I've been hearing a lot about the website Bookshop and I wanted to understand whether it was preferable right now to order from them or my fave indie bookstores directly. Here's what one bookstore owner told me, shared with permission.

(thread!)

"The technical percentage we get for a sale through Bookshop is less than we would if we sold it ourselves directly, that is correct. Bookshop gives us 30% of the sale. If we bought the books directly to resell in our store or on our own website, we are usually getting 40-45%."

"However, Bookshop is taking care of all the fulfillment too, the packing, shipping, etc. so it is a lot less work for the bookstore."

"It’s especially useful for stores, during say, a pandemic when our operations are limited. Or in general for really small stores where packing and shipping large volume can be a challenging burden."

"We’ve sold almost 400 books through Bookshop in the last 6 weeks. If we had sold those all on our own website [our small team] wouldn’t have time to do anything but pack and ship."

"Also us smaller stores can only keep a few copies of each title in stock. if 10 people want 1 copy of a book, we have to order it, wait for it, THEN ship it to the customer. Instead we refer them to Bookshop and it ships directly from our wholesaler’s warehouse to the buyer."

If you're still not sure whether this applies to your fave bookstore, perhaps ask them! But if you know their team is small or if you're just worried about the health and safety of workers going in to ship things, Bookshop seems like a good option.

hi! so when I originally asked for thoughts on Bookshop, I asked 2 booksellers. heard back from Bookseller 2, who manages a staff about 10 times the size of the above. since clearly this is of interest to folks, I'm sharing their thoughts, w/ permission, just to hear another POV.

"They are good folks, in it for the right reasons, and trying to be innovative in combatting amazon’s destructive strategy. The best way to support individual bookstores (in “normal” times) is to buy directly from them, but Bookshop is the second best option."

"And, as you can’t put every bookstore on an author or publisher page, listing Bookshop alongside other purchasing options is a good thing."

"My hope is that publishers and authors begin listing bookstores only. Amazon and other general retailers aren’t invested in the book industry and we needn’t go out of our way to support them. Barnes & Noble, Bookshop, Books-a-million, etc. should all be listed."

"We have always known how interdependent we are as an industry, but, now that the situation is dire (the reckoning is here and there will be precious few of us left on the other side to rebuild our beleaguered and beloved industry), we must take care of each other."

For me one of the biggest takeaways is not just about Bookshop itself, but about how all of us in this ecosystem--bloggers, writers, readers-- can take a moment to be conscientious about how we link and buy. Doing so is an investment in the future of books and Amazon ain't it.