Tracking Preorders – May 19
May 19th, 2017I’m publicly tracking preorders on my forthcoming novel The Last Good Man. The novel has already earned a Publishers Weekly starred review, and several glowing endorsements from other writers. But how is it doing in the marketplace? Not all that well, honestly.
My goal is 500 preorders. Here are the current statistics:
| Date | Total Preorders | Events |
| May 5 | 31 | Social media announcement of preorder links |
| May 12 | 84 | Email to 1800+ newsletter subscribers** |
| May 19 | 164 | New review by Michael Patrick Hicks + Amazon(?) |
(?) Over the weekend and early in the week pre-orders were moving along slowly but steadily. My guess as to why is that Amazon may have begun including the title in their daily emails to potentially interested customers. But the pace slowed considerably after Tuesday.
**Around 350 subscribers have been long-time subscribers. The others are mostly new to my work, having signed on during recent promotional events. Only 39% of emails sent track as having been opened.
Find preorder links and info here.
Posted on: Friday, May 19th, 2017 at 5:55 am
Categories: Publishing.
Tags: preorders, The Last Good Man
May 19th, 2017 at 3:43 pm
Completely baffled by this. You have an outstanding body of work, so I can’t imagine why the preorders are going slowly.
The only explanation I can think of is that people may be waiting until the book is published, so they can read reviews. This is the first time I’ve preordered a book because I like to see what readers think after it’s published. In this case, I trust the author to deliver the goods. But maybe people new to your work are waiting.
May 19th, 2017 at 5:06 pm
Oh, I agree that preorders are only for those who are into an author’s work. Most readers will want to read the reviews, grab a sample, etc. But I do think preorders are a good indication of both latent interest and of my own ability to get the word out. Publicity is tough. I know that even long-time readers who subscribe to my newsletter are not necessarily seeing the news.
Oh well. We do what we can! And thank you for your kind words and for preordering!!