Authors sign up to boost B&N sales

In an effort to generate traffic and increase sales at its physical stores, Barnes & Noble has announced a secret weapon against Amazon.com this Black Friday.

Barnes & Noble recruited 100 prominent authors — including Donna Tartt, David Mitchell, Dan Brown, E. L. James, Jeff Kinney, George W. Bush and Hillary Clinton — to each sign roughly 5,000 copies of their latest books. The company will distribute and sell the 500,000 signed books among its retail stores only. The signed books will not be available on the company’s website.

“Customers get inundated with discounts and offers from every other retailer,” said Mary Amicucci, vice president for adult trade and children’s books at Barnes & Noble. “The goal was to find an exciting reason for people to come to Barnes & Noble early in the morning and get something that they can’t get on any other day of the year.”

Customers who shop in-store on Black Friday will be greeted with a front-of-store display featuring all of the signed editions when they walk through the doors. Supplies are limited.

Barnes & Noble also plans to offer buy 1, get 1 50% off on educational toys and games, 50% off special gift books perfect for gifting during the holidays, and many more promotions during Black Friday weekend.

Holiday sales at Barnes & Noble retail stores and website have declined for the last two holiday seasons due to declining book sales and competition from Amazon.com.

Barnes & Noble Inc. operates 658 Barnes & Noble bookstores in 50 states, and one of the Web’s largest e-commerce sites, BN.com