After a fairly successful cover reveal for Sacred Tears: The Dance of Iris I went to my dashboard on the Ingramspark website (a distributor for books) and hit the good old “approve” button for distribution. My goal in that moment was to be able to set things up so I could grab my personal proof copies to verify the printing process goes off without a hitch. Now, the novel is set to not release until December 5th as I still have a number of moving parts on my end that I’m trying to hammer out. Yet, for some crazy reason my brain just did not comprehend what it would mean to “approve” my title in that moment.
I knew it would take some time for Ingramspark to advance my files through, so perhaps I just assumed I’d have more time. Then I got to thinking, “But what if it’s ready?” And boy am I glad I did!
I hop on over to Amazon and what am I greeted with?
The preorder is now live and kicking!
Now I knew that Ingram has a wide distribution network (a big part of the reason why I wanted to go with them), but as this whole process has been trial and error for me I had no clue how or if I even needed to link up an “author account” on Amazon. So off to google I go! It didn’t take long for me to find out that I did and then research how to set one up with them so that I could upload my own author bio and picture.
I then realized that my preorder was listed not only with Amazon, but on Barnes and Nobles and Kobo as well. Yet the thing that really gave me a good chuckle was seeing these:
It appears that my book is also available for preorder in Japan and France as well! I mean, sure, why not? Perhaps someone from there is looking to practice their English skills? And perhaps someday I will be able to afford the ability to officially have my work translated into those languages!
I also soon realized I needed to switch over my Goodreads account to attach to my book on there, because another interesting tidbit – Goodreads had me set as not only being the author of Sacred Tears: The Dance of Iris but also of some other random books including one on gardening!
I would like to go on the record right here and now and say no, I have not written a gardening book. I’ve not published anything outside of Sacred Tears for that matter. 😂 Thankfully I’ve finally been able to get that straightened out, though it did take a couple of days to get things to take properly.
Suffice to say with all of this I was woefully unprepared for the official preorder release and announcement.
Beyond that point I also discovered how little I truly understand about Ingramspark. I mean, I already knew I was basically fumbling around in the dark on that website, but still! I started receiving excited reports from some of my close friends about how they had just purchased their preorder copy of my book. I think to myself, “Oh wow! That’s awesome! I wonder if anyone else has ordered a copy?”
So I bounce my way on over to my author page with Ingramsparks only to discover, there were no sales records. That’s strange…Well, maybe if they ordered through Amazon I can see it there? Off to my Amazon Author account! Annnd again, nothing. Well that’s perplexing.
Some panicked researching and reaching out to fellow authors later and lo and behold I discover that preorders do not appear on Ingramspark until practically when the book is officially launched. Which is good to know so I don’t panic about these other sales going through, but also sucks because I now have to wait all the way until December to have any idea of my book launch is doing well or not. 🤦♀️ Nice little extra batch of anxiety for myself right there.
At this point, I am still intending to do a kickstarter side of things to come alongside my book launch starting in October. This will be where people can get special editions and signed copies of my book along with stickers, bookmarks, character art, and a lot of other really amazing goodies all themed around Sacred Tears: The Dance of Iris. I just really want a way to commemorate this debut. I’ve fought for this dream since I was eight-years-old. 27 years later and I’m finally getting to see the fruit! A kickstarter will be a great way that I can not only bring people extra special products, but it will also be a way to help put some money toward the editing process in complete the sequel in the Sacred Tears series.
Make sure to keep your eyes peeled on my YouTube channel as I will be releasing a video soon that shows off some (though not all) of the items that will be available through the kickstarter. Oh, I also want to note that even if you decide to purchase my book through the preorder and not the kickstarter you will still have an opportunity to obtain some of these items!
Overall, I feel like this preorder process (though chaotic) has gone fairly well. Now we’ll see how my nerves hold out on waiting for the official sales reports to come in a little under six months from now! 😅