Be Super Awesome™—Support Local Bookstores!

If you weren’t buying books online before 2020, you probably are now! When quarantining became all the rage, lots of people turned to the comforts of a good book to while away the hours spent social distancing. Some book-lovers reread old favorites while others became engrossed in dystopias, social justice nonfiction, and steamy romance.

Regardless of whether your preferred reading is a timeless classic or the hottest new books of 2020, if you’re gonna buy books online, you should do it in a way that supports local bookstores!

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Small brick-and-mortar businesses everywhere suffered when the world went on lockdown, especially businesses deemed “non-essential”. Local bookstores have struggled for decades against chains like Barnes & Noble, big-box discounter Walmart, and the most colossal behemoth of all: Amazon and its utter dominance of the online marketplace. The pandemic might have heralded the end of most indie bookstores, but a new startup has given hundreds of independent booksellers another way to make money online.

In January 2020, entrepreneur and independent publisher Andy Hunter launched Bookshop.org. The website—created in collaboration with the American Booksellers Association and Ingram—aims to reclaim a fraction of Amazon’s online sales, to the benefit independent bookstores across the United States. Bookshop launched modestly and then picked up steam in the early months of the pandemic. By the end of April, Bookshop had raised $1 million for local bookstores, far-outpacing Hunter’s original goal and on track to capture 2% of Amazon’s market share this year.

As a B Corp business that is “dedicated to the public good”, Bookshop drives revenue to indie bookstores in two ways: 1) 10% of regular sales are divided and distributed to independent bookstores every six months, and 2) stores that sell books online through Bookshop earn 30% of the cover price—the entire profit margin. Additionally, authors, reviewers, publishers, and media companies that sign up as affiliates of Bookshop earn 10% of sales generated from their click-through promotions, which is more than twice the 4.5% Amazon gives its affiliates.

With hundreds of independent booksellers (and thousands of customers) rallying behind Bookshop, other countries are looking to create their own version of the site, and Bookshop also aims to expand outside of the U.S. in the future. So far, things are looking up. By the end of September 2020, Bookshop had raised $7 million for local bookstores.

• Visit Bookshop.org
• Learn about Bookshop’s Affiliate Program
• Find a Local Bookstore to support
• Read Bookshop’s FAQs

Whether you’re buying books online or in-person, support local bookstores!