What Can Warby Parker Teach Writers about Selling Books? More than You’d Think

Hey, creatives!

Those of you who’ve followed my journey through this last stretch of grad school may know I’m taking a social media marketing course this term, following another marketing course. I’ve loved taking these courses because their required reading gives me so many ideas to apply to the writing life. For example, there’s a case study in our book that had me thinking about ways authors, artists, and other creatives could increase their audiences without a large overhead cost like paid placement.

For reference, my assigned text this term is Strategic Social Media: From Marketing to Social Change, by L. Meghan Mahoney and Tang Tang. In case you want to pick this one up, allow me to give a brief review: 

This book has a lot of information in it, but spoiler alert: it is not for people with ADHD. If you’re wired like me, you’ll likely find the poor editing [in the print version] distracting; complete with copy/paste errors, misspellings, and missing words. That distraction has resulted in confused meanings and the need to read every chapter multiple times to feel like I understand, and I’m no slouch in reading. The non-visual language doesn’t help but wouldn’t be a deal-breaker by itself. I hope Wiley Blackwell assigns another round of editing and urges the authors to use more visual language in future editions to help people with learning differences.

If you aren’t neurodiverse or those issues won’t bother you, here’s the Amazon link because it’s still an informative resource (I am not an affiliate at the time of writing).

Back to how this can help you…

The study talks about eyewear company Warby Parker and how they had to overcome some serious obstacles just to be in business. Glasses have little in common with books and other art forms other than vision, but stay with me.

When Warby Parker came onto the eyewear scene, they were the first company to sell glasses online. Their “About” page tells you they disrupted their industry, much like independent and self-published authors do in publishing. Because they were disruptors, the founders had to overcome major hurdles such as our society being conditioned to buy glasses in stores, that people preferred to try glasses on before buying them, and that buying glasses was expensive, making an online purchase risky. 

This is where cognitive dissonance becomes the phrase of the day (in case you need it, here’s the definition). When applied to marketing, it speaks of a conflict in beliefs about a company, product, or service. When applied to behavior, it looks like readers who want quality fiction but also know a self-published book has no company-backed quality standards they can rely on. Cue the agonizing internal struggle.

When people experience dissonance, they naturally want to reduce it. Some people will make knee-jerk decisions to silence the debate, but most people are triggered to dig a little deeper, to gain more knowledge so they can make a good decision. This is where websites, blogs, and social media come in.

Warby Parker has done a great job overcoming their market’s dissonance. If you look at their website, you’ll see they’ve done this by shaping their business to suit customers’ preferences. They offer glasses that cost less than they would elsewhere, their frames are attractive, and you can try them on in your home for free to make sure you like them. That’s definitely a win for their customers.

But Warby Parker didn’t stop there because they’d developed a second tactic for success: building a great community. On social media, they ask customers to share photos of themselves wearing their new glasses. All those likes and comments reinforce the happiness felt when their new frames arrived, increasing their odds of making a second purchase and the chance that more people will interact and buy glasses. 

Customers also feel like Warby Parker cares about their experience simply because they asked people to share. They get bad reviews and upset customers just like authors do, but the good vibes substantially outweigh any negativity sent their way. This sends an overall positive message to potential first-time buyers who may consider switching from buying in a traditional retail setting.

Now, the question remains: what are you doing to create a community and cut down on potential buyer dissonance? Do you have a blog or website showcasing your abilities, training, or experience? Do you have two-way conversations with people on social media? Are you listing your editors, beta readers, sensitivity readers, etc. on your book’s landing page? These are a few ideas but given time, you could come up with a list of ways to help readers overcome their dissonance and read your work.  

Bookselling might seem like a hit-or-miss affair, but it’s just like any other industry. Authors need to be ingenious in finding a greater audience to appeal to, and we can all learn from examples in other industries. We can’t help that prospective readers may suffer dissonance when considering our books, so we have to ask ourselves the big question: How can I help reduce a reader’s discomfort?