Friday, 28 August 2026

How to setup Google Form for book pre-order promotion

Recommended flow

BOOK PROMOTION → GOOGLE FORM → PAYMENT → GOOGLE SHEET → CONFIRMATION → DELIVERY

For example:

PRE-ORDER — MY FIRST BOOK
Limited First Edition
Author: Borneo Rider

Pre-order your copy and be among the first readers to receive the book.


1. Create your Google Form

Go to Google Forms and select Blank form.

Give it a clear title, for example:

PRE-ORDER MY FIRST BOOK

Description:

Thank you for supporting my first book.

This form is for readers who would like to pre-order a copy of the book.

Please complete the information below. After submitting your order, please make payment according to the payment instructions provided.


2. Create Section 1 — Customer Information

Add these questions:

Full Name

Type: Short answer
Required: Yes

WhatsApp / Mobile Number

Type: Short answer
Required: Yes

This is important because you can contact the buyer regarding payment, delivery and collection.

Email Address

Type: Short answer
Required: No, unless you intend to send email confirmation.

Country

Type: Dropdown

Options:

  • Malaysia

  • Indonesia

  • Singapore

  • Brunei

  • Other


3. Section 2 — Book Order

Click Add section (+).

Title:

BOOK ORDER

Add:

How many copies would you like to pre-order?

Type: Dropdown

Example:

  • 1 copy

  • 2 copies

  • 3 copies

  • 4 copies

  • 5 copies

  • More than 5 copies

If you're offering different editions, add another question:

Edition

Type: Multiple choice

Example:

  • Standard Edition

  • Signed Edition

  • Limited Edition

You can change these according to your actual book promotion.


4. Add the price clearly

For example:

PRE-ORDER PRICE

Normal Price: RM50
Pre-order Price: RM40

Postage: RM10 within Malaysia

Total for 1 copy: RM50 including postage.

Don't rely on the buyer to calculate everything if possible.

For a professional launch, I would actually recommend creating separate order options:

OptionPrice
1 bookRM50
2 booksRM90
3 booksRM130
5 booksRM200

This can encourage multiple-copy purchases.


5. Section 3 — Delivery

Ask:

Delivery Method

Type: Multiple choice

  • Courier delivery

  • Self-collection

Then ask:

Delivery Address

Type: Paragraph

Required: Yes

You can write:

Please provide your complete delivery address, including postcode, city and state.

If you have several collection locations, add:

Self-Collection Location

  • Seremban

  • Kuala Lumpur

  • Kota Kinabalu

  • Lahad Datu

  • Other


6. Section 4 — Payment

This is very important.

Create a section called:

PAYMENT INFORMATION

For example:

Payment Method

Bank Transfer / DuitNow

Bank: XXXXX
Account Name: XXXXX
Account No.: XXXXX

Please make payment after completing your order.

Then ask:

Payment Method

  • Bank Transfer

  • DuitNow

  • Other

Amount Paid

Type: Short answer

Payment Reference

Type: Short answer

For example:

Enter the transaction/reference number shown on your banking application.


7. Payment receipt / proof

You can add:

Upload Payment Receipt

Type: File upload

This allows the customer to upload a screenshot/PDF of the payment.

Important: Google Forms may require respondents to sign in to a Google account for file uploads. If you want the ordering process to be as frictionless as possible, you can instead ask for the payment reference number and verify the payment yourself.

For a first-book promotion, I would probably start with payment reference + manual verification.


8. Add a declaration

At the end:

Order Confirmation

Type: Checkboxes

☐ I confirm that the information provided is correct and that I have read the pre-order/payment instructions.

Make it Required.


9. Create the confirmation message

Go to:

Settings → Presentation → Confirmation message

Use something like:

Thank you for your pre-order!

Your order has been successfully received.

We will verify your payment and contact you through WhatsApp/email to confirm your order.

Thank you for supporting my first book. Your support means a lot to me.

— Zulkefli Muhammad


10. Connect Google Form to Google Sheets

This is one of the biggest advantages.

Inside your Form:

Responses → Link to Sheets

Create a new spreadsheet.

Google will automatically create a table containing things such as:

TimestampNameWhatsAppEmailCopiesEditionAddressPaymentAmountReference
28/8/26Ahmad012......2Signed...DuitNowRM90TX123
28/8/26Ali013......1Standard...BankRM50TX124

This becomes your master pre-order database.


11. I recommend adding an Order ID

For example:

BOOK-0001
BOOK-0002
BOOK-0003

This makes your operation much easier.

You can then tell the customer:

Your Order ID is BOOK-0007.

When they WhatsApp you, they can simply give you their Order ID.


12. Don't make the Form too long

For a book promotion, I recommend 4–5 sections maximum:

SECTION 1
👤 Customer Information

SECTION 2
📖 Book & Quantity

SECTION 3
📦 Delivery / Collection

SECTION 4
💳 Payment

SECTION 5
✅ Confirmation

The customer should ideally complete it in 2–3 minutes.


13. Create a QR code

Once your Google Form is ready, copy the form URL.

Then create a QR code for it.

You can put the QR code on:

  • Book promotion poster

  • Facebook post

  • WhatsApp status

  • Instagram

  • TikTok

  • Your blog

  • Business card

  • Book launch presentation

  • Physical promotional banner

Your poster could say:

PRE-ORDER NOW

📖 MY FIRST BOOK
[BOOK TITLE]

Limited First Edition

SCAN TO PRE-ORDER

📱 WhatsApp
🔳 QR CODE


14. One important improvement: separate "Order" from "Promotion"

Don't put too much promotional material inside the Google Form.

The poster/social media should make people want the book.

The Google Form should make buying the book easy.

So the customer journey becomes:

See poster → Scan QR → Order → Pay → Receive confirmation

That's much more effective.


My recommended setup for your first book

Because this is your first book promotion, I would build the form around these fields:

Customer

  • Full name

  • WhatsApp

  • Email

Order

  • Book edition

  • Number of copies

  • Signed copy? Yes/No

Delivery

  • Courier / Self-collection

  • Full address

  • Postcode

  • State

Payment

  • Payment method

  • Amount

  • Transaction reference

  • Optional receipt

Confirmation

  • Agreement checkbox

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