A book preorder means opening sales of a title before it physically exists: the reader pays today and receives the book when it comes off the press. For an independent publisher it’s probably the most underrated tool there is: you get paid before paying the printer, you know how many to print before deciding the print run, and you measure real interest in a title without betting the house. At Mister Mikel we build online stores for publishers and cultural projects from Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain, and preorders are among the first things we set up when the project calls for them.
What exactly is a preorder and what is it for?
It’s one more product in your store, with one difference: the delivery date is in the future and the reader knows it. They buy today and receive it when the book exists. In exchange for that wait, they usually get something: a signed edition, an extra, or simply the certainty of having the title on day one.
For the publisher, the preorder solves three problems at once:
- Cash. The money comes in before it goes out. The printer is paid, in part or in full, with sales already made.
- Print run. You stop deciding blind how many copies to print. The reservations give you the floor; from there, you adjust.
- Risk. If a title doesn’t spark interest in preorder, you know before printing it, not afterwards, with the boxes in the warehouse.
Why do almost no small publishers use it?
Because of the how, not the what. Everyone knows the idea; the problem is that doing it by hand — emails, bank transfers, a spreadsheet of names — is torture, and doing it on a marketplace is impossible on your terms. A preorder only works well from a store of your own, where you control the product, the date, the communication and, above all, the list of who has reserved.
That’s the usual trap: the publisher that would benefit most from preorders — the small one, the one that suffers over every print run — is the one that manages orders with a spreadsheet and half a Saturday. We talk about that cycle in how to sell books online without depending on Amazon.
How do you set up a preorder in your store?
With a well-built store, opening a preorder is a matter of a couple of clicks, not a project. The full circuit:
- You create the title’s page like any other product: cover (even a provisional one), synopsis, ISBN if you already have it, and the estimated delivery date clearly visible.
- You mark it as a preorder. The button says “reserve”, not “buy”, and the reader knows what they’re doing.
- You announce the window. Your newsletter — connected to the store, not in a separate tool — lets your community know. This is where the reader list you’ve been building pays back the effort.
- You close and adjust the print run. With the reservations in hand, you decide how many to print with data, not faith.
- You ship and notify. The day the book arrives from the printer, the orders are already paid and have an address. All that’s left is packing.
In our plans for publishers, preorders come in from the Grow plan (€4,985 + VAT, together with the connected newsletter — because a preorder with no reader list to announce it to is a billboard in an empty lot. The full breakdown is in how much does an online store for a publisher cost.
What mistakes ruin a preorder?
Almost always the same ones:
- A hidden or unrealistic delivery date. Readers forgive waiting; they don’t forgive being misled about the wait. A visible date and an honest margin.
- The eternal preorder. Without a closing date there’s no urgency, and without urgency there’s no reservation. The window has a beginning and an end.
- No reason to reserve. If reserving today has no advantage over buying in three months, people will buy in three months. A signed edition, an extra, free shipping — something.
- Silence until delivery. Between the reservation and the shipment there are weeks. An email saying the book is at the printer turns the wait into part of the experience.
- Discounts you can’t offer. Careful here, there’s a law involved — next section.
And the fixed book price?
A preorder doesn’t exempt you from the fixed price: in Spain the book price is set by the publisher and the maximum discount is 5% (Ley 10/2007), in preorders too. So the incentive to reserve can’t be “30% off” — but it can be something better: a signed or numbered edition, a print, free shipping, access to the launch. Things Amazon can’t offer and you can. The limitation, looked at properly, plays in your favor.
Our view, in one sentence
The preorder is the tool that turns an online store from a shop window into a business tool: it funds editions, adjusts print runs and gives your community a reason to be on your list. It only asks for two things: a store of your own that supports it without drama and a reader list to tell about it.
FAQ
It means opening sales of a title before it’s printed: the reader pays at the time of reserving and receives the book on the announced delivery date. For the publisher it means getting paid before paying the printer and knowing the real demand before deciding the print run.
In Spain the maximum discount on the fixed book price is 5% (Ley 10/2007), in preorders too. That’s why the incentives to reserve are usually different: a signed or numbered edition, extras, free shipping or access to the launch.
A store of your own that handles products with a future delivery date and, highly recommended, a newsletter connected to the store to announce the reservation window to your community. In Mister Mikel’s plans, both come in from the Grow plan (€4,985 + VAT.
It should have a visible beginning and end — a closed window creates the reason to reserve today. The exact length depends on each title’s printing schedule; what matters is that the announced delivery date is realistic and is met.
Yes, and it’s one of their greatest strengths: reservations give you a floor of real demand before ordering the print run. You print with data instead of intuition, and the risk of being left with boxes in the warehouse drops dramatically.
In short
Book preorders let a publisher get paid before printing, adjust the print run with real reservations and activate its community — with the fixed book price respected (in Spain, a maximum discount of 5%) and the incentives where they really make a difference: signatures, extras and direct contact. All it needs is a store of your own that supports it and a reader list. The first is built; the second is cultivated.
