Pre-orders are sales that take place before a book’s publication date. During the title set-up process, you can make your title available for pre-orders by providing two important dates.
Publication date: This is the official release date of your book. We suggest making this date far enough in the future that you will have time to order a printed copy or proof and apply any revisions that arise from the proofing process.
On-sale date: This is the date your book is officially available for the public to buy. Retailers are not allowed to sell your book before this date. However, we cannot guarantee how booksellers will list your title. Ingram sends the metadata feed with all the information for your book, including on-sale and publication dates, to the distribution partners and retailers for them to list your title on their website. Prior to the on-sale date you may see retailer websites list your title as available for ordering with no mention of pre-orders.
Please note: Ingram uses the on-sale date to determine when to print and ship books to sellers. Several additional factors such as book type, current print volume, and ship-to location also help determine when books start printing and shipping. Books may print ahead of the on-sale date to help ensure inventory arrives to the retailer by the on-sale date. However, it’s the retailer’s responsibility not to sell units to their customers prior to the on-sale date.
If you remember one thing from this article, it's that your publication date and on-sale date should be the same date. For example, if your publication date is January 1st, your on-sale date should also be January 1st.
If you need to upload revised files for your book, please upload the final files and approve the eproof before adding distribution services. This will help avoid file processing delays. If you upload revised files 30 days prior to the on-sale date, there is a high risk your latest files will not be the ones printed and shipped.
You will not be able to edit your on-sale date 30 days prior to the on-sale date. Locking this date 30 days prior helps avoid lost sales. If you need to change the on-sale date you can contact your Client Services Representative.
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