Today, I learned a thing. I was not very happy to learn this thing. See, it turns out that when you grab a book that’s been put out ahead of the release date, the sale doesn’t count towards that (fairly important) first week sales metric. I just googled it for something to link and easily found a bunch of people talking about it.
When I see a store put out books before release date, half of me thrills, but the other half wilts. Books sold then don’t count for week 1.
— Victoria/V.E. Schwab (@veschwab) February 20, 2016
And yes, you caught me….
Oh hey, look what @WstonesWakey had today… HAD. They only had one on the shelves and now it is mine… @veschwab pic.twitter.com/Yl9205uPl5
— Nikki (@shanaqui) February 19, 2016
So. Time to fix this a bit.
Instead of using The Book Depository as usual, I will pre-order two copies of A Gathering of Shadows and then mail them out myself when the giveaway is over. So you can be absolutely sure these will count, and if the Post Office ships to you, you can enter. I will end it at the end of February, so people aren’t waiting too long for their copies.
Now, I did include some options for extra entries by following my blog, etc, but the main way is via that tweet, and you can do that once per day.
So what’re you waiting for?!
I always assumed that if a seller has the book and I buy it, then the sales count even if selling ahead of due date. Huh. I’ve had a few arrive early from Amazon through the last few years. Useful to know this, thanks!
Yeah, I assumed it must count, but nope! Total shame.
I didn’t realize this…thank you for sharing! Also, thanks for the absolutely amazing giveaway!
Kelly recently posted…Blog Tour: Kingdom of Ashes by Rhiannon Thomas – Review and Giveaway!
Yeah, I had no idea either! I knew first week sales were important, but I assumed even pre-sales would count. And you’re very welcome for the giveaway.
Hmm, does this happen often where you are? I never see books put out ahead of release, could be my stores just stick to the given dates. But yay, that’s so nice of you to do a giveaway 🙂
Some books have a strict embargo on them, but when they don’t, up to a week early is reasonably common. And I think I saw some ahead of release in Belgium by quite a bit.