Marketing guru Seth Godin zigs when other people zag. When "free" books were still unusual, he gave away digital copies of his books for nothing and built up a huge following--many of whom bought a traditional copy of his books as well.
For his most recent book, "We Are All Weird," he's changed tactics. He's releasing a limited hardcover edition of 10,000 only, which, given his fan base, should go pretty fast. The ebook version is also available at the Kindle store for about $8.
I like to keep an eye on Godin's strategies because he's usually ahead of the curve. As I said in a recent post, I remain unconvinced that selling your ebooks for 99 cents is the way to go for most writers in the longer run, although if you have success doing that, great.
I get a newsletter called Early to Rise, and they made the following point:
|
There’s a reason why the book, “Differentiate or Die”,
has remained so popular over the years. It’s simply
because the message is one you can’t ignore, no matter
what business you’re in. As the author, Jack Trout, says,
“Consumers today have an endless number of choices
among products that are virtually identical. Short of
slashing your prices and wrecking your margins,
differentiating is the only way to gain market share
and win.”
Unfortunately, many businesses default to slashing
prices as the only way to stand out in their marketplace.
But when asked, “What’s the secret of selling
against fierce competition?”, Jeffrey Gitomer, the
author of “The Little Black Book of Networking”, said,
“Differentiate with value, or die with price.”
|
Differentiating ourselves is a big challenge for authors. It's a
little easier for nonfiction authors because with non-fiction
you can more easily identify a target market, figure out
where they hang out online, and tailor your promotion
to what they want and need.
However, I think it's possible for novelists and poets, too,
and as I run across effective examples I'll share them with
you here.
(You'll find some great differentiation strategies in my book,
"Do Something Different," published by Virgin Books
and available from Amazon and other online and
offline book sellers.)
|
