Online bookselling, publisher-style (continued)
Canadian publishers are continuing to experiment with direct sales online – and at least one is offering Amazon.ca- or Indigo.ca-style incentives. The Random House of Canada website is currently highlighting (see upper right corner of the home page) a “Summer Reading” promotion that offers 30% off and free shipping on all books. The same deal can be found on the McClelland & Stewart site.
Random has been edging in this direction for a while, doing similar deals in the past on selected titles. They’ve also denied that it’s an attempt to compete with booksellers, though undoubtedly not all booksellers will agree.
Random isn’t the only publisher courting the consumer with incentives: Anansi is currently running a buy-three-get-one-free deal on its site. Other publishers, like Penguin Canada, sell online sans deals, while others, like Key Porter and Douglas & McIntyre, direct readers to booksellers. Same goes for HarperCollins Canada, though their proper site is in the shop at the moment.
It’s the “kick ‘em (booksellers) when they’re down” school of publishing. Of course, considering the current state of publishing, it might be a lateral kick.
I was in BookCity the other day looking for a novel by Denis Johnson. They carry his new hardcover but none of his backlist so I couldn’t expand my reading library of this author. Who loses out on this kind of independent book retailing. As I see it the author, the publisher, and the book buyer. Not the first time I couldn’t find what I was looking for in the local independent bookstore. In fact Indigo Bloor did have it. I’d rather buy online direct from the publisher and get what I want when I want it. And if they want to cut the price by 30% and ship it free I’m for that too. Indigo has a great online service and the prices are right. It’s the future of book buying and it’s going only going to grow and if publishers want to mix it up with the chains why not.
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