Important:
- Google Play Partners can sell eBooks and audiobooks in certain countries/regions. The features described here aren't available in every country/region.
- Due to regulatory requirements, Google can't offer pre-orders in India. Your book will be available in the Google Play Store in India on the release date.
- Pre-orders allow customers to order, but not read, your book before its release date. On the release date, customers who pre-ordered your book are charged for the purchase and they gain access to the book.
- Before you upload any files, make sure that your content meets Google's guidelines. If you plan to sell your books on Google Play, review our publisher content policies for books on Google Play.
- Analytics charts and sales transaction reports use the date the customer placed the pre-order, so that you can measure customer anticipation level. Revenue shown in such orders isn't paid to you until the book is released. For a financial report that matches your payment, go to Google Play earnings reports.
How to enable pre-orders
A book is eligible for pre-order sales if you specify a future release date up to two years in advance and select Yes under 'Allow pre-orders'. You can provide a release date on the Metadata/Book info tab. You can also use a spreadsheet.
If you don’t want your book to go on pre-order, select No under 'Allow pre-orders.' Your book will first become available for sale on the release date as long as all other required data is available.
Tip: This setting doesn't affect your eBook's preview availability on Google Books.
To adjust Google Books preview:
- Sign in to the Partner Centre.
- On the left, select Book catalogue.
- Select the title where you want to make the change.
- On the left, select Book info
Settings
- Under 'Allow preview before release date', select No.
Settings Pre-order eligibility
- Content is not required to enable a book for pre-order sales unless your release date is within seven days.
- Content is required three days before the release date. If content isn’t provided within three days, this may result in pre-orders being cancelled.
- Pre-orders can’t be created within three days of the release date. Release date will lock three days before.
- If you change a book's price after a customer pre-orders it, the customer will be charged the lower of the two prices when the book is delivered.
- Audiobooks require a cover image before it can be available for pre-order.
Status of pre-orders within your account and on Google Play
When your book is available for pre-order, its status displays as:
- 'Pre-order on Google Play' in your book catalogue.
- 'Your book is pre-orderable on Google Play' on the 'Summary' tab for the book.
- 'Pre-orderable on Google Play: [country list of available countries]' in spreadsheets.
When you view the book on Google Play, you'll find a Pre-order button with the price. Note that potential buyers won't have the option to read a sample of the book until the release date.
Pre-orders are tracked in your Google Play sales reports. There you can find out if a pre-order has been placed, fulfilled or cancelled. Because customers aren't charged for pre-orders until the release date, these purchases only appear in your earnings reports once the books have been digitally delivered to the customers.
Pre-orders are available at midnight local time for every eligible country or region.