If you were old enough to remember the 70’s, you might remember an ad campaign from Avis. It seems Avis was #2 in the car rental game and in order to take on #1, they decided to play up their “disadvantaged” status.
Avis’ campaign was the now familiar “We’re #2 – We Try Harder”. The campaign lives on in various forms to this day and has proven to be a good positioning statement for the company.
When it comes to selling books online, there is a definite #1 and #2 as well. A while back, Angela over at Booklocker.com set off an alarm about the bully tactics being employed by Amazon, the clear holder of the #1 position when it comes to online book sales.
When you’re fishing for book buyers, it makes sense to drop your “hook” into waters teaming with fish – in this case, customers. Since Amazon is the biggest, it makes sense that authors would choose Amazon to promote their work.
However, many authors have stopped using Amazon because they haven’t backed down from their bully tactics. I have included myself in those numbers for the past few months. I began using Barnes and Noble links when I wrote blog posts promoting my book Beyond the Niche: Essential Tools You Need to Create Marketing Messages that Deliver Results.
Alarmingly, sales of my book have plummetted thanks to the change. I was bewildered and hoped it was merely a glitch in the affiliate tracking program. Then I logged into my author account and saw the horrible truth.
The drop in sales is alarming but today, I discovered the reason behind the drop. I saw up close and personal what my potential book buyers have been experiencing when I tried to order a book from Barnes and Noble.com.
Let me begin this sad tale with a disclaimer. Barnes and Noble HAS my email address on file. I know this for certain because they are sending me special offers at that email address.
The other day, my oldest daughter expressed a desire to pre-order the third book in the Christopher Paolini series, Brisingr. Well, in my email today was a coupon from Barnes and Noble.com which would allow me to save an ADDITIONAL 15% of my membership price of the book.
WHOOPEE!! Not only do I save 5% for pre-ordering AND the 15% from the coupon, I also save the hassle of fighting mall traffic as the snowbirds descend upon us again!
So, I click on the link and try to order the book. Seems that even though Barnes and Noble HAS my email address, they don’t recognize it when I try to log into the system. The screen displays a number to call if I’m having problems. I am having problems, so I pick up the phone to call.
I faithfully punch in the proper number for my choice, but after punching several numbers and getting taken back to the beginning, I never achieve the option of either “I can’t log into my account online” or “let me talk to a human being about this”.
My stomach turns. I now understand the drop in book sales as a result of changing my promotional methods. I’ve been sending my unsuspecting potential book buyers to Barnes and Noble.com because of the bullying tactics of Amazon. Obviously, Amazon is engaging in such tactics because they KNOW that their #2 isn’t trying harder at all. It appears Barnes & Noble.com isn’t trying AT ALL!
The “Fast and Free” delivery they promise doesn’t do much good if I can’t get logged in to purchase product.
The graph below is from Compete.com comparing Amazon’s traffic to Barnes and Noble.com
So now I have a quandry – do I “stay true” to the cause of not patronizing the bookselling giant Amazon? Do I contintue to “cut off my nose to spite my face” and continue to use the Barnes and Noble link to promote my book? (According to my affiliate account, people are clicking on the links, they’re just not buying – now I know why!)
What would you do? What have you done? Which side are you on?
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