Amazon, as the biggest bookseller,
is my biggest ‘partner.’
They know how to sell books.
They have data
writers would dream of having.
The challenge is…
they don’t share it.
They don’t tell writers
that the best pricing is X
or the best length of pre-orders
is Y days.
However, we can guess
by what we’re allowed to do.
For example,
the average small publisher
is allowed to put a book
on pre-order
up to three months
before release.
Clearly, the ideal pre-order date
is three months or less.
A book hits the hot new release lists
for a month after release.
Clearly, Amazon customers
consider a book
less than a month old
to be a new release.
Combining this information,
I view 3 months before release
and 1 month after release
to be the best time
to promote a release.
Usually partner rules are based
on logic.
By sharing their rules,
these partners are sharing
their secrets.
Pay attention.