Help Indie Bookstores with Bookshop
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If I had to be isolated anywhere other than my home it would definitely be a bookstore. Just think of how many books on my To Be Read list I could get through!
When we lived in California most date nights with my husband would end with a trip to one of several independent book stores near us, and basically anywhere I travel a nearby bookshop is as much a must-see destination as any other cultural or historic or beautiful attraction we could visit.
Which is why I did a bit of a happy dance in my living room when I heard about Bookshop.org and its mission to help Indie bookstores thrive in the age of Amazon.
Up until now, when anyone has written a story online referencing a book the only place to link to purchase the book has been Amazon. Well, there are others like Barnes and Noble and Books a Million, but they aren’t nearly as big or popular as the Big A.
Because of this, small shops have struggled gaining attention with an online presence for years. That all changed a few months ago with the launch of Bookshop.org. “Bookshop is an online bookstore with a mission to financially support independent bookstores and give back to the book community.”
A percentage of every sale made through the site goes into a fund to be distributed to all of the shops involved. According to their website, the idea came to be because “we wanted to create an easy, convenient way to get your books and still support local bookstores. We also wanted to create a place where authors, groups, individuals, and publications can earn affiliate fees that benefit local bookstores.”
Through Bookshop, you can search for your favorite local bookstore, or any shop around the country that has signed on.
For example, last fall I visited Salem, Mass. with my mom and sisters. We visited Wicked Good Books and picked up a few great looking reads to take home. It’s a charming shop, filled with new and used books and gift items, including plenty of spooky ghost themed ones. While I may not be able to visit in person again any time soon, I can support them through Bookshop.
So, what if you don’t have a local favorite? They’ve got you covered with their “Find a bookshop” option. You just type in your zipcode and search. It’ll list stores up to 250 miles away.
I’ve enjoyed that feature, because I’ve found that there are more stores in my area than I thought that I’ve been ordering from.
Happy reading!
Vibrant Mom Books "Book Store" is Open | Vibrant Mom Society | 7th May 20
[…] talking about? How do you create a virtual bookstore? Welllllll, like I mentioned in the post about how to help indie bookstores, there is a new way to link to books you write about other than Amazon called Bookshop.org. It […]