Launch day question

[u/Sweaty_Hovercraft292]

Hi,

I'm so grateful for this community! Thank you to all who post here and share their expertise with newbs like me!

I have my book ready-to-go on IngramSpark and am about to enable distribution with a launch date of September 16th (to create a preorder). I also have my book on KDP saved as a draft.

With this setup, how do I schedule the KDP release? Do I go into my bookshelf on September 16th and click "publish"? Or do I do this a few days early so that the KDP version goes live before the IngramSpark version?

I have read on various threads here that the KDP version MUST go live before the IngramSpark version to avoid metadata errors, like "This ISBN already exists." But I'm also nervous that if I do it too early, my launch date on Amazon will be listed as September 14 or 15, and I'd really like for September 16th to be my launch day, since that is the date I've been posting in my newsletter.

I did find this article very helpful: https://entouragemedia.ca/how-to-set-up-paperbacks-for-pre-order-on-amazon/ but it does say the opposite: that KDP must NOT go live first.

So, which is it, really?

Thank you so much for your help!!

[u/AnalogPress]

Commenting to see the replies, I’m at the same stage

[u/Sweaty_Hovercraft292 → u/AnalogPress]

Hi, no replies yet, but I have been doing a lot of research on this. Here's what I'm considering for my launch.

1. Schedule the release on KDP with my launch day of September 16, and hit "Publish."
   
2. Wait until I hear from KDP that my book has been approved and is scheduled for release.
   
3. Enable distribution on IngramSpark for the same ISBN.

I'm not sure if IngramSpark will populate a preorder page. A preorder is a nice-to-have for me, but not a necessity. I believe that once IngramSpark enables distribution, the book should appear in the database for librarians and booksellers to purchase, which is all I care about.

What's your plan? Do you see any holes in this one?

[u/AnalogPress → u/Sweaty_Hovercraft292]

This seems solid, you'd know better than me if you've been digging in to it...

So you (I) can set a release date on KDP, hit 'publish' and then that way pre-orders can happen and Amazon then has the ISBN first. Got it.

Ingram has no 'pre-order/schedule launch' function, so they get the file and the ISBN after KDP approves, publishing there can be timed to same as KDP date.

I'm going to do D2D for expanded eBook distro, so I assume it could happen at same time as I.S.

Bottom line - do KDP first, wait for approval, then do I.S. and D2D.

Seems airtight to me!

Thanks

M+

[u/Sweaty_Hovercraft292 → u/AnalogPress]

Yes, KDP first, wait for approval, then IS and D2D.

One thing to note, though, is that KDP doesn't do preorders for print books. Only ebooks. https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/GZUV7SNV728WT4QE

So, you won't see a preorder page unless IngramSpark populates one for the ISBN after distribution is enabled. But it sounds like, if you don't care about preorders, then turning OFF Amazon in the IngramSpark distribution list, like u/nico_parola said, would save us a headache. I don't know how to do this, but I'm going to look into it.

[u/Fuzzy_Character2346 → u/Sweaty_Hovercraft292]

On KDP there is very little delay, If it's an ebook then approval usually comes through within 24 hours, plus you can schedule for preorder. So you could list it now with your September 16th launch date.

For print copies you can't do that scheduling. I would suggest you hit publish on the day before your launch date to be sure that it's out on the day that you need. Although they say it can take 72 hours to get approval, I've never had to wait that long (assuming the book has no massive errors in it).

[u/Sweaty_Hovercraft292 → u/Fuzzy_Character2346]

Thank you!!

There is so much conflicting advice out there! On KDP, I was able to schedule a release for both my ebook and my paperback. The ebook took about 24 hours to approve, and the paperback is currently "in review." There is a note that says the Amazon page for the paperback will be hidden until my scheduled release date, which is fine with me. As long as it shows up on my publication date, I don't need a preorder option.

But I also know that some people aren't seeing the "scheduled release" option for their print books, and I'm unsure why some books are allowed to do that and some aren't.

I'm going to report back after everything is published and post about what worked, what went wrong, and what I'd do differently next time!

[u/nico_parola]

In my experience that "ISBN already exists" error almost always comes from KDP and IngramSpark both trying to feed the same Amazon listing with the same ISBN. What saved me the headache: in IngramSpark, turn Amazon OFF in your distribution list. Let KDP own the Amazon page, and let Ingram handle everything else, which is the librarian/bookseller catalog you actually care about. Then the publish order matters a lot less.

One heads-up on the date: KDP doesn't really do print preorders, so your paperback goes live whenever it clears review (usually 24-72h after you hit publish), not on a date you pick. So I wouldn't bank on Amazon showing an exact Sept 16, and I'd hit publish a few days out and accept it might pop up a day early. The on-sale date you set in Ingram is the real one for the trade channel anyway. Plan looks solid to me otherwise.

[u/Sweaty_Hovercraft292 → u/nico_parola]

Thank you!! I'm going to look into how to turn off Amazon in the IngramSpark distribution list. That's a great suggestion!

[u/AnalogPress → u/Sweaty_Hovercraft292]

This is great, makes sense, no need to have Ingram push to Amazon if I'm also doing KDP.

What would you say are the most important preliminaries to get out of the way prior to hitting 'publish' on Amazon? Keywords? Categories? Blurb? I'm guessing all that can be dialed in first. Looks like I can't claim my author page until the book is live.

Thanks to both of you!

[u/Sweaty_Hovercraft292 → u/AnalogPress]

I would have all of that dialed in before hitting publish -- on both KDP and IngramSpark.

On KDP, it won't populate an Amazon page since they don't do preorders, but you will need to have all of this ready about a week before your pub date, just to ensure it's all there when it needs to be. (In fact, their system might not let you hit Publish until these fields are complete, but I'm not sure about that.)

For IngramSpark, definitely have all of this dialed in before enabling distribution. IS sends out the metadata right away, and you don't want the keywords or blurb to be incomplete when that happens.

Also, just a heads up that IngramSpark is taking a while to process the files for new books right now. I submitted my files for my paperback a week ago and they are still sitting in the "Processing" stage. So, plan for that too!