Ebook distributor Draft2digital is warning indie authors to get their books in early if they want them to be on sale over the Christmas and New Year holiday period.
D2D says if you’re publishing new books or making changes, there could be delays and for best results you should submit your requests no later than Monday, December 11 to make sure they’ll be live by Christmas.
As Christmas falls on Monday this year, the D2D offices will be closed on Monday, December 25, and Tuesday, December 26. Normal office hours resume on Wednesday, December 27 but D2D’s offices will also be closed on Monday, January 1.
The firm expects that the flurry of pre-Christmas releases and the special holiday hours at partner stores will result in some delays, which is why it recommends submitting any changes or listing requests by December 11
It has received additional details directly from several of its partners:
Apple
Apple’s publishing systems will be experiencing delays from mid-December through early January. To help you in planning release dates:
- Release dates from December 17 to 31 have a delivery deadline of Monday, December 11.
- Release dates from January 1 to 8 have a delivery deadline of Friday, December 15.
All submissions must be submitted prior to midnight (PST) on the dates above.
Barnes & Noble
Book submissions and metadata changes supplied to Barnes & Noble from Draft2Digital are processed the next business day.
B&N will be closed on December 24 (1pm EST) and 25, and December 31 (1pm EST) through January 1.
No files will be processed during those windows and there will be no direct support. Also during this time and following this time you may experience review slowdowns as B&N deals with any backlog.
Kobo
Kobo will have limited support from December 18 through to January 8. It is asking that you only upload important and non-deferrable books or changes during that time. Kobo’s publishing system will be down entirely from December 22 through December 27, and from December 29 until January 2. During this time D2D will not be able to submit any new books or changes. Draft2digital recommends getting everything to them by December 11.
Scribd
Scribd will have limited support over the break and support will be closed from December 25 through January 1.
Amazon
KDP Support will be closed on December 25 and January 1. To ensure against potential delays in file review and other processing, D2D recommends submitting your books before December 11.
Due to the volume of submissions during the holiday season Draft2digital expects other vendors will take longer than usual to implement changes and to publish new books but there are no confirmed or planned publishing delays.
Pre-orders scheduled during these periods will go live as expected, provided D2D gets the final manuscripts in and approved before the cut-off date of December 11. It highly recommends sending the final book earlier that week to make sure it gets through review.
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