Hosting a Pre-Sale for Signed Copies of Your Paperback

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Self-publishing a high-quality book requires an investment. The cost of professional editing, formatting, and cover design adds up, in addition to your marketing budget for your launch and expenses to build your author platform. One way to offset some of your publishing investment is to host a pre-sale for signed copies of your paperback once your files are uploaded to the printer, but before you turn on distribution and launch your book via online retailers.  

The idea is that you’ll purchase your author copies at the wholesale rate directly from your print-on-demand printer (I recommend IngramSpark for this since you can order wholesale author copies before turning on distribution) and resell them to your friends, family, mailing list, and social media community at the retail rate, which allows you to keep the difference in profits.

Let’s say, hypothetically, that your paperback costs you approximately $4 per copy to print. While you’ll have to pay for shipping to receive your author copies from the printer, you’ll still make a nice profit when you resell it for the retail price at your own efforts (e.g., website, social media, mailing list, live events).

So, if your retail price were set at $16, and after including your shipping costs to receive the books, that brings your price per copy from $4 to $6, you’re still making $10 per copy for every pre-order you receive. If you received 100 pre-orders, that would net you approximately $1,000! Even if you sold half of that and brought in 50 pre-orders, that’s still $500 that you’d have upfront, which would fund your initial book order, and leave a nice profit.

You’re probably wondering: what about the cost to then ship the signed copies of my book to my customers?

Well, you have two options: 

1. You can calculate shipping for each order and ask the customer to pay the shipping cost. This is not what I recommend because many people have a Prime membership with Amazon, so they may decide to instead wait until the book is available via online retailers to purchase a copy. While you’ll still earn income when your paperback is purchased online, usually, the royalty you’ll receive for online orders is far less than the profits you’ll retain through selling copies from your own inventory.

2. Add a few dollars to your regular retail price and tell your customers that the pre-sale price includes tax and shipping (what I recommend). The extra dollars you’ve added will cover that, plus any sales tax you may owe to your state (you’ll need to talk to your tax professional about collecting and paying sales tax in your state). 

Tips for Success:

  • Be sure your final interior and cover files are uploaded and approved by your print-on-demand printer and that you’ve ordered at least one printed copy to review before you begin your pre-sale.

  • You’ll need a way to collect the funds and shipping addresses from your customers. This can easily be done by creating a PayPal button (you can either embed the HTML code on your website wherever you’d like the button to appear, or you may opt to share the button’s link directly). When creating your button, be sure to tick the box where you’ll require the shipping address for purchase. You’ll also need a PayPal Business account for this, if you don’t already have one.

  • When you share your pre-order, you’ll want to include a photo of the book’s cover, the blurb/description, and the pre-sale information. Here’s some sample text you’re welcome to use:

I’m now accepting pre-orders for signed copies of my upcoming book, [insert title], for a flat rate of $__. This price includes tax and shipping within the continental US. Please contact me for international orders: [insert email address].

All pre-orders will be shipped on publication day, tentatively scheduled for [insert launch date]. Please allow 5-7 days for delivery once shipped.

Learn more: [insert shortened book blurb]

Pre-order your copy here: [insert payment link]

Some authors include a free gift to make the pre-sale even more enticing. This can be something as simple as a bookmark, pen, or handmade gift.

Success Tip: If you’re only including the book inside the package and nothing more, consider using the Media Mail option available via USPS to reduce shipping costs.

Create a finite time for your pre-order since most people will wait until the last minute to order. I usually recommend running a pre-sale for 7-10 days, and sending out and posting several reminders in the days leading up to the pre-sale’s close.

Once you close your pre-sale, you’ll know exactly how many author copies to order, and you’ll have the funds available for your first book order, plus a nice profit.

Be sure to allow ample time for printing and shipping to receive your author copies from the printer and to allow time to sign and package the books for your customers. You should have your orders signed, packaged, and ready to go by publication day, so it’s a good idea to launch your pre-sale for signed copies a few weeks before your paperback goes live via online retailers.