After smashing success in the US, the popular book retail site, Bookshop.org, is coming to the UK.
It is thought to be an avenue to combat Amazon's online presence which it is completely dominating the market. "Amazon's growing at an average of 6%-8% year on year and they are already at half the market". Amazon publishing slipped on the scene in 2009, and ever since then each year, they have been gaining more territory. These past months in lockdown have not alleviated the financial pressure on small independent booksellers or indies. Many have been suffering due to their lack of online presence and "independent bookstores, in particular, do not have the resources or the means to compete with Amazon". Their profit margins have constricted even further due to Covid-19. "They have margins of maybe 2% to keep their shops alive, and yet they're precious to the publishing ecosystem, it can't exist without them".
Thankfully, Bookshop.org is here to help indies by allowing stores to create a profile on their site and "earn 30% of the cover price on any sale that comes through their link". In addition to this, Bookshop.org pays its affiliates 10%. An additional 10% from a payment pool is deposited every six months as a bonus to their average sales. Even if they don't use Bookshop.org as a selling platform, that sounds like a pretty good deal for smaller bookstores. The great thing about this enterprise is that it states in their bylaws that Bookshop.org "can never be sold to a major US retailer, including Amazon".
Hopefully, people will realise that these smaller bookshops and the bookseller business is genuinely struggling. I think deep down that people do care about their local bookstores and they will pay that extra pound to keep the industry alive.
Keep an eye out, Bookshop.org is coming to the UK in time for Christmas.
https://comingsoon.bookshop.org/bookshop-uk
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