A letter to my readers: Why pre-ordering books helps authors like me
Dear reader,
Have you read one of my other books and enjoyed it? Have you seen my posts about my next one, What July Knew, and liked the look of it, and thought that you might buy it when it comes out (in February 2023)?
Then I have a favour to ask.
Would you consider pre-ordering it, please?
Pre-ordering really helps me - and all authors - for a lot of reasons: it shows my publisher there's a lot of interest in the book, so they might give it a bigger marketing budget to find even more readers. It could also encourage booksellers to order more stock in advance of publication day, and means that online algorithms on sites like Amazon will promote it to more shoppers.
This book is a really big deal for me - in many ways more important than my previous two. It marks a change in direction for my writing and its success (or failure) will determine what happens next in my career. Covid lockdowns messed up the release of my second book, Keep Him Close - it is hard for a book to sell well when all the bookshops shut the week it comes out! This is my chance to make up for that.
I wrote this novel through lockdown and the rest of the pandemic, putting all my frustration and fear into the writing of it. I wrote it with a toddler at my ankles and a baby on my lap. I put everything I had into it. I think it's my best book yet, and luckily my early readers agree. What July Knew is about a ten-year-old girl, July, who is trying to find out the truth about what happened to her mother, who died when she was small. It is set in 1995 with plenty of nostalgic 90s references. It's being billed as a moving family mystery about the secrets we keep to protect those we love.
The author Laura Kemp recently read an early copy and said: 'Stick What July Knew by Emily Koch on your TBR [to be read] pile - it's a beautiful coming of age story that will break you then make you as July navigates her quest to find out the truth about her mother. Outstanding. One for Joanna Cannon fans.'
It will be available in February in hardback, on Kindle and as an audiobook. If you would like to pre-order a copy, you can do so on Amazon, Waterstones or you can reserve one of a limited number of signed and personalised copies from my local independent bookshop in Bristol, Max Minerva’s.
In fact, you should be able to pre-order it from any bookshop! Either through their website or by popping in and speaking to them.
Thanks for reading this, and thanks for all your support. If you have any friends who you know have enjoyed my books in the past, I would love it if you could pass this information on to them, too.
Emily x
