Your book is about to be published and will soon be available through online retailers—an exciting step in your journey as an author! However, it can take a bit of time for your book to make its way fully into the world. Here’s what to expect while you wait for it to appear across different platforms.
Timeline for Book Distribution
From Final Design Approval to Online Listings
Once your interior and cover designs are approved and pricing and categories are set, here’s the general timeline you can expect:
1 Week After Approval
- File Finalization: Our design team finalizes your files for distribution.
- File Upload: The distribution team uploads and approves your files with the distributor(s).
1–2 Weeks After Approval
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First Listings Go Live: Your book becomes available to online retailers, with eBooks and Enhanced Amazon paperbacks/hardcovers (if applicable) appearing first.
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Note on Amazon.ca Listings:
- Amazon.ca lists books via Amazon.com, meaning Canadian shipping times can range from 1–2 months or show as “out of stock.”
- Third-party resellers may list the book first, and may appear as the default seller until the book is sold by Amazon directly (where it says ships and sold by Amazon)
- The price will generally reflect the USD conversion rather than your the local currency price set in Octavo.
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Note on Amazon.ca Listings:
1–3 Weeks After Approval
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Additional Retailer Listings: Print editions appear on Amazon.com, Amazon.au, Amazon.co.uk, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, and Chapters Indigo, with most listings completed within this timeframe.
- Important Note on Listings: At this stage, some retailer sites may show incomplete information, such as missing descriptions or placeholder images instead of your book cover. This happens when retailer sites don’t fully capture metadata from the distributor right away.
- While it may be disappointing to see a generic cover image or missing details, these issues are almost always resolved within four weeks as systems sync up. Unfortunately, this synchronization is out of our control, so we appreciate your patience as the listings finalize.
5–6 Weeks After Approval
- Full Distribution Window: By the end of this timeframe, your book should appear on all intended retail sites. If any listings are incomplete, we can request a rebroadcast of your book’s metadata to help resolve the issue.
Tracking Your Book's Online Availability
Retail Links
You can track your book’s retail links as they become available in the Online Listings tab in Octavo.
Retailer Discretion
While we aim for your book to be listed widely, each retailer ultimately decides whether or not to list a given book.
Support for Listing Issues
As part of our Managed Distribution program, we are here to help if you encounter issues with any listings on expected retailers. Please just send us an email.
More Resources
For more insights on where your book will be sold, royalties, retailer availability, and other important details, check out our articles: Where will my book be sold? and The definitive guide to book distribution with Tellwell.