Be First to Go Second: Strategies for...

Be First to Go Second

Strategies for Independent Bookstores

Using the Strategy of the Counterattack in a Book War

Part 11 of the 36-part “Book Wars” series of articles

by David A. Rozansky, Publisher, Flying Pen Press

May 26, 2009

(Note: This is the 11th article in the “Book Wars” series of articles, wherein the author interprets the strategies taught in The 33 Strategies of War by Robert Greene, and applies them to the business of the independent bookseller, in the arena of the difficult book trade. The first article in this series can be read at WriteReadRoyalty.gather.com/xxx.)

This series of articles discusses how war strategies can be applied to the book trade for the benefit of the independent bookseller. These war strategies are described in Robert Greene’s The 33 Strategies of War; their application to the book trade is my own interpretation of Greene’s astute studies. In this article, I will discuss the Counterattack strategy.

Simply put, the Counterattack strategy is the strategy of waiting for your opponent to strike first, to draw them into the open while you combine your defensive posture with an offensive assault. This allows a competitor to show his own strategy and tactics, and for you to maneuver your own resources, to strike back while the competition is in chaos and reorganizing from the attack.

This works especially well if your competition is impatient and aggressive.

First, you must bait your competition into striking out at you. There are a variety of ways to do this. One classic method is to appear weak, a favorite of poker players. The competition, sensing an opening, will try to strike without delay.

In the world of retailing books, this is often effective when two stores fight over price or author appearances. When the competition puts out a big sale, withdraw your own sale price on the same book. Pretty soon, the competition will begin to rely on sale pricing to outdraw your customers. Once you have them dependent on such a tactic, hit them with a big sale to neutralize them and with another tactic, such as impeccable service and a wider selection, or a neighborhood book fair, a writer’s conference, or your store expansion.

Another classic maneuver of baiting the competition is to mirror your opponent. This is the opposite of appearing weak, in that instead of backing down on sale pricing and author appearances, you do exactly what the competition does. If they put a book on sale, you put that same book on sale at the same price. If they get a big name author, see if you can get the same author to appear at your store about the same time, preferably on the same day.

The goal to mirroring the competition is to hide your own strategy, and to better think like your competitor. Either the other retailer will have to do something extraordinary that they know will put you in a difficult place, or concede the market share to you. Most likely, if the management of that store is competitive in nature, they will choose the former, and try to undercut your prices or get exclusivity on authors.

Not to worry. The value of baiting the enemy is to lull them into a frontal attack, which turns out to be a trap you have set.

For instance, in the case where you have been matching sales prices, and they finally cut their prices so deeply that a profit is unseemly, hit them with your well-timed “Shop Local” campaign. If they begin to secure the big-name authors on exclusive terms, put that author’s books on sale and send out a mailing, letting your customers know they can buy the book at your store in advance of the author’s visit to your fair town.

Perhaps this strategy is best used against the fellow independent bookstore that is a thorn in your side, as the larger stores, such as the big chain stores and discount stores, tend not to think about competition on a local basis. Instead, they tend to diligently follow national and regional plans. This mindless approach to selling books opens other strategies for the independent bookseller, to be certain, but it also insulates the bigger stores from your goading.

But in many different markets, there seems to arise two independent booksellers who become the worst of enemies, focusing their energies on fighting each other instead of the bigger threats. This Tweedle-Dum and Tweedle-Dee rattle battle does little to advance the business of either store, but cannot be avoided until something happens to tip the balance far enough to silence one (or both) of the combatants.

Baiting the enemy, however, brings new energy to the contest, and the tables are turned. By drawing your aggressive competitor into traps and wild goose chases, you gain the upper hand and move towards control of the situation. You can then find room to concentrate on growing your business instead of constantly falling prey to the debilitating bickering between you and your aggressive competitor.

The ultimate goal of the counterattack is to encourage your competition to make a poor business decision, and once he does, to launch your strongest, most competitive moves while his situation is full of chaos and disarray.

Book Warriors, I would like to hear of other COunterattack strategies you may have used in your business.

This is just one article in David A. Rozansky’s column, Readers, Writers & Royalties, a blog column about the book trade, from writing and publishing, to selling and reading. This series of articles—“Book Wars”—is an interpretation of the strategies listed in Robert Greene’s The 33 Strategies of War, as they apply to the independent bookseller. In the next edition, this column will look at deterrence strategies that can be used to discourage aggressive competition.

Readers may find archived articles or subscribe to Readers, Writers & Royalties at www.ReadWriteRoyalty.Gather.com. Subscribe to all of Mr. Rozansky’s articles at www.FlyingPenPress.Gather.com.

David A. Rozansky is the publisher of Flying Pen Press. He has been in publishing since 1987, and has more than one million published words under his byline. Flying Pen Press is at http://www.FlyingPenPress.com. He is available for speaking on the subject of writing magazine articles, public relations, marketing and book-length material.

The book mentioned in this article is The 33 Strategies of War by Robert Greene (Penguin Books, 2007, ISBN 978-0-14-311278-5, trade ppb, $18.00).