Now now, don't get all hot, I am joking... well, not really...but sort of. I mean really? Print is not dead? eBooks are a novelty? I was wondering why B&N is so behind the curve with eBooks and now I know why...they have this guy at the helm.
“The idea that the print book is going to die some slow long death is actually a fallacy,”
I agree with this, but not in the way he means...most if not all print will go the way of POD. As Amazon and other presses upgrade printers we will be able to get high quality books at a low cost, and all POD.
"...but once the novelty has worn off they’ll probably return to stores and do a mix of shopping on devices and in stores."
=) See that? That was me trying not to bust a gut. I know...so mean.
What does this mean?
For B&N, it means they will keep shoving sand over their heads and for bookstores, it will mean Amazon will keep playing chess...ALONE.
So what would I do? I would tell you but when they offer me a job, I would have nothing to offer them that they did not already see on this blog. lol... okay fine!
First: Make millions of Nook's. Oh...and hire me.
Second: Give them all away for FREE!
Third: Model the website after Amazon with Tagging, Bestseller lists, indie lists, blog posts, forums and other things normal people do with a website designed to sell a product.
Forth: Talk to authors.
Fifth: Open up printing houses and start buying up authors like Amazon.
Sixth: Do more author signings and events, you have a bookstore, you should cream Amazon not hand them your lunch money everyday!
Seventh: Once you have some of the market with all your new Nook users, start a Nook daily deal program. i.e. do what amazon is doing! Top 100 list, top 100 free list, emails of related titles, you know...promotion 101!
Eighth: Forget the tablet market and focus on coming out with the first color touch Nook with eink.
Ninth: Team up with the Big 6 and market and sell their books at a lower price and cut amazon out, make it exclusive. Big move but if you don't do it Amazon will!
Tenth: Have a cup of coffee, because we are just getting started.
This is just a sample of the HUGE changes they will need to make, or by the end of 2013 B&N will be bought out or go under just like borders.
Author Aaron Patterson: Blog: The Worst Book Ever.
First - ditto to #8! You're not going to beat the iPad! Color eInk would be wonderful....
ReplyDelete11th - Update your iPhone app to give users the ability to scan a book's ISBN (check out the Book Crawler app for an example). Then let them add the book to their BN account wishlist.
I'm always running across a book I'd like to read at some point and end up using the Book Crawler app to scan and add the book to a wishlist. If it was linked to my BN.com account, I'd download way more books to my Nook.
(PS, if Amazon did this, I'd be just as happy!)
I agree one hundred percent with every point in this post. Of course print books will never die, but the idea that ebooks are a novelty and the notion that B&N can make it over the long term by focusing mostly on print books and basically abdicating the ebook market to Amazon is absurd, and if I were a B&N stockholder, I'd be demanding Hilt's job. Tonight. Right freaking now. Before he can do any more damage.
ReplyDeleteBust a gut! I peed my pants. Gotta go change now.
ReplyDeleteI bailed on B&N and joined the KDP select program in the middle of December. My sales for January are about 14x what they were before. B&N doesn't have anything to offer me, and I think there are a lot of people that feel that way.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of B&N... they are rattling their saber against Amazon's print publishing. Apparently they still haven't figgured out that print sales follow eBook sales, not the other way around.
ReplyDeletehttp://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/31/barnes-noble-says-it-wont-sell-books-published-by-amazon/
It is a matter of being out of touch with the market or fighting the big mean amazon thinking that just because they got a big stick it will help them in the minds of the public. Amazon does more for authors than B&N and anyone who thinks different is just kidding themselves.
ReplyDelete