Why Pre-order “Campaigns” Rarely Work

And how publishers can change so they do

Over the past week, I’ve read

Jeffrey Yamaguchi

’s posts about preorder campaigns, which are informative and give authors some ideas for preorder strategies. Having been on the publishing side, I have a different viewpoint: Pre-order campaigns rarely work and don’t necessarily predict how a book will sell. Let’s get into it:

A few years ago, I worked on a book by someone with a robust platform and a network authors would covet. Their book—nonfiction (I need to be vague, sorry)—was primed for preorders. They spent a significant amount on marketing and publicity and, by all accounts, were more primed for pre-orders than the average book. The book barely got preorders and had weak sales—even with a full publicity schedule and a 6-figure marketing campaign. The author was upset, and the publisher was worried.

Conversely, I once worked on a book by someone with a modest platform but access to about 25K people through an organization they belonged to. The preorders were weak, and we were worried and wondered if the book would tank. It didn’t. It went on to sell, on average, 500+ copies per week. That network of 25k people? They waited to buy the book until it was available for them immediately.

My point in relaying these stories (of which I have many) is that pre-order campaigns are anyone’s guess. The problem? Consumer behavior.

Recently, the actor Blake Lively released a hair care line called Blake Brown, which is exclusively available at Target. I had heard it was pretty good, and being the beauty product junkie that I am, I went to Target to buy it the day it hit the shelves. It was sold out---everywhere. Love Shack Fancy recently collaborated with the water bottle company Stanley, which did a “drop” when they were available. My daughter wanted one, and I, being the consumer I am, jumped online to buy one—except they were sold out within minutes of launching (I ended up obtaining one, much to my husband’s chagrin). Neither product line gave consumers the opportunity to pre-order products. Both are difficult to come by. Consumers still want them.

Publishers emphasize pre-orders to authors because it gives them a better idea of how a book will sell. Sometimes, this is true: if the book’s author is high-profile and/or has a sales track record of solid sales, publishers will gauge how many books they should print by looking at the preorders. Take a book like the Britney Spears memoir. The preorders were probably through the roof, and S&S needed to look at them to analyze demand, informing them that they needed to print a certain number of books plus additional copies to replenish stock.

The truth is that preorders help determine first printings rather than a book's sales trajectory. First printings are determined by the number of books retail accounts order, usually by publicity and marketing plans. The problem is twofold: Publishers’ marketing and publicity plans vary depending on the author’s advance and where the author fits within the hierarchy of the publisher’s list. In other words, the sales team will push a designated “lead” title more than titles a publisher has less of an investment in. The lower the advance, the harder the author must work to make things happen so accounts will take notice. None of this is to discourage you. Instead, it allows you to assess what you need to do.

Amazon is an entirely different beast. They will order copies based on preorder numbers, so if those figures are low, their order will follow suit. Do publicity and marketing plans matter to Amazon? Yes, but preorders matter more because they offer hard data. Though they will never admit it, Barnes & Noble pays attention to Amazon rankings. If a book suddenly pops into the top 100 on Amazon, there’s a good chance Barnes & Noble will place an order for copies if they haven’t already done so.

Today, consumer behavior is such that people want what they want when they want it. This is a problem for publishers who continue to put the onus on authors to get preorders. Unlike many products from brands, there is no urgency to order most books. Consumers don’t feel they are missing out on anything if they wait to purchase a book after its publication date. Further, books are considered luxury items for most consumers, and if money is tight, they’ll skip buying them. Adding to the pre-order problem is that brands have figured out the consumer psyche so that they do “drops”: making products available on a specific day and only offering a particular number of said products. When it sells out, that’s it. It leaves consumers wanting more. There is no shortage of books in book publishing, so preorder campaigns are mostly a moot point. It’s not the author’s fault; it’s how the consumer’s brain is programmed.

So, how can this change? Realistically, publishers must find a way to launch preorder campaigns that speak more to the consumer behavior that drives people to buy products as they do with brands. What does this mean? It means engaging influencers for preorder campaigns instead of the publication date. It means getting creative and framing a book’s publication like a “drop” is marketed. It means taking the onus off authors to create demand for a book that publishers should put more marketing muscle behind. It means using text messaging to get into people’s phones with a preorder link and possibly a more significant discount. Sure, retailers would get miffed by this, so why not involve them? If retailers aren’t taking specific titles, publishers should have more freedom to do as they wish with buy links. It is archaic that the industry still exists in a place where “all links must be present, or someone will get mad.” Affiliate links are ALL OVER journalism, and publishing should follow suit. A rule to be considered for Oprah’s Favorite Things is that there must be an Amazon link. Yes, that’s right. Most lifestyle journalists will tell you the items they include in stories must have Amazon links, too. This is not to say that B&N, independent bookstores, or other retailers don’t count. They do. But they should only count more if they’re taking copies of a book, not when they flat-out pass on a title they don’t think will sell or won’t take copies of because they are stocking prominent authors with repeat books or high-profile figures with new books. If the playing field isn’t even on the retail side, why should they be even on the publisher side? Why keep fighting the same battle when you can try something different? Only so many people are interested in a bonus chapter, bookmark, or other preorder bonuses. Authors deserve better, and publishing needs to step up to help them. Yes, it is their job to help sell their book, but it is not their job to keep drumming up preorders when hardly anyone is biting. Publishers can change this dynamic, and they should.

END NOTES:

What I’m Watching: Bad Monkey on Apple+. Vince Vaughn is simply perfect in this adaptation of Carl Hiaasen’s book.

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