Preorder bonuses for a nonfiction book: what to offer and the rules
A preorder bonus is something extra you give readers who buy before launch day. No bookstore runs it for you: readers send proof of their order, and you send the bonus. Done well, it gives people a reason to buy now instead of meaning to buy later. Here is what to offer, how to collect proof, how to deliver it on a free email plan, and the review rules you must not cross. For how preorders themselves work on KDP and IngramSpark, see how book preorders work.
What to offer
The best nonfiction bonuses help the reader do what the book teaches. A good test has three parts: it is useful only alongside the book, it costs you almost nothing per extra reader, and you can deliver it by email. Most authors already have the material, because it is the work that sits behind the book.
| Bonus | What it costs you | Works best when | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Workbook or worksheets | Design time once; nothing per reader | The book asks readers to do exercises | Keep it a companion, not a second book |
| Templates and checklists | Time to clean up files you already use | You teach a process people repeat at work | Remove client names and anything confidential |
| Bonus chapter or case study | Editing a section cut from the manuscript | Good material was cut for length | If it was cut for quality, it is not a bonus |
| Live group session | An hour or two of your time, after launch | Readers want to ask you questions | Fix the date and time before you announce it |
| Recorded talk or interview | A recording you already have | You speak on the book's topic | Check you have the rights to share it |
| Signed bookplate | Printing and postage per reader | Your readers value a signed copy | Postage grows with every order |
Our own comparison, not a survey. Costs depend on what you already have.
Three bonuses to avoid. A discount on your own services can look like the book is a sales brochure; offer it later, to readers who ask. A draw where one buyer wins something brings in contest rules that vary by place; giving every buyer the same bonus avoids that. And anything that depends on the reader leaving a review is off limits, as the rules section explains.
Pick one main bonus, or two at most. A list of seven small extras reads as filler, and each one is something you have to finish before launch.
How readers prove a preorder
The standard method is a receipt form: a short form on your book page where readers enter what they bought and where. Ask for the least you need:
- Name and email address, so you can send the bonus.
- Retailer and format, chosen from a list (Amazon Kindle, hardcover, a local bookstore, audiobook).
- Order number, or a screenshot of the order confirmation.
- A separate, unticked box for joining your newsletter. Getting the bonus should not depend on it.
You cannot check an order number against a retailer's records, so a receipt form is an honor system. That is fine. The bonus costs you little, and anyone who takes the trouble to claim it is interested in the book. Say on the form that the offer is for preorders, and give a closing date, usually launch day or a few days after.
If you ask for screenshots, tell readers to crop out their address and payment details, and delete the files once the bonus is sent. Google Forms can collect uploads, but its help page says respondents must sign in to a Google Account to answer a file upload question, which stops some readers. An order number field, or an email address readers can forward their confirmation to, avoids that.
For bulk orders from a company or event, skip the form. Ask the buyer how they want the bonus shared and send it to them directly.
Delivering the bonus
The simplest delivery is an email with a link to the file or the session details. A free email plan is enough for most launches, as long as you check its limits against how many people may claim.
| Service | Free plan | For bonus delivery |
|---|---|---|
| Kit | Up to 10,000 subscribers; unlimited forms, landing pages and broadcasts | Kit's help page describes a form's confirmation email delivering a file after the subscriber clicks to confirm. Email sequences and visual automations are paid. |
| MailerLite | 250 subscribers, 2,500 emails a month | Free plan includes automations (3 active), signup forms and a landing page, so a form can trigger a delivery email. |
| Mailchimp | 250 contacts; 500 sends a month or 250 a day | Marketing automation flows are not included on Free, so you would send the bonus email yourself. |
Checked October 27, 2026 on each provider's own page. Free plans change; check before you build.
Do the arithmetic. If 300 people claim the bonus, you are past MailerLite's and Mailchimp's 250-contact free limits, but well inside Kit's. If you already use an email tool for your business, use that.
A few delivery habits that save trouble:
- Send immediately, or say exactly when it will arrive. "Bonuses go out on launch day" is fine if you say it on the form.
- Host files somewhere you control, such as a page on your own site, so you can fix a typo without resending.
- Send live-session reminders the week before and the day of, with the time zone written out.
- Keep the bonus email to the bonus. Under the FTC's CAN-SPAM compliance guide, a commercial email needs a postal address and an opt-out, and the exemption for transactional messages is read narrowly. Your email tool adds the footer; leave it in.
