Smashwords opens preorder sales to indie authors

Here's a quiet fact buried in Draft2Digital's announcement this week: fewer than 20% of its 300,000-plus authors bother with preorders at all. That's the real headline, not the new button on the Smashwords store.

As of September 29, Smashwords — Draft2Digital's retail subsidiary — now accepts customer preorders for the first time. Readers can reserve a copy, their card isn't charged until release day, and every accumulated order lands on the book's sales rank all at once. That concentration is the point: a pile of preorders converting on one day tells the Smashwords algorithm this book matters, and pushes it in front of more shoppers exactly when it counts.

You can list a preorder up to 12 months out. And you don't need a finished book to do it — Smashwords, along with Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo, all accept "assetless" preorders, meaning you can list the title before your manuscript or cover exists. The only rule: final assets need to be uploaded at least 10 business days before release. That's a generous window to keep a preorder open and building momentum while you're still finishing edits or waiting on your cover artist.

There's a second, sharper tool here too: Smashwords Presales. Unlike a preorder, a presale gives your most enthusiastic readers early access — they can buy, read, and review before the public release. That's different math. Presales require a finished manuscript and cover, since readers get the book immediately. But they come with a bonus most authors overlook: you can offer a discount in exchange for an email address, and that email capture only works during the presale window. If you've been meaning to grow your newsletter list, this is a built-in reason for readers to hand over their address.

What this means for you: if you're already distributing through Draft2Digital, you have three tools now instead of one — standard preorder, assetless preorder, and Smashwords Presale — and Draft2Digital's own data says preorder titles simply sell better than day-of uploads.

What to do this week: pull up your next unreleased title and set a preorder date, even if your cover isn't final. If you've got a book close to done, consider running a Smashwords Presale instead, and build a discount-for-email offer around it. Either way, stop uploading books cold on release day — the tool to fix that just landed, and it costs you nothing but a few minutes of setup.