Hello, Bookshop
Where can you build an audience that buys books?
Bookshop.org is an online bookstore that has a unique purpose, to support independent bookstores. It started in January 2020 with ebooks, but now includes paperback and hardcover books.
They share profits with independent bookstores, their reason for existing. Their interface integrated with bookstores, allowing the bookstore to have a strong presence online at a time when much of shopping moved online. Customers can designate the independent bookstore of their choice for profit sharing. If there’s no selection, then the money goes into a general fund which is divided among all the bookstores which are partnering with Bookshop.org.
Effectively, when you buy from Bookshop.org, you support a local store. That makes it a strong alternative to Amazon.com or other online bookstores.
“78% of our customers said they regularly bought books from Amazon before they made the switch.” Bookshop.org
They caught my attention this month as they made a couple important and strategic partnerships.
Spotify and Bookshop. Spotify has been experimenting with audiobooks and the growth has been phenomenal. Now it will integrate with Bookshop to allow listeners to also purchase print books or ebooks. And they will page match, or sync across the formats. If you’re listening to the audiobook but then open the ebook, it will open to the page where you left off.
Draft2Digital and Bookshop. Opening this marketplace to the indie book community makes sense! Bookshop.org has always wanted the program to be inclusive. Through a partnership with Draft2Digital, your ebooks are now available on Bookshop.org. They already have a partnership with InAudio (formerly Findaway) to sell audiobooks.
Opening the marketplace to indie publishers is exciting. But how does Bookshop.org work? For paid readers, I’ll take a deep dive into how it compares to other bookstores and when you should link to Amazon v Bookshop v Your Site, and how to create lists that create sales.