From the Compost Heap header. A pencil style illustration of a compost heap with flowers and plants growing around it. A bee buzzes by and a white rabbit hops by.

Self Pub 101 (Preorders)

Coins at the bottom of a fountain

What platform will you use for preorders?

  • Your own website
  • Amazon or Barnes & Noble
  • Indiegogo or Kickstarter

Further Reading

Do release dates matter? by Kathleen Schmidt

Examples of preorder perks from traditionally published authors:

Brandon Sanderson Offers Art Print for Preorders

Robin Sloan offers Zines for Preorders

Crowdfunding Platforms

Indiegogo (flexible goal)

Kickstarter (all of nothing)

If you want to fund your print run with crowdfunding you’ll want to check out my Crowdfunding 101 course. I decided to break the crowdfunding out as a separate process because this may be helpful to creators who are funding projects beyond books. But it is rooted in my experience with taking preorders through Indiegogo.

Find it Crowdfunding 101 here.

Launch Team

The Crowdfunding 101 course includes a module about Launch Teams that is really applicable no matter how you take your preorders.

You can skip to that here.

Cross Pollinate 🐝