Readers who ticked the newsletter box are the start of the list you will write to after launch. Keeping readers with an author newsletter covers what to send them.
The Amazon and FTC rules
A preorder bonus is a reward for buying. It must never be a reward for reviewing.
Amazon's community guidelines list, under what customers are not allowed to do: "Create, edit, or remove a review in exchange for compensation". The compensation they name includes discounts, products and services. A bonus workbook is a product. So never write "preorder and post a review to get the bonus", and never send the bonus only to people who reviewed. The same guidelines say a review must not be posted for a product before it has been delivered, so preorder readers cannot review until the book arrives anyway.
The FTC's rule on consumer reviews, in effect since October 21, 2024, does not ban every incentive for a review. Its questions and answers page says the rule allows incentives for reviews as long as there is no "express or implied requirement that the reviews have to express a particular sentiment". Amazon's guidelines are stricter, so on Amazon, the safe line is no incentive tied to any review at all.
The FTC's Endorsement Guides FAQ adds two points that matter when you later ask preorder readers for honest reviews: people who received something free should disclose it, and asking only the customers you expect to be happy can be misleading if it skews the reviews. If someone got a free advance copy as well as the bonus, ask them to mention the free copy. Advance readers and honest reviews covers how to ask.
ftc.gov has been unreliable: on October 21 and again on October 27, 2026 it returned errors for every page, including its home page, to some of our checks. The pages quoted here loaded for us on October 27. If a link fails, try again later.
One more rule is your own: deliver what you promised, when you promised it. A bonus that arrives late, or a live session that is cancelled, costs you more goodwill than having no bonus.
Examples
Scribe Media's published success stories do not describe a preorder bonus campaign, so we do not quote one. One shows what an invitation to time with the author can do. Eddy Arriola's launch for It's All About Relationships was a signing at an independent bookstore in Miami, and his story reports it as "Sold Out", "175 launch seats gone in under an hour". That is one author's result with an existing network, not a typical one, and it was a launch event, not a preorder bonus. It does show the pull of a seat in the room, which is what a live-session bonus offers. For running an event, see planning a launch event.
An illustration, not a real author: a finance consultant writing a book on cash flow offers preorder buyers the 13-week cash forecast spreadsheet the book walks through, plus a one-hour group question session two weeks after launch. The spreadsheet costs nothing per reader. The session is one hour, booked before the offer is announced.
A bonus plan by week
- Before the preorder opens: choose the bonus, finish it, and set up the form and delivery email. Test the whole path with a friend.
- When the preorder opens: add the offer to your book page and announce it in your launch emails, with the closing date.
- Through the preorder period: mention the bonus in podcast interviews, talks and personal notes. Answer every question about it.
- Launch week: send a last reminder before the closing date, then close the form.
- After launch: run the live session if you offered one, delete any receipt screenshots, and write to the readers who opted in.
The launch planner dates the preorder and email steps for your launch. Scribe Media makes this site and sells book publishing and marketing services; if you would like help planning a launch, book a free consult.
Common questions
What is a book preorder bonus?
Something extra an author gives to readers who buy the book before launch day, such as a workbook, a bonus chapter or a seat at a live session. The retailer does not deliver it. The reader sends proof of the order through a form, and the author sends the bonus.
What are good preorder incentives for a nonfiction book?
Things that help the reader use the book and cost you little per person: a workbook or worksheets, templates and checklists, a chapter or case study that did not make the final cut, or a group question-and-answer session after launch. Avoid anything tied to leaving a review.
Do you get preorder bonuses on Amazon?
Not from Amazon. When an author offers a bonus, the author runs it: you buy the book wherever you like, then send your order number or receipt to the author's form. Amazon's own pages say nothing about delivering author bonuses.
Why preorder a book?
For the reader, the book arrives on release day without having to remember it, and some authors add a bonus. For a Kindle author, KDP says preorders count toward sales rank and Kindle Store merchandising before release.
Is it cheaper to preorder a book?
On Kindle it can be. KDP's preorder pricing page says that if the author lowers the price, Amazon retroactively charges the lower price to customers who already preordered, and if the author raises it, prior customers pay the lower price. Other stores set their own policies.
Sources, checked October 27, 2026: Amazon community guidelines; FTC Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule Q&A, Endorsement Guides FAQ and CAN-SPAM compliance guide; KDP preorder pricing and preorders; Google Forms file upload; Kit free plan and confirmation email; MailerLite pricing; Mailchimp pricing; Scribe Media success stories linked above. Published by Scribe Media.