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.
- Distribution Setup & Verification: The distribution team uploads and approves your book files and metadata with the distributor(s).
1–2 Weeks After Approval
-
First Listings Go Live: Your book becomes available to online retailers, with eBooks and Enhanced Amazon paperbacks/hardcovers (if applicable) appearing first.
-
Notes on Amazon.ca Listings:
- Paperback and hardcover titles distributed through Ingram are listed on Amazon.ca indirectly via Amazon.com, which may result in Canadian shipping timelines of 1–2 months or the book showing as “out of stock”.
- Paperback titles distributed via Enhanced Amazon/KDP usually appear on Amazon.ca within 72 hours.
- Hardcover titles distributed via Enhanced Amazon/KDP can take up to 30 days to appear in stock on Amazon.ca
- 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.
-
Notes on Amazon.ca Listings:
1–3 Weeks After Approval
-
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.