AN UNSURPRISING MOVE OF MARKETING GENIUS: Shhh! MopeyBoy's new book is now available through Amazon!
Much initial hype was borne of the fact that Dave Eggers' new novel was only going to be sold through his own website and 100 carefully-selected independent booksellers. No Amazon, no B&N, no Borders -- he was cutting them all out of the loop, publishing the book himself, selling only through the small and loyal.
It was allegedly going to be a "dangerous venture", a "daring" approach which might help revolutionize the publishing industry. According to Eggers, "As for Amazon, we decided this time to experiment with having this book available through our website only. We figured if people were ordering it online, they might as well order it from us."
Well, as always, Chuck D. was right. Don't believe the hype. Eggers has a coast to coast bestseller on his hands and a massive amount of free publicity for what boils down to a carefully crafted marketing device: "Buy my book because I'm making it harder to buy my book!" It's little different from Burger King's claiming to be alternative because "Sometimes, you've gotta break the rules" or Outback Steakhouse's anarchic "No Rules. Just Right." proclamation.
For all the good work Eggers is doing, let's not lose sight of reality: he's an author, and he's trying to get you to buy his book. No less, no more.
No comments:
Post a Comment