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Free Samples, Baby!
As a first-time author, I was intrigued by what the Internet had to say on the topic of selling books.
What was working? What wasn’t? Who was doing it best? Where were the scams?
Since publishing Getting Shit Done on July 1st, I must have tried more than a handful of techniques, but so far, there is only one that I’d recommend to others.
Enter the Costco approach.
If you’ve ever gone to Costco or a similar club store, you’ll probably agree that one of the best parts of the whole experience is getting all of those tasty and free samples. Each time you go, you can try something different and decide if it’s worth picking up a package and taking it home to the family.
Costco doesn’t have people randomly pulling packages out of the freezer section, walking up to customers, and asking if you want it in your cart. Because the answer would be no, it’s an unsolicited approach, you have no reason to purchase whatever is being hawked, and it just feels uncomfortable.
The samples work, however. Like gangbusters. Costco and these other retailers have figured out that if you offer someone a no-obligation trial, the odds are pretty good that you’ll become familiar with the product. You will probably buy a case that day or another.
So, how does that tie into selling books?
Bear with me here. When I first got started on Medium, I was more of a reader than a writer…
