Pre-orders are a great way to generate excitement for yet-unreleased books, while simultaneously securing a few early sales!
Setting up a pre-order:
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Complete the 4 publishing steps:
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On the Publish your eBook step, select the calendar icon and set a future release date.
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Once you've set a future date, the "Allow preorders" check box will appear. Make sure that it is checked off and then select “Publish eBook.”
Once the pre-order is set up, readers will be able to purchase your book prior to its release! The book will then automatically be added to their reading library on the release date.
Pre-order tips:
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If possible, upload the final file for your book when setting up your pre-order. If you're unable to upload the full file, you can submit a placeholder file. Please be sure to upload the final file at least 3 business days prior to the release date.
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All books available in our store (pre-orders included) have a preview automatically made available for the first 5% of the file. If you would like to disable the preview, contact us. When you want to enable the preview, you will need to reach out again.
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Pre-orders cannot be set to be free. While books can be made available for free in our store, this is not available when you set up your book for pre-order. Why not try to generate a few early sales as a pre-order and then mark your book as free as a promotion later?
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When making changes to a preorder, please double check the release date on the Publish your eBook step as it may get reset.
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Start promoting your book! This is the best time to start ramping up attention for your book!
Editing your Content:
After your eBook has been successfully published to the Kobo Store, you can edit its information at any time. For more information, please see our How do I make a change to my book after it is published? article.
Volume Replacement Request:
Sometimes you may need to update an already published book, or a pre-order might have gone live before the final file is ready. This can result in readers who have previously purchased your book having an outdated or incorrect version. After you upload the updated file, only new readers will receive the latest version. Readers that have already received an earlier version will not receive the new file. Anyone who has already purchased the book will keep the version that was available in the store at the time of purchase.
However, we do have the option of submitting a volume replacement request, which will push the newest version out to the libraries of customers' that have previously purchased the book.
That being said, we don't usually recommend this, as it will override the current reading progress, bookmarks, highlights, notes, etc. for all users who purchased the previous version of your book.
If you would like to go forward with processing this request, please reach out to us at writinglife@kobo.com.