If choosing a specific day when your book will be available for purchase doesn’t matter to you, you can stop reading. Simply release your book whenever you like.
But many indie authors will answer ‘yes’ to one of these questions:
1. Is your book newsworthy, or do you want to take advantage of a date on the calendar such that you can use it to promote your book? Major and minor national holidays are examples.
2. Does your book need to be available for a specific event? Examples can be a class you are teaching, a birthday or anniversary, or a business event.
3. Do you have a personal preference for a specific date? You may not have an event planned, but the date has meaning. (Some people are particular about things like this, and we are here at AuthorImprints!).
If you said yes to one of these, you need to be aware that services like KDP and IngramSpark can take time to process books. This isn’t like posting something on social media where what you upload is immediately available—if you have a specific release date in mind, you will need to plan ahead.
Terminology: release date and pre-order
- Release date: The date your book can be ordered and delivered. If it’s an eBook, the purchase is delivered within the hour, while print books require shipping. (This is also often called the “live date.”)
- Pre-order: You cannot choose a specific date a book will be available for pre-order. You can submit the book to an online store or to IngramSpark on a specific date, but that just starts a process that can take days or weeks to complete.
Now we’ll share our experience meeting release dates—with and without pre-order—when using KDP for eBooks and print books, and/or using IngramSpark.
KDP eBooks and release/launch dates
Choosing a release date: The only way to choose a specific date is to use pre-order (see below). Otherwise, your Kindle eBook release date is whenever the book goes live, usually one to two days after uploading via KDP.
Pre-order: Use pre-order to select a release date, and make sure your final eBook file is uploaded at least three days before that date. Your release date can be selected up to one year in advance.
Pre-order for KDP Print books is not an option
Choosing a release date: Upload your book on the day you want it to show as released, or choose a day prior to that date, and that will be its release date.
Pre-order: Not available. You must use IngramSpark (or another service).
IngramSpark for pre-orders can take weeks, or more
You can choose any release date in the future, but we recommend that it be at least 30 days out. Why? Releasing a print book on IngramSpark—no matter if you care about pre-order—takes extra time! Consider this timeline:
1. Upload files to IngramSpark for file check process. There is no stated time, but we usually see this taking about a week, sometimes longer.
2. Review files and approve (if they have no issues). Ingram will now send the files to online stores. Note:
- Stores are free to accept or reject your book for inclusion in their store.
- Each store has its own timetable for showing your book available for pre-order
- You are not notified when a book is available in a store.
- You cannot exclude certain stores from carrying your book.
FAQs
Generally, we see books listed on Barnes & Noble the quickest. Amazon can take a week and often longer.
Officially, within three days. Also see the next question.
This is part of the process and happens most often with Amazon, and it is temporary. It is usually resolved in a couple of days.
- Upload your Kindle eBook for pre-order. This way, you can choose the specific date.
- When that date arrives, release your KDP print edition using the release date chosen in step one.
- Use KDP Schedule a Release.
Considering processing time and all the things that can go wrong, we recommend a minimum of 30 days in advance of the chosen release date. Six weeks is even better.
There are two points of time when you might want to announce your book: when it is available for pre-order (if you’ve chosen that route), and when it is live for purchase.
For both cases, we recommend waiting until the book is online and ready for pre-order or immediate sale. It can be tempting to send out an announcement as soon as you’ve submitted your files, but waiting until you can see your book in the store is the best way to make sure eager readers aren’t disappointed. (The added benefit of this is you will have a link to share on your website, in your newsletter, and on social media.)
