Since Grave Mistake, the first book in my new Hedgewitch for Hire series, is now available for pre-order (the official release date is January 6, 2021), I thought I’d make a few comments about my own pre-order process. Everyone does this differently, and I don’t know whether there’s really a right way or a wrong way…although there are plenty of indie publishing pundits out there who have all kinds of strategies for the best ways to maximize pre-orders. Every once in a while, I don’t do a pre-order at all, although that’s the exception more than the rule these days. However, I have two “surprise” projects launching in the next couple of months that won’t be on pre-order, mostly because no one is really expecting them anyway, so I’m just going to release them into the wild when they’re ready. 😉
Basically, if you see a book up for pre-order from me, that means the book’s first draft is completely written, and most of the time, it’s also had at least one editing pass. This doesn’t mean it’s publication-ready, but what it does mean is that, even if my entire production team has disappeared to the Bahamas or something, I’ll still be able to get that book out on time using a backup team of editors and proofreaders. I know a lot of people have horror stories about books they’ve pre-ordered and never received because the book ended up not being written after all, or instances where they had to wait months and months longer for a book than planned because of complications in the author’s life. This sort of thing can happen to anyone, but I don’t want to leave my readers hanging. So rest assured, if you see a pre-order from me, it means the book already exists, even if it’s not in its final edited form.
I hope all this puts your mind at ease about my pre-order process! Pre-orders are very helpful to authors, especially when they’re launching a new series (as I am with this one), because it gives us a way to gauge interest in a book (or series) before it’s even published. And it works for readers, too, because then you know you’ll have the book delivered to you as soon as it’s available…and in the case of my books, you’ll always get a new release at a discount, since I like to reward early adopters by giving them a little bit of a price break on a brand-new book.
If you’d like to pre-order Grave Mistake, you can get it here:
[mybooktable book=”grave-mistake” display=”buybuttons” buybutton_shadowbox=”false”]
