Why Don’t Indie Bookstores Offer Deals?

  

Let me be clear: I love books. I support independent bookstores. But indie bookstores need to change their ways in order to survive and thrive.

We know the way to the least expensive book, short of libraries and free online books, is to buy ebooks on Amazon or from deep discounters like BookBub. They are great if you know what you want and prefer or tolerate the ebook experience.  Hands down.

But if you want a printed book, Amazon is likely the cheapest, then Walmart online.  But Barnes and Noble is not too far behind and provides a good in-store experience.  So what incentivizes people to shop at an indie bookstore when it absolutely is not the price?

1. Rebel Against Chains and Amazon  

Supporting local businesses run by regular people and not cold corporations is an ideal worth supporting.

2. Superior & Unique Customer Service

Indie bookstores score bigly with their wood floors and carved shelves, handwritten signs, and knowledgeable workers eager to assist in your book purchase. Getting to interact with the owner is something no one gets with a chain bookstore. Touching and smelling books is not something you get online. You feel cared for when in an independent bookstore, leaving prospective customers with a warm feeling of returning home.

3. Off-Beat Book Variety

Rather than stocking up on the top 20 best-sellers, indies like to offer a wide swath of books to reflect the spectrum of tastes, curiosities, and experiences of its customer base.

4. Intimate Author Appearances & Events

Indie stores feel more cramped and are usually small, providing a cozier environment. You feel like the author is speaking to you from your living room.

However, at what price must consumers absorb for these “luxuries”? Indie bookstores are always 10-40 percent higher than anyone else. Why?

Is it out of need or greed?  

Perhaps most indie stores lack advertising or fail to reach beyond their immediate community and thus need to get every dollar it can out of every purchase.  But some store owners may simply be exploiting their indie status and seek to capitalize on your eagerness to support them. 

In either case, indie bookstores may not win on price — they will never undercut Amazon — but they mustn’t be non-competitive either. Throw us a bone. Run a special — buy two and get half off a third. Ten percent off Tuesday. Have a frequency purchase card deal. Email me a coupon.  

Do something to tell me you care about me, and that induces future sales. Everyone likes a deal. Make me an offer. Something. Anything. 

Indie bookstores will never provide the best price but it would be nice for loyal customers to not feel they are always hosed for the worst price. 

 

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About Brian Feinblum

Brian Feinblum should be followed on www.linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog ©2024. Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester with his wife, two kids, and Ferris, a black lab rescue dog, and El Chapo, a pug rescue dog. His writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s The Independent.  This award-winning blog has generated over 3.6 million pageviews. With 4,800+ posts over the past dozen years, it was named one of the best book marketing blogs by BookBaby  http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs  and recognized by Feedspot in 2021 and 2018 as one of the top book marketing blogs. It was also named by www.WinningWriters.com as a "best resource.” For the past three decades, including 21 years as the head of marketing for the nation’s largest book publicity firm, and director of publicity positions at two independent presses, Brian has worked with many first-time, self-published, authors of all genres, right along with best-selling authors and celebrities such as: Dr. Ruth, Mark Victor Hansen, Joseph Finder, Katherine Spurway, Neil Rackham, Harvey Mackay, Ken Blanchard, Stephen Covey, Warren Adler, Cindy Adams, Todd Duncan, Susan RoAne, John C. Maxwell, Jeff Foxworthy, Seth Godin, and Henry Winkler. He hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America several years ago, and has spoken at ASJA, Independent Book Publishers Association Sarah Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod Writers Association, Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, APEX, Morgan James Publishing, and Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association. His letters-to-the-editor have been published in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Post, NY Daily News, Newsday, The Journal News (Westchester) and The Washington Post. His first published book was The Florida homeowner, Condo, & Co-Op Association Handbook.  It was featured in The Sun Sentinel and Miami Herald.