Rushing Amazon is *so* Early-2008
Thursday, September 25th, 2008
I have yet to see any evidence that these Amazon rushes are accomplishing anything apart from making the author realize how ardent their fans are. “We’re going to make the suits at Amazon stand up and take notice!” seems to be the battle cry, but can you show me something that indicates Event Days for these books are anything more than a blip on Amazon’s radar (if that)?
– Kris Johnson, in a comment on Matthew Wayne Selnick’s blog
The Amazon rush is dead. I don’t think we’ll see authors getting the same kind of lift from it going forward.
When everyone is doing the same thing, audiences will start to ignore it. You start getting into “Yet Another” turf…Yet Another Podcast Novelist Twittering Their Release Date. There is a place for marketing and publicity, and yes, you need to hit it hard…there’s no doubt about it. When you’re planning for your launch date, observe what is going on around you. If other folks are flooding the community with their Amazon rush, perhaps it’s time for you to look at some other tactic to get attention. Think about it…if you were getting phone calls constantly about buying something, what would you do?
So, a word to all the podcast authors out there: find another “First.” Be creative, be innovative, take a chance. Do not rely on Yet Another Amazon Rush. People are tuning these out more and more now — it’s old news.
Update: Read the follow-up post, Beware the Magic Pony
