UPDATE: 08/27/2018 – Createspace is in the midst of a merge with KDP. So the question is: “Can the same pre-order process be used with KDP since Createspace will not be around for long?” I’ve been monitoring a few books of some authors and so far the results are promising. I’m pretty close to being 100% behind recommending a similar process of setting up pre-orders using KDP instead of Createspace, but I need to run a couple more tests.
UPDATE: 12/13/2018 – The process that worked with Createspace ALSO works using KDP. Almost all the steps are completely the same. There are a few modifications to those steps which I’ve already updated within the article, so you can follow step-by-step and you’ll be good to go. Please refer to the end of this article for further information regarding the pre-order process with KDP.
UPDATE: 06/16/2019 – Amazon Advantage enrollment has been paused (but not closed). This does not affect individuals who already have active accounts, just those who try to open new accounts. Amazon’s reasoning for this is that they are making improvements to the registration process. Their explanation suggests that this is temporary. How long? Well, nobody but Amazon knows. To be notified when enrollment re-opens, Amazon suggests registering your eMail. You can register your eMail here.
Update (as of NOW): Amazon Advantage is “open” and enrollment has returned. Amazon will notify you if you are eligible for enrollment (after they review your information). Sign up here.
For years, as long as Amazon has existed or at least as far back as I can remember (which was around the time I published my first book in 2008), listing an unpublished book with a future publish date (for pre-order) was actually nothing new for a ‘select’ few on Amazon. It was a little ‘secret’ that Mainstream/Traditional (‘The Big 6’) Publishers, including some mid-size publishers and well-known in demand authors were using this technique.
However, Amazon still remains indifferent to officially introducing a straight forward pre-order process for print books and as a result there has been limited information on any specific strategy that could work. Prior to discovering a way to set up print books for pre-orders on Amazon, I was frustrated that the process was clearly not available for indie publishers. After noticing other folks in the indie book publishing community expressing their frustration as well, I decided to look into the process a bit more thoroughly.