How I turned a glitch into a marketing campaign and sold enough books to gain “Best Seller” status again a year after my book was originally released.

Here’s what happened…

A few weeks ago I noticed that Amazon had “Optimize This: How Two Carpet Cleaners Consistently Beat Web Designers On The Search Engines” the SEO book I coauthored with Paul Douglas priced at just $9.95

I was a bit puzzled why our book was priced $15.00 cheaper than it was supposed to be. You see, a year ago, when Paul and I first published “Optimize This” we purposely put a $24.95 price tag on it…so, why now was Amazon selling it for 60% cheaper.

It was baffling.

I called my representative to inquire why Amazon would do such a thing. My rep informed me that indeed it was priced at $24.95.

“I don’t think so“, I said to him. “Check the Amazon site!”

Lo and behold…the price displayed was indeed $9.95.

He said, “it must be a glitch“.

“Yay, maybe! But what of our commission?” I asked.

I was comforted with the news that regardless of what price was displayed on the site, the price in the system hadn’t changed nor would our pay out.

Hmm, now the interesting part.

When will it get fixed?

Nobody knew!

So, I put into motion a plan. One that could work if implemented right away.

A plan that required social, video and email.

So I quickly started pumping out social posts that told people of the glitch and what they could gain.

Amazon’s glitch is your gain! ?#?OptimizeThis? (the SEO book I coauthored with Paul Douglas) is currently priced at $9.95 on Amazon (should be priced at $24.95) – I’ve notified Amazon about the price anomaly but they seem to be taking their time adjusting the price. So you’d better grab a copy before they up the price. Hurry, I have no idea when the price will increase…so, you’d better get it today. And it only seems to be affecting the US Amazon.

I posted on my personal Facebook page, several group pages, Twitter and even LinkedIn. A few copies sold.

Day 2 of my campaign and I needed to “up the ante” so to speak.

So I did a live streaming video on Facebook.

https://www.facebook.com/robanspach/videos/10208330723376122/

 

Then I followed up with that video with this post…

Day 2 of… “The Glitch is Your Gain”
Yesterday I shared with you that Amazon apparently has a glitch and is selling the SEO book I coauthored with Paul Douglas at $9.95…the real price should be $24.95. Essentially saving every buyer a whopping $15 off every copy. You would think as the author I would be upset at this…but, I’m not. You see, they are still paying us our normal commission which happens to be more than the price they are selling the book.
The gain is that you are learning SEO at about 60% off the retail price while giving the authors (me and Paul) our regular commission rates. A win/win…except for Amazon.
So go ahead grab you copy today (and one for a friend) before Amazon fixes the glitch and takes the price back up.

Again, posting to Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn!

Then I went to my email subscriber opt-in list and sent them this email…

Sunday 5:55 pm
Jan 17, 2016

Hi (subscriber name),

Last week I noticed the price of “Optimize This” (the SEO book I coauthored with Paul Douglas) was priced at $9.95 on Amazon. I was a bit puzzled by the price as it should be priced at $24.95.

Yet there it was priced at 60% cheaper than what it should have been saving anyone who bought it a whooping $15.00

Hmm, I thought…that’s not right! So, I contacted a representative to try to figure out why my book was priced so low.

According to their records it was priced in the system at $24.95 yet was displayed wrong on the Amazon website.

Okay, I said…but what happens when someone buys the book at $9.95? The representative said because it’s a glitch in the system the authors (Paul and I) would still get our regular commission.

I said okay, cool!

But, they couldn’t tell me when the glitch would be fixed. It could be tonight, tomorrow, the next day…they didn’t know.

So (subscriber name) here’s your chance (if you haven’t read it yet) to grab your copy before the glitch is fixed.

Yep, if the price of $9.95 is still posted…then you should order it right away.

As of the date and time above the price was still listed as $9.95

Here’s What You’ll learn…
-Effective ways to achieve page 1 ranking on the search engines
-The importance of the right keywords
-How boosting social proof enhances authority
-Why your name is irrelevant
-How using APE thinking improves ranking
-Why you should never hire this celebrity to build your website
-How to become a search engine bully and dominate the world.

Oh, and the price glitch seems to be only on the US Amazon site. Here’s the link to order your copy. And since the price is so low, why not order one for a friend as well.

http://www.amazon.com/Optimize-This-Robert-Anspach/dp/0989466310

Amazon’s glitch is your gain!

That email went out almost 3 hours before Amazon fixed the glitch.

But I had no idea, up until that point, when Amazon would fix it, I just wanted to give everyone the opportunity to take advantage of lower pricing.

Hey, why not right?

Over the two days that I informed my fans, friends and followers about the lower price glitch…I watched as “Optimize This” rose up the ranks in Amazon’s Best Seller status again.

Yes, I say again. When “Optimize This” was originally released on Thanksgiving Day 2014, there was little fanfare. But as the holidays subsided, “Optimize This” went on to become a Kindle best seller in the United States, Canada, Australia and Japan. Not bad at all, huh?

So here we were one year later and I’m watching new life being breathed into our book again. And once again that glorious feeling in the pit of my stomach came back and I was acting like a kid in a candy store again.

All because I took advantage of a glitch.

When an opportunity presents itself…do you take advantage of it…or let it slip by? Sadly, most businesses can’t act quick enough to take advantage of glitches, errors, mistakes or happenstances and lose out on the gains that might have occurred.

Let me help you take advantage of glitches you’re missing!