A new Zack Tolliver, FBI novel is now available at Amazon as an eBook. It is offered as a Pre-Order item. It will be offered in paperback later this summer. A paperback box set of the complete Zack Tolliver, FBI series (6 books) will be available at a special price later this summer as well (check in at RLawsonGamble.com for news).
Why Pre-Order? How does that benefit the author? The consumer/reader? Amazon? It is an interesting marketing concept; I offer my understanding of the answers to those questions below.
But first, what is Pre-Order? Here’s how it works: Pay with a credit card, and your purchase of “Canaan’s Secret” will not be charged to your account until it enters the shipping process. So, Pre-Order, and pay when the book arrives.
So why not wait to purchase until it is ready to ship? The best reason is given by Amazon: “Whenever you pre-order digital content, the price we charge you will be the lowest price offered by Amazon.com between the time you placed your order and the time the content is released.” In the specific case of “Canaan’s Secret”, the Pre-Order price is $2.99, the lowest permitted by Amazon for digital books in the category that includes full world-wide distribution. After the day of sale, the price will go up to $3.99. How else does Pre-Order benefit the consumer? To a forgetful person such as me, it offers the opportunity to purchase now and forget about it, only to be pleasantly surprised when it arrives on May 29.
Pre-Order sales benefit the author in several ways. The sustained exposure on Pre-Order builds curiosity and suspenseful anticipation. Another, perhaps lesser known advantage is the author need not submit the fully edited and complete manuscript until four days before publication. This allows us to make those changes that so often come to mind after a deadline has passed, even as the book is on the “shelf”. The sales that occur on Pre-Order are recorded on a day by day basis and go toward the book and author ranking on the day of sale. (One might say benefits to the author sustaining him as a writer ultimately benefit the reader!).
The benefit to Amazon from Pre-Orders is simple: anything that helps the author sell books helps Amazon. They will always promote the best sales tactics and best selling authors for that reason. So if you intend to buy Zack Tolliver, FBI, book number 6 “Canaan’s Secret” as an eBook, why not buy it now?
R Lawson Gamble 