Hi, all! Welcome back to my blog. Today I'm super excited to be talking about my newest quarantine obsession: BookShop. In late March, I wrote an article with suggestions on supporting local book stores. The article is linked here if you would like to read it!
* I am an affiliate with BookShop, so I earn a commission if you use my link and make a purchase!
BookShop's mission is "to financially support local, independent bookstores." They are basically a better version of Amazon for books. I love their mission and their commitment to supporting indie bookstores all around the country. Amazon is currently holding a monopoly on book sales –– which means bad things for indie and big-box book stores everywhere. BookShop is working to counter this damage.
My favorite part is that I can choose which bookstore I want the profits of my purchase to go to! BookShop says that my selected store will "receive the full profit off [my] order." And if I don't choose a bookstore, "[my] order will contribute to an earnings pool that will be evenly distributed among independent bookstores (even those that don’t use Bookshop)." I've most recently been supporting Book Passages, which is a popular store in the Bay Area, and one that I frequent a lot!
Of course, you can always directly support your indie stores through their own website, but I have found that this is a bit more convenient. BookShop's website is more streamlined and accessible than some catalogs at bookstores. One thing that should be noted is that not all indie bookstores have a page on BookShop. The way to check this is to go to the map icon on the top right-hand corner and typing in your zip code or the specific book store name. When you find the store you want to support, click the visit website button to go to their page. From there, you should be supporting them by directing the profits to that store.
I also enjoy looking through the lists that my friends and other bookstagrammers have curated. Right now, they are also offering discounts on the books during this test phase that they are in. It isn't a huge Book Outlet type of discount, rather a discount of 10% and below.
From an affiliate-side of things, it is a bit tedious to add books to my lists. I have to find the ISBN for every single book, which makes inputting my Goodreads lists seem daunting. But, it is worth it –– it is so much easier now for me to buy books that I've seen other bookstagrammers talk about. My current lists include my favorite retellings, worth the hype, and must-reads books on my Goodreads list. I always talk about these books on my Instagram so I felt it only appropriate to include them in my first couple of lists.
BookShop has pretty much all the books you could want –– including preorders (they get the discount too)! I have bought and preordered a couple of times already and am super pleased with my experience! You can start shopping now by clicking here!
Feel free to leave any questions you may have about BookShop and I'll get back to you ASAP!