I just pre-ordered 10 copies. Seems like the most cost effective way to help that I’ve seen in a long time. (Though yes I’m also going to try to distribute my copies.)
I think that’s what they meant you should not do when they said [edit to add: directly quoting a now-modified part of the footnote] “Bulk preorders don’t count, and in fact hurt.”
My guess is that “I’m excited and want a few for my friends and family!” is fine if it’s happening naturally, and that “I’ll buy a large number to pump up the sales” just gets filtered out. But it’s hard to say; the people who compile best-seller lists are presumably intentionally opaque about this. I wouldn’t sweat it too much as long as you’re not trying to game it.
Edit: this comment seems to be incorrect; see comments.
They did not say that, on my reading? The footnote about bulk preorders says
Bulk preorders don’t count. The people who compile bestseller lists distinguish and discount bulk preorders.
Which I read as semantically equivalent to “bulk preorders neither help nor hurt” with an implicit “so don’t do a bulk preorder solely for the sake of making the numbers better, but other reasons are acceptable.”
I just pre-ordered 10 copies. Seems like the most cost effective way to help that I’ve seen in a long time. (Though yes I’m also going to try to distribute my copies.)
I think that’s what they meant you should not do when they said [edit to add: directly quoting a now-modified part of the footnote] “Bulk preorders don’t count, and in fact hurt.”
Oops ok then i guess i will cancel my order
My guess is that “I’m excited and want a few for my friends and family!” is fine if it’s happening naturally, and that “I’ll buy a large number to pump up the sales” just gets filtered out. But it’s hard to say; the people who compile best-seller lists are presumably intentionally opaque about this. I wouldn’t sweat it too much as long as you’re not trying to game it.
Edit: this comment seems to be incorrect; see comments.
They did not say that, on my reading? The footnote about bulk preorders says
Which I read as semantically equivalent to “bulk preorders neither help nor hurt” with an implicit “so don’t do a bulk preorder solely for the sake of making the numbers better, but other reasons are acceptable.”
They edited the text. It was an exact quote from the earlier text.