Last week marked the one-year anniversary of Bookshop.org, the website that empowers bookshops and avid readers. The unique selling point of Bookshop.org is that they profit share with independent bookshops around the UK and the US who choose to sell through their website. This creates an additional source of revenue for bookshops that might have struggled during the global pandemic.
Founded by the multi-talented, Andy Hunter, the idea of Bookshop is both ambitious and impressive. When you consider that Bookshop.org raised around £1.6m for booksellers in 2020, it proves there’s a space for Bookshop.org to fill. And given years of expansion, they could disrupt the market as it currently stands.
Managing Director, Nicole Vanderbilt agreed to answer a few of my questions about the organisations’ aims. I wanted to know what type of future Bookshop.org sees for the industry, and where they fit into it. Another question I had, was whether there were any plans of expanding their business to draw in more independent publishers since this was one of Amazon’s successful moves in growing their bookseller market. Below are my questions, followed by Nicole’s answers.
Bookshop.org speaks on their one year growth
Gary Swaby: What is Bookshop.org doing to educate readers (on a large scale) on why they should support indie bookstores?
Managing Director, Nicole Vanderbilt: All of our communications focus on celebrating independent bookshops, on the benefits of going to visit them, and on telling their stories, including the ways in which they go above and beyond simply selling books to champion undiscovered titles and to make their communities a better place.
GS: Do you expect to raise even more revenue for independent booksellers in the second year?
NV: We have big ambitions for that number to continue to grow.
GS: Is there any plan for Bookshop to expand its business and also accommodate indie publishers in similar ways as KDP, Kobo, and Draft2Digital?
NV: Currently, Gardners are our sole source of supply. We know there’s an opportunity to expand beyond their current catalogue and hope to do so in the future.
GS: Do you see the criticisms of Bookshop.org in its first year to be part of the growing pains?
NV: We expect nothing less of independent bookshops than to think critically about how they manage their business, and we are always open to feedback from them. With a history of big American, venture-backed companies coming to the UK and dominating various markets, it’s healthy to probe. However, we are not venture-backed. We have in our by-laws that we can’t sell to Amazon. We have focused on our carbon footprint right from the start. We hope that we’ve proven that we are a force for good and that we are able to grow the indies’ share of the increasingly online book-buying market while giving them valuable customer data. Feedback from our almost 500 bookshops seems to say we have.
Ultimately, we want readers to go into an independent bookshop whenever they can. There is simply nothing like it. But, when they can’t, our role is to provide an ethical alternative to Amazon for buying books online. It costs bookshops nothing to sign up to our platform and requires no technical skills. We hope that by giving them the vast majority of the profit from each sale and the customer data with none of the fulfillment hassle, we can allow them to stay focused on the part of the job they love and are so much better at than any web site ever could be.
GS: What is Bookshop.org’s vision for the next ten years?
Our mission is to support independent bookshops, and we believe there is a lot we can do together with them to grow their share of the increasingly online book-buying market. We’ve had a great first year, but this is a drop in the ocean compared to the potential. Too often publishers, authors, and others generating content about books online continue to link to Amazon as their default link for pre-orders and online sales. Our aim is to become that place that the industry and readers turn to instead for a great online book buying experience that supports the incredibly important indie sector.
Redital thanks Nicole, the team at Bookshop.org and MIDAS for agreeing to answer these questions.
My personal take on this, as someone who loves literature and actively wants to do the best for the publishing industry, I think it’s healthy to have more options when purchasing books. Those who appreciate the industry should go out of their way to search for books at libraries, bookshops, and alternative online sources. Spread the love everywhere so more booksellers get to thrive.
Amazon is a mega-corporation with its own goals and agendas, and although the giant’s hands aren’t clean, I can’t fault them alone for the struggling independent climate and for their monopoly over independent publishing. Customers need to do more to educate themselves on where they can purchase books and support booksellers, authors, and publishers. And sometimes that means choosing to support the industry over pure convenience.
One thing I loved about Bookshop.org’s response is that they still welcome the critiques of booksellers, even if those booksellers are sceptical of the business model. This shows that Bookshop’s message about wanting to celebrate the existence of bookshops rings true. They are not being greedy. They don’t expect every bookseller in the UK to flock to their platform. They simply want to provide another option.
Competition is healthy, and oftentimes, it leads to the prosperity of markets that were at one point on a downward spiral. This seems to be what Bookshop.org strives to achieve. They are the dark horse providing the possibility for an alternative outcome.
Bookshop.org certainly has a winning formula in place, making it quick and easy to order books online. Next time you’re going on a book haul splurge, consider Bookshop.org because it’s warming to walk away with a feeling that you’ve put some money back into the pockets of the indies.
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