Boosting Pre-orders
One of the most popular Jellybooks services is our pre-order program with bookshops and retailers.
Participating bookshops and retailers, such as Blackwell's, Foyles and The Guardian Bookshop, send out a monthly email newsletter featuring a curated list of upcoming releases, each accompanied by an early "sneak peek" preview sample. This has proven an immensely impactful format for encouraging pre-orders.
Books that receive a large number of pre-orders — and many do — usually go on to be featured in the retailer's "New Releases" email newsletter as well. They also receive more attention and shelf space from booksellers because strong pre-orders signal reader interest and demand.
The books being featured are standard releases without sprayed edges, fancy endpapers or similar. What sets them apart is that an early "sneak peek" sample is available, and it is this feature that has proven highly popular with readers.
You would not buy a house without inspecting it or buy a car without test driving it, so why buy a book without sampling it?
How Can Publishers Participate in the Pre-order Program?
This program is a complimentary feature of our DISCOVERY™ Light, DISCOVERY™ Professional and DISCOVERY™ Enterprise service tiers. There is no fee or additional charge for participating.
Jellybooks assembles a list of publisher nominations for each retailer to consider. The final choice and curation of each newsletter is controlled by the respective bookseller. Jellybooks cannot guarantee inclusion in any specific pre-order promotion.
Some pre-order programs, such as those with Blackwell's and Foyles, are generally restricted to independent publishers and specific categories of books, but early previews may also be used by these retailers in other emails outside this program.
From time to time, we also invite selected publishers to participate, although their participation is limited to a maximum of two books being featured. Thereafter, we ask them to enrol in one of the DISCOVERY™ tiers above.
Submitting Titles to the Preview Program
The necessary assets — ebook file, cover image and bibliographic data — have to be provided for each book nominated by a publisher for one of the preview programs. These can be submitted either through the digital asset distributor already set up for the publisher or through our publisher upload portal at www.jellybooks.com/discovery (registration requires an invitation from us).
There is no need to send us advance information (AI) sheets or similar.
The Pre-order Programs in Detail
Blackwell's
This is the oldest of our pre-order programs, having started in September 2025 and having been a great success for Blackwell's ever since.
The monthly newsletter featuring upcoming releases with previews is sent to over 150,000 subscribers.
The newsletter with exclusive previews is sent on the second Tuesday of every month — though there can be some seasonal variations — and features six fiction and six non-fiction books scheduled to be published in the following sixty days.
A big focus for Blackwell's is "intelligent nonfiction," especially history, politics, engineering, nature, medicine and similar subjects.
Fiction categories that are featured include literary fiction, literature in translation, historical fiction and crime novels.
Currently, only independent publishers are featured in the monthly newsletter prepared in partnership with Jellybooks. However, previews are also used by Blackwell's in its "New Releases," "Spotlight" and various solo emails for publishers of any size.
Publishers featured in the monthly Blackwell's pre-order newsletter include Akoya Publishing, And Other Stories, Bedford Square Publishers, Bitter Lemon Press, Bloomsbury, Calon, Canongate, Cassava Republic, Charco Press, Collective Ink, Daphne Press, Daunt Books Publishing, Dead Ink Press, Elliott & Thompson, Europa Editions, Faber & Faber, Fitzcarraldo Editions, Fly on the Wall Press, Galley Beggar Press, Granta, Guardian Faber, Honford Star, Hoxton Mini Press, Hurst Publishers, Indigo Books, Oneworld Publications, Orenda Books, Peirene Press, Pluto Press, Prototype Publishing, Pushkin Press, Salt Publishing, Saqi Books, September Publishing, Swift Press, Thames & Hudson, Verso and Wilton Square Books.
Foyles
Foyles is an eclectic retailer with its headquarters on Charing Cross Road and additional London bookshops at the Royal Festival Hall, Charing Cross station, and Stratford, as well as in Birmingham and Chelmsford. Like Blackwell's, it is a member of the Waterstones Booksellers Group.
A big focus for Foyles is literary fiction and fiction in translation, though each newsletter also features a handful of non-fiction books. Poetry submissions are also welcome.
Currently, only independent publishers are eligible to participate in the Foyles preview newsletter, but this can include indie publishers from Canada, the US, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and elsewhere.
Publishers featured in the monthly Foyles pre-order newsletter include Akoya Publishing, And Other Stories, Canongate, Cassava Republic, Charco Press, Daunt Books Publishing, Dead Ink Press, Europa Editions, Faber & Faber, Fitzcarraldo Editions, Granta, Honford Star, Oneworld Publications, Pluto Press, Verso and Wilton Square Books.
Guardian Bookshop
The Guardian Bookshop, operated by Monwell, is focused on books that are reviewed in The Guardian. If you are a publisher with an upcoming book review in The Guardian, make sure to harness this great pre-order opportunity too.
Publishers featured in the Guardian Bookshop's monthly pre-order newsletter include Faber & Faber, Guardian Faber, Pan Macmillan and Vintage.
Jellybooks continues to add more bookshops and retailers to the program, and we will add details on new joiners in due course.