Ep. 3044 - Q&A: “Why do authors offer pre-order bonuses?”
Side Hustle School
Chris Guillebeau / Onward Project
4.8 • 3.3K Ratings
🗓️ 2 May 2025
⏱️ 8 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Why do so many authors offer pre-order bonuses? In this episode, we explore whether these perks drive sales or just create extra work—and how to decide if they’re right for your book launch.
Side Hustle School features a new episode EVERY DAY, featuring detailed case studies of people who earn extra money without quitting their job. This year, the show includes free guided lessons and listener Q&A several days each week.
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Transcript
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| 1:02.4 | Got a question today from an author, or at least someone who's planning to release their first book. |
| 1:11.5 | So an author in the making, his name is Dylan. |
| 1:13.6 | He wants to know, why do so many authors offer pre-order bonuses? |
| 1:17.6 | And I know all about this, of course, because I write books. |
| 1:20.6 | And you may have encountered it as well if you follow authors on social media or if you're on their email list or you just kind of keep up with stuff, you notice that authors are |
| 1:28.1 | like, hey, I have a book out, buy my book and you'll get this pre-order bonus. And sometimes it's |
| 1:32.8 | something elaborate. Sometimes there are different tiers. You can purchase a whole bunch of books |
| 1:36.8 | and get a bunch of bonuses or you just buy one thing and get access to something. Why do authors |
| 1:41.6 | actually do that? They're not actually making much money from each copy of |
| 1:45.9 | the book that's sold, typically. It's often one to three dollars per copy of the book that's sold. |
... |
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