An October 15, 2020, New York Times story about the plight of independent bookstores during the pandemic suggests that such outlets are hyperfocused on Amazon. The odd thing is the first couple paragraphs suggest that these booksellers might be shooting themselves in the foot,
The signs started appearing in bookstore windows this week.
“Buy books from people who want to sell books, not colonize the moon.”
Wait; what? I’m buying books from a company that wants to colonize the moon . . . and bookstores expect me to see that as a bad thing?
If anything, that would make me want to buy more from Amazon.
“Honey, I’m not just buying book 500 of The Wheel of Time series. I’m helping colonize the moon!”
If this is the sort of marketing acumen that independent bookstores bring to their fight against Amazon, they have already lost.
