Hey everyone and welcome to Owl Book World! With there being a lot of readers out there I want to be able to give everyone another option of where to get books. I’m getting to the point where I’m getting tired of putting money into someone’s pocket that makes three times as someone who owns an independent book store. I’d rather put my money towards someone who actually needs it and it probably struggling right now because of covid. If I’m like that then I’m sure there are even more people out there who feel the same way. Eventually, I’m going to do a post on alternatives of Amazon but first I want to bring up Bookshop. What is Bookshop? And exactly do they help independently owned stores?
So, have you been seeing bookshop.org around but not really sure what it is? Or are you looking for an alternative to buying books from Amazon? I didn’t discover bookshop until this year and that was through another book blogger. So, now I’m curious if this is something that needs to be addressed a little more and make more people aware of it. In this post, I’m going to be talking about what exactly indie bookstores are and what bookshop is along with how they benefit from each other.
What is an indie bookstore?
An indie bookstore is basically a shorter name of independent bookstore. So what exactly are indie bookstores? Indie bookstores are locally owned bookstores. Indie book stores aren’t your big chain stores like Books A Million or Barnes and Noble. Big chain stores are typically restricted to customers in that particular town or city. They are able to run things their own way and don’t have these crazy rules like big corporate bookstores.
Indie Bookstores are the types of stores that will benefit from your book-buying obsession a lot more than Amazon. I get that Amazon is convenient and you can get stuff in a lot quicker, but I’ve gotten to the point where I want my money to start benefiting someone who doesn’t have billions of dollars. So, I’m hoping in the next year I can start buying more and more from locally-owned stores.
What is Bookshop?
Bookshop is completely online and is a good option to actually help and support those indie bookstores. If you were planning on buying them through Amazon you might as well go to Bookshop. Most of the books are going to be around the same price and you’ll be helping the “little guy”. Not every indie bookstore is on there though.
That’s the only downside. You’ll have to search for the independent book store that you are looking for. The only thing is that not every bookstore is set up there. If you would rather buy books online then you can still do that but you will be supporting a different indie store. Otherwise, you might have to go to the store in order to get it.
One of the best things about Bookshop is that you can also get a gift card through them. This is the perfect idea if you’re buying a gift for someone!
Why is BookShop perfect for you and indie bookstores?
Bookshop is the perfect place for book lovers. Why? Because you’re not putting more money in Amazon’s pocket. Indie bookstores have been struggling a lot lately because of COVID. I’m sure many have closed down because of it. So if you’re going to get the book(s) no matter what then I suggest using this outlet!
I hope this post gives you a sense of what exactly Bookshop is and how important it can be for smaller bookstores. Bookshop is a good option for those who can’t really make it to the store or for those who just don’t live near an indie bookstore. At least the money will be going to people who actually need it!
If you need some ideas of what to get from the website you can either find my storefront on Bookshop here or you can check out my book recommendations here.