What is BOOKSHOP.ORG?

Please Note: I’m taking a break from social media and all things for the month of March, so my replies to comments and return visits to bloggers will be delayed. I will get to it eventually, though. Promise. Thanks for your understanding! 

You may notice links to BookShop.org whenever I recommend books on here. Those links will be affiliate links. (There’s a notice in my sidebar about my usage of affiliate links for BookShop.org.)

When I found out about BookShop.org last year, I fell in love with what they do, and the fact that they’re NOT Amazon made me love them even more, so I jumped on becoming an affiliate to support them and their mission.

So, what is BookShop.org?

It’s a marketplace for books. That’s the obvious part. It’s what they stand for that’s awesome.

From their About page:

Bookshop is an online bookstore with a mission to financially support local, independent bookstores. 

We believe that bookstores are essential to a healthy culture. They’re where authors can connect with readers, where we discover new writers, where children get hooked on the thrill of reading that can last a lifetime. They’re also anchors for our downtowns and communities.

As more and more people buy their books online, we wanted to create an easy, convenient way for you to get your books and support bookstores at the same time.

If you want to find a specific local bookstore to support, find them on our map and they’ll receive the full profit off your order. Otherwise, your order will contribute to an earnings pool that will be evenly distributed among independent bookstores (even those that don’t use Bookshop). 

For more info: https://bookshop.org/pages/about 

In January I got a report from BookShop.org on their two year anniversary.

• They’d distributed over $21 million to independent bookstores worldwide.
• 1,323 bookstores earned $12.7 million in Bookshop.org direct commissions.
• 1,391 bookstores split $6 million from their profit-share pool.
• $250,000 donated to Binc’s Survive to Thrive campaign

Check out their full report here: https://public-production.bookshop.org/documents/Bookshop-2021-Impact-Report.pdf?

Doesn’t that all sound awesome? We need more leaders and business owners who think like this and do genuine good. 

I didn’t hesitate to sign up to join their affiliate program because this is a marketplace I want to support!

As an affiliate you:

• earn 10% on every sale
• a matching 10% is given to independent bookstores
• you can create your own shop on their website
• your shop  can contain an unlimited number of lists, which are just like virtual bookshelves, and those shelves can contain an unlimited number of books
• and you can, of course, use your affiliate links everywhere to promote the books you love and hopefully earn a commission on each sale

The process of becoming an affiliate was quick and painless. A few simple questions and a verification within days.

For more on becoming an affiliate: https://bookshop.org/affiliates/profile/introduction 

One thing that I love, as someone who has a ton of fun creating lists, are the book lists in my shop. I’ve created several based on specific themes.

The slideshows below allow you see a glimpse of my book recommendations for each theme. Click on the titles below to see the full list.

MY BOOK LISTS:

Check out my full shop HERE.

NOTE: Even self-published books and books from small independent publishers can be found there, so there’s a big chance that YOUR books are there, but be aware that the eBooks may not be listed because they get their eBooks through a partnership with Hummingbird (which is why books published by bigger publishers have the ebooks featured as well), so only the paperback versions of your books may be available on their site. This is the case for me and other authors I know.

TIP: For eBooks that are not on Bookshop.org you can download a free epub reading app on your laptop/iPad/iPhone and buy from eBook retailers that aren't Amazon. For instance, the Kobo Books app (which you can find in the App Store or Google Play for free) will let you purchase, download, and read eBooks just like your Kindle app does. Continue to read the eBooks you got from Amazon but make new purchases through Kobo. :)

 

Next time you want to buy a book (or eBook), check out Bookshop.org first and support independent bookstores worldwide!