Who will pre-order a book, from an Indie author, no less, if they can’t take a peek inside the text? Would you? Would I?

Some Indie authors received the news that Amazon now allows pre-orders on Kindle ebooks with optimism. Without previews, though, the pre-order capability rings hollow.

I decided to try out the pre-order feature as part of the promo campaign for my upcoming Shadow-7 episode 1 of the Tracking Jane series. I do like having a tangible link to show and knowing the exact date and time when by eBook will hit digital shelfs.

Beyond that, however, I’m not seeing much benefit. I’m guessing that’s because a preview (yes, I’ve offered one on my site, but it’s not the same as having it come through Amazon) my readers may be waiting to get a clearer idea of what they’re buying.

Other folks also point out that pre-orders may detract from sales rankings once the book goes live. The claim says that Amazon algorithms won’t count pre-orders. I’m not so sure. It would make more sense for pre-orders to register as day 1 sales. Would the ranking algorithms react more favorably if those sales spread over time? Maybe. Probably. I don’t know. I guess I’ll see soon enough.

I do know that without a preview feature, I’ll steer clear of pre-orders from now on.

By the way, if I’m missing something, a setting or checkbox, let me know. I have an email out to Amazon support to see what they suggest.