Tuesday, July 29, 2014

It's Too Early for Such Ridiculousness

Okay, so here's a bit of ridiculous that I stumbled across at about a quarter to five this morning.  It all started when I read a blog post about what sounds like a really awesome book I wanted to buy, but, you see, the author went out of the way to say it wasn't available on Amazon.  So I exercised my Google-fu to see where I could buy it.  (Cuz, hey, it was the middle of the night and I like to buy stuff when I'm too sleepy to care about depleting my book budget.  Regrets are for later in the day.)

The first three hits for her name and/or title are Amazon links and after following one, I learned the paperback is in stock (3 left - order now) and the Kindle version is available for instant download.  No other stores had buy links for her book in the first page of hits.  At the bottom of the page, there's a pirate site where you can steal her book and a link to a place in Australia. 

B&N was on the next page - but I don't have a Nook*.  A link to her publisher's site was on the bottom of page 3 - and it was to one of her other books.  I finally found a link to the right book at her publisher's Australia site (this is a US author) on the 6th page of hits.  I quit looking for a link to the US site at pg 10.

It's like waking up one day and saying 'I know!  I'll make it as difficult as possible for a whole section of the populace to buy my book!"  Nose meet scalpel.  Take THAT face!** 

The thing about sales is that you need to 1) make your product as attractive as possible so people will want to buy it (which she did... kudos to her) and then 2) you need to make it as easy as possible for people to purchase your product (which she purposely did not do).  As a #3, let me add that you need to not alienate your customers by basically telling them if they want your product in the form that's most convenient to them, they can go pound sand.

Because isn't selling books and pleasing readers so we can sell more books what we're in this for***?  Cuz hey, I think we'd all eventually like to make enough money to feed the cats.  Or who knows, buy a car that doesn't need service every couple months.  Or eke a bit to save toward our kids' college funds.

I know I would.  These cats are eating me out of house and home.



*and I'm not going to buy one.  I'm not freakin' made of money.  Hell, my Kindle was a gift.  It was hard enough making the decision on whether to spend $3 on an author I've never tried when my book budget is so slim.  Also, I know I probably could've found a way to buy the damn book in another format, found another way to email the book to myself at my Kindle account and then uploaded it to my ereader, but like I said in #2 - make it easier not harder for your customers to buy your book.  

**yes, yes, as a writer, this post is akin to introducing my nose to the scalpel myself, but it's better than the hackjob I've done on my principles by staying silent about too many things over too many years.

***unless you're Stephen King.  He's in this for the joy of writing.  :snort:

3 comments:

  1. I wonder what her justification was... I know why certain of my books are Amazon only. It was a marketing decision. I sell books there. I don't at other venues. *shrug* But yes, an author should make finding buy links--whether to one or all outlets--as easy on the reader as possible.

    Also, sorry that blasted Big I is harassing you again. We need to come up with some anti-insomnia spray. *nods*

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    1. The only thing I can think of is that she's published at the place that shall not be named (here anyway) and she's gotten wrapped up in the drama. Or someone believed the BS about X-publisher's books are no longer available through the Big-A. And that's all it is - hoopla, BS, and kerfluffle. Of course, it's entirely possible she's so wrapped up in the hullabaloo that she doesn't want any of those nasty cootie-filled sales. Personally, I'd take whatever sales were available out there for my books.

      We need somethin', Silver. Besides drugs. I could probably have gotten back to sleep if I'd been willing to chug some cough syrup or something. LOL

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  2. There's some interesting discussion happening out there about the big book sellers. But I concur, your book has to be easily accessible. If it isn't I don't buy it. Because I'm lazy like that and there are a lot of books to choose from that come at the click of a pay now button.

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