To Pre-Order, or Not to Pre-Order? That’s Quite the Question…

I’ve had a few people asking when Sworn will be available for pre-order on Amazon, so I thought I’d post an answer here. It’s actually a more complicated question than it seems, so I’ll post the short answer first, then the long answer for anyone interested in details.

Short answer: There probably won’t be Amazon pre-orders on Sworn. I’ll upload the file the evening before release day, and it should be available for purchase around midnight Eastern time (and definitely by the next morning on all retailers).

Long answer: This was a tough decision for me. There are distinct advantages to pre-orders. You guys would be able to buy as soon as you wanted, and the book has a longer period of time on “hot new release” best-seller lists. It’s convenient for you, and I know how exciting it is to receive the notification that a book has been delivered.

But I decided that getting the book to you as soon as possible was more important.

See, the way Amazon has things set up requires that we have the final version of the book (the one that will be delivered to you) uploaded ten days before the official release date. It makes sense on their end, as it allows them to know the product is in and properly set up well before they start charging people money.

But I needed that ten days. For me, that’s the difference between one last round of proof-reading or possibly delivering something with an extra typo or two. Or maybe it’s one week less for my beta readers, those wonderful volunteers who are currently poring over the pages looking for loose threads and errors, and who deserve as much time as I can give them.

Yes, I could have set the release date another ten days or two weeks back and pushed it into February. But you guys have waited long enough. I set the release date for the earliest day I could be sure I’d deliver my best work to you.

And in the highly unlikely event that something happens to prevent me submitting it on time (because of an act of God, alien abduction, moose-related injuries, etc.), I won’t be penalized by having my pre-order rights taken away for next year’s projects.

Is that a bit risky for me? Yep. The release date could slip people’s minds between now and the end of January. I could miss out on pre-order impulse buys. But the book will always be there, whenever you’re all ready for it. Whether you’re sitting with your finger hovering over the purchase button on the morning of the 29th, or whether you don’t remember until a week later, it’s going to be there for you.

And I can’t wait for you to see it.