After speaking with publishing houses, luckily, I was informed that you're officially allowed to discount the price on pre-orders. So this is, what I am doing this time to say thank you to my supporters. You can save 5 € by being an early bird.
Other good news is that I am also able to offer cheaper prices for people outside of Europe. I don't have to charge VAT any longer when selling to private individuals. VAT on books is only 7% in Germany, but with high shipping costs for world-wide shipping, it still saves a lot of money on the bill not to have to charge it. Great news for everyone outside of Europe, including Switzerland!
The pre-sale that I am offering has nothing to do with crowd funding. People asked me about crowd funding the book, but it's already printed (see here). No need to crowd fund it and you're not taking a risk by being one of the first to order it.
Another reason why I decided to offer a pre-sale is that I wanted to be able to handle the shipping in a shorter period of time. I am printing in a limited edition of 1,200 copies. At a certain point the book will be sold out – forever! Wrapping one to three copies per day for a period of nine months, is quite a dreadful process. Especially if you know what it is like to stand in line at a German post office. So, by receiving a pile of orders this time, it makes it easier for me to sign, wrap and ship the parcels.
When you pre-order you will not only make sure to receive a copy before it's sold out, you will also be among the first to hold my new book in your hands. These are all my very honest arguments, althoug I am aware it might sound like marketing talk to you.