of SOMETHING WICKED, I have paid for any and all preorder incentives. Bookmarks, stickers, tote bags, custom candles…I don’t even want to think about how much money I have spent on preorder goodies. And to be completely transparent and upfront: none of it moved the needle or made any kind of difference. I’ve never had anyone be like “I ordered this book ahead of time because the merch was so good!” In reality, the people who will preorder will preorder no matter what—because they’re trying to support you as an author or because they really want the book. They don’t care about stickers, those are just an added bonus. So if it doesn’t actually make a difference, why do authors continue to spend the time and money? That question has multiple answers. I think there is pressure (internal or external) to “keep up with the Joneses”—these authors are doing cool preorder incentives and so I want to too. I think we sometimes trick ourselves into thinking that it DOES boost our sales. I think there is always that element of hope—maybe this one will be the thing that goes viral or blows up. I told myself I wasn’t going to do any preorder incentives for my latest rom com TOE TO TOE because I was kind of over it, but then I sort of panicked and was like oh no if I don’t do something, it will be such a letdown and so I ordered stickers last minute (not gonna lie, they’re awesome Cooper Nielsen stickers and I have no regrets, but literally no one preordered that book because of that sticker).

From what I can tell (correct me if I’m wrong) the general consensus of the current debate is that readers are annoyed with the constant push by authors to preorder (I think I saw a comment from a reader that was like your sales goals are none of my business). Which is FAIR. I log onto Instagram and see one of those Barnes & Noble preorder graphics and immediately close out of the app because I know that’s all my feed is going to be for the next two days. As an author, that’s something we HAVE to do and you best your ass I will be posting one of my own when the next sale comes. But for readers, I can see how annoying it would be—there’s constant push and pressure to buy, buy, buy. I can also see how the constant posts from authors about why preorders are so important can be grating—I think most in the online bookish community already know by now that they are important.

I have two books currently available for preorder, WHAT LIGHT BREAKS which comes out 12/29/26 and COME AWAY WITH ME which comes out 3/2/27. To be totally honest, I don’t plan to do much in terms of a preorder campaign for either (though that means nothing—see TOE TO TOE panic purchase above). That doesn’t mean those preorders aren’t important (to be as transparent as possible, I think these preorder numbers matter more for my career in its current state than they ever have before), but it means I have come to terms with the fact that there’s not a ton I can do or say or offer to make people order in droves. I’d rather spend my time and money promoting my books in ways I feel are going to actually reach readers.

I’m so curious about reader thoughts on this topic in particular. Have you ever preordered a book just for the goodies? What makes you likely to preorder versus pick up a book during release week? Are there any preorder incentives you wish authors would offer? I’d love to hear!

And remember, as much as we don’t like it either, the reason authors push preorders so much is because they hold so much weight. Whether that is fair or not, it’s the state of publishing in this moment. So bear with us the next time that B&N Preorder Sale rolls around!

XOXO,

Falon