The Power of Pre-Order: A Promotional Plug

In the publishing world, pre-orders are a key tool for alerting retailers, consumers, and critics that a forthcoming book warrants their attention. Strong pre-order numbers can lead to retailers increasing their initial stock, precluding situations when authors are trying to ride the initial wave of on-sale date buzz, only to crash on a barren “sold out” shingle. Pre-order buzz can also ripple outward throughout the broader publishing biome, alerting other denizens in the creative sea of a worthy new addition, perhaps generating increased sales, perhaps generating favorable press, perhaps expanding the number of outlets carrying the work on its on-sale date and beyond.

My next book, Ubulembu and Other Stories (Unleash Press, Columbus, Ohio) has an on-sale date of August 1 for its print edition, and September 1 for its eBook edition. This puts me within the crucial 90-day window when pre-orders can have the most significant impact on the book’s early reach and success. I would be most grateful, accordingly, to those who read my piffle and tripe here, and who might also like to read it elsewhere, if you would be willing to reserve your copy of Ubulembu now, at the retail outlet of your own choosing. It’s a good one, I promise. I’m most proud of this project, and would love to see it land with a big splash when its time is nigh.

I’ve provided the pre-order links for Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Bookshop, and Unleash Press’ Bookstore below Ubulembu’s cover (which I love!), to make it easy peasy for you to pre-nab your pre-copy. (Note that as the book goes through final formatting and stocking, there may be brief points where the pre-order option shuts down for a few days on some platforms, so do keep trying, if you encounter that situation). The book’s acknowledgment appendix contains a heartfelt appreciation for so many of you who have offered so much encouragement and engagement here for so long, and your support of Ubulembu‘s pre-order campaign would just be one more reason for me to be grateful to you all. Thanks in advance, and do feel free to share within your own circuits as well, should you be willing to do so.