Welcome to Tuesday Book Chat. This is where we encourage book lovers to answer our bookish question of the week.
Today’s question is:
Do you pre-order books?
We look forward to hearing your thoughts. Please join in the conversation by commenting on this post or on the blog post shared in our Australasian Christian Writers Facebook Group.
Let’s chat!
Yes and no. I know not a good answer so I will explain. I will pre-order some books but normally only a short time before release date. It will depend on the author and cost and if I have the money in the form of ecard credit. The no is because I will switch between Amazon Australia and America and if I have pre-orders I can’t do this. Sometimes an author will have a free or heavily discounted book I want but it is only at the USA store. I also have credit at both places.
Currently I have 3 or 4 books on pre-order all releasing fairly soon. I have a limited budget and use gift cards for my Amazon purchases. If I have to many on pre-order I can’t keep track of how much I am spending.
Your turn.
I look forward to reading your comments here or at the FB group. Remember all comments go into the monthly drawer for a gift voucher.
For physical books, yes, but only for a very limited selection of authors. I’m more likely to pre-order an ebook, especially if the price is cheaper if you pre-order.
I don’t buy many physical books anymore but will occasionally do an ebook depending on the price and I tend to do it closer to the time of release.
I need to know what I am spending especially the ones that are around $4 – $5 due to the exchange rate. (some months have more bills than others or things come up think vet bill that I need to know how much money is going out everywhere)
For sure. I get that. I prefer to pre-order if it’s 99c or under two dollars on ebooks. Not likely to pre order an ebook if it’s more than that. I’ll wait until I have the time and money.
The physical book pre order is for my favourite authors because Koorong will often run out and I’m left waiting for them to order more, but I have a very short list of those.
Sometimes. There’s a US bookseller (Baker Book House) that does pre-orders for some traditional publishers that are 40% off and free shipping. I buy some of those for authors I want to support. If an e-book is on a deep pre-order discount, I will sometimes pre-order.
Oh, I’d love 40% off and free shipping! That would be nice.
Dienece book depository has free shipping to Australia. they sometimes give a 10% voucher
Thanks, Jenny. I used to order from them quite a bit, but I haven’t found them as competitively priced recently. Or maybe I’m just willing to order the ebook more these days instead. Getting Kindle has changed my shopping habits.
Dienece, I often compare print book prices, and I’ve found Booktopia can be more affordable if I’m buying multiple books in the one order. Booktopia have a flat delivery fee vs. Book Depository who include the postage cost in the price. Koorong has free delivery if you spend over a certain amount, and they do the percentage off sales as well.
Not really. I usually wait until I can get them on sale from Koorong.
I am that way with physical books unless its a sale and I order it and it goes on back order. I need to be able to tack my finances or what always happens in Nov happens. (vet bill, new glasses, specialist appointment and trip to Adelaide and a few annual bills, was fine til the new glasses and vet bill Thanks Henry).
Hi Jenny, I used to preorder print books, but after multiple print preorder cancellations I stopped doing it. Re. Ebooks – I preorder often, but only authors/series I know and trust will be good reads. I will sometimes impulse buy 99c preorders. I have cancelled preorders for series books if I lose interest in the series before the upcoming books in the series release.