We all know that this summer’s big book will be the third and final book in the Hunger Games series, Mockingjay. The release date is five months away and already the price wars have begun for pre-orders at the online retailers. All the big web stores are offering the book for pre-sale at discounts ranging from 44% to a whopping 53%, bringing the book to well below what any bookstore can purchase it for.
This aggressive discounting brings up many emotions in me. Chief among them is despair. It’s hard to see the biggest book of the year, and one I cannot wait to read myself, being so deeply discounted seemingly everywhere I turn. The second emotion is anger. Anger that once again indies are potentially going to get scooped by companies using the book that can make our year, as their loss leader, and in doing so is devaluing the work itself.
The good thing about anger is it spurs action. I am so irritated by all the places I’m competing with that I’m just going to dig and fight for my little corner of the summer’s hot book. Can I sell the book at 53% off? No. Can I sell it for 44% off? No, again. But I can offer my customers an easy way to order the book locally and save. For a book like Mockingjay that had special orders for it ever since the week after Catching Fire came out, I am offering a staggered pre-order discount for my customers.
Here’s what I’m going to do for fans of the series. If you pre-order and pre-pay for Mockingjay anytime between now and April 30th you will save 35%, buy it between May 1st and May 31st you can save 30%, after that the discount goes down to 20% until the release date. We’ve never had a staggered discount schedule for a hot book, but never have we had such aggressive competition from so many places.
Bold signage at each register will alert people to this plan and hopefully, they will decide on the spot to pre-order their book with us. The more they pre-order, the better my cash flow is, and the better able I’ll be to know exactly how many Mockingjays to order, because all the outlets for this book are making me really think about the size of my order. And having some pre-orders in the system will be a real guide for me and help me order smartly.
One thing that we have going for us, that few of the web stores do, is that our party won’t be virtual. It will be live and loads of fun, and if you bought your book from us, there might be something extra special in it for you.
Also, Josie, can you host a big book party on the night the book comes out, for those early purchasers?
Kudos to you for fighting the fight. But get smarter about it. Instead of discounting 35% offer a gift card/store credit of $7.00 (39% but sounds better and tougher to compare for the average customer)for each presale so the discounted amount goes back to the store in the form of another sale instead of out the door. Do you know what your Scholastic Coop pool is? For each gift card you give away in the promotion charge it back to Scholastic in the form of coop. Don’t have coop left? Speak to your rep and tell them your promotional plans and ask them to offset the cost of the promotion with free books to cover the cost. It is their sale too. Play like the big boys play.
A very smart marketer I know told me once to never compete on price unless you’re Walmart – or in this case, Amazon. You will never win. You must compete in something else. Since this series is about keeping humanity, why not “add local value” to their pre-purchase? Sure, offer a more modest discount, but give everyone who orders something special. A local restaurant could offer a promotion (you get the coupon when you pay). What if anyone who buys from you gets entered into a raffle, and the prize is an iPod or something else really desirable? I bet you could get local stores to give you great prizes. Even if you had to purchase them, you will spend less than if you literally give away what I’m guessing is 80% of your profit. Co-op is awesome, and you are MUCH more likely to get it if you make a real event out of this. What can you offer that the big boys can’t? I guarantee you can make an offer that’s more enticing to your customers – or will at least make them pause long enough to realize they’re making a choice. Educating them about your predicament – this book can carry your year – is not a bad thing, either. Just don’t preach – keep “what’s in it for the customer” in mind, and they’ll stick with you.
Here’s one approach that worked for us…feel free to give it a try:
For the last 2 Harry Potters, we made up a special promotional coupon…HP7 was for $17.50, or 50% of the cover price. The coupon was a gift from us to be used on their next purchase. Advertising said “like getting 50% off.” Because it was a promo coupon and not a gift certificate, we could give it an expiration date. Once we did the math…not all the coupons were redeemed, average margin on redeemed purchhases, etc…. Our actual discount or loss of profit margin was about 17%. If we had offered a 17% discount, I don’t think anyone would have been impressed, but they loved the promo. Plus, I gave them a 12/25 expiration date, and we got a bump in holiday sales from people wanting to make sure to use their coupons. Of course they spent more than $17.50.
I never thought of asking for coop (Thanks for the idea, Dogbone58), but next time I’ll give it a try.
Josie, I am glad someone is fighting some kind of fight. I’ve sold books for 30 years. Not this particular kind but a good book is a good book. Ever since Amazon came on the scene there has been a devaluing of information. Dumbing down of America coincides. The publishers that are involved are cutting their own throats and over the years many have gone out of business. Many companies over the years have learned that one can not devalue their own product. The Harry Potter book became worthless to me when it was sold at lower prices that I could buy it for. I do not know what the game plan should be. Maybe the author’s will stop being greedy and unethical and demand their produt be sold at true value. Good information should never be discounted. Best sellers with any company is not sold discounted. New York Bestseller list is really a high volume list or discount list. I guess no one knows how to sell good product anymore just because it is good. When publishers have to sell product at net pricing and not off of a fixed price set by them there may be fairness in book sales again. It would get publishers out of retail and put pressure on the Amazon’s and Chains. Level the playing field. Most them are bad salesmen and use price only to cover up their weaknesses. Ethics are missing in the book industry and everyone is involved. Discounts change the vibration of all information sold, to a form of poverty consciousness. You get what you pay for. Most of the people probably did not even finish the last Harry Potter book. Be the expert in your field and sell with your strengths. Keep fighting as best as one can until their is an awakening.