After you’ve approved all of your book proofs (for print and eBook, if applicable) and the files are finalized, BookBaby will send your digital files and metadata to our entire retail store network, including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Powell’s, Books-A-Million, and the Ingram and Baker & Taylor catalogs.
This is when the critical part of your pre-sales period really starts and when the work you’ve put into getting everything set up for your book pays off.
The first thing you will want to do is find your book at the 3rd party retailers.
For Print On Demand (POD) titles, you can expect to see your title appear for pre-sale in about 1-3 weeks after you receive your shipping email for your author copies of your book.
To find your book at any major retailer:
- Use the search function on the retailer’s website and enter the ISBN Number for your book.
- When you locate the sales page for your book you can copy the web address for the sales page and keep it safe – this is a way you can send your followers directly to your book without getting lost or sidetracked to preorder your book.
- If the page is not finished, keep checking back. It usually takes the partners a few days to fully load the listing with cover artwork, metadata, etc. so there is nothing to worry about if at first it looks incomplete.
For eBooks, the amount of time for the presale to start varies by website.
Here are the expected time frames you can expect to see your title go live on the various eBook retail partners:
- Amazon Kindle: Your eBook should be up for sale in approximately 2-4 business days from when we deliver to them.
- iBooks: Your eBook should be up for sale in approximately 1-2 weeks from when we deliver to them.
- Barnes & Noble: Your eBook should be up for sale in approximately 2-4 weeks from when we deliver to them.
- Kobo: Your eBook should be up for sale in approximately 2-3 weeks from when we deliver to them.
- Copia: Your eBook should be up for sale in approximately 3-4 weeks from when we deliver to them.
- Gardners: Your eBook should be up for sale in approximately 3-4 weeks from when we deliver to them.
- Baker & Taylor: Your eBook should be up for sale in approximately 2-3 weeks from when we deliver to them.
- eSentral: Your eBooks should be up for sale in approximately 3-4 weeks from when we deliver to them.
- Scribd: Your eBook should be up for sale in approximately 2-3 weeks from when we deliver to them.
- Ciando: Your eBook should be up for sale in approximately 2-3 weeks from when we deliver to them.
- ePubDirect: Your eBook should be up for sale in approximately 3-4 weeks from when we deliver to them.
- Vearsa: Your eBook should be up for sale in approximately 3-4 weeks from when we deliver to them.
Each retailer operates on a different schedule and will vary by a few days either way. You can use this as a general reference guide for that average time it takes for your eBook being available for sale.
Your pre-sale lasts as long as you set it for in the account when approving your proofs, for more information on the pre-sale, see our FAQ: http://support.bookbaby.com/hc/en-us/articles/213641527-What-is-the-POD-pre-sales-window-and-how-does-it-work-