Big news in the self-publishing world, Kindle Direct Publishing will now allow you to schedule the publication date for your new books. This has been a key missing feature for KDP for so long, and now they finally have it.
From the email they sent publishers today:
We’re excited to announce that starting today, you have the option to decide when your book’s detail page becomes available to readers on Amazon for your KDP paperback and hardcover books. When creating a new print book, you’ll see an option to release your book now or schedule a release date. If you choose to schedule a release date, you’ll be able to select a date 5 to 90 days in the future for your book to go live on Amazon. On this date, the book’s detail page will become visible at 12:00 AM GMT for readers to purchase your KDP book on Amazon everywhere you have territory rights.
Scheduling your book’s release can help you:
- Gain control on timing. You decide when the Amazon detail page goes live to readers.
- Focus on marketing. By scheduling the release of your KDP book, you can spend the time before your book is available focused on engaging readers and marketing your book.
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After your book is scheduled for release, you can order author copies before it’s live. Standard author order timeframes apply.Please note, scheduling a release date is not the same as setting a preorder for your print title, which KDP doesn’t offer for print books at this time. To learn more about release date options, supported formats, and requirements, visit our Help page: ~https://kdp.amazon.com/help/topic/GZUV7SNV728WT4QE~
There’s a pretty big caveat at the end of the email there – they’re still not allowing pre-orders, which is annoying. But being able to upload the book, approve the proof, and schedule a publication date, where you can then plan your marketing around it, will be a huge help. You can also order proofs as well before the publication date.
If you want to have book pre-orders, though, then you’ll need to stick with IngramSpark, as this is one of their key benefits over KDP.
If you’d like to have a discussion about self-publishing your book on KDP or Ingram and what’s needed to make it happen, Great Lakes E-commerce can help you with that! We have years of experience publishing on self-publishing platforms. Get in touch!