Bookshop.org now sells electronic books | Cabling

In the five years since its launch, Bookshop.org It has accumulated a fairly loyal follow -up. The online retailer shares his sales income with bookstores in the US . Until now, the bookstore has found success through the sale of physical books. Today, Bookshop is expanding its efforts in the digital kingdom.

Bookshop.org officially sells electronic books now. Or, as the company said, the bookstore now allows local bookstores to sell those electronic books through its market. The company today launched its official electronic book platform, completed with an application (on Android and iOS) to buy and read digital books.

Libraries can use the platform to sell electronic books directly to customers, and when they make a sale, the store gets all the money. Customers can also explore all electronic books for sale on the website, then choose which library to admit with their purchase. In that case too, the chosen bookstore gets all the money. (If the client does not choose a store to support, the bookstore puts a part of the profits in an exchange group that is distributed among independent stores, but maintains the rest to finance their operation).

The Bookshop CEO, Andy Hunter, sees a burning need for a better way to buy electronic books.

“It is crazy that bookstores cannot sell electronic books to their customers at this time,” says Hunter. He says he wants this program to continue your company’s mission to support local bookstores, but also expects this movement to also help Amazon a plug.

“I know tons of people who love their local bookstore, support them in any other way, but when they need an electronic book, they have to go to Amazon to buy that electronic book, even if they love and support their local bookstore and have ethical concerns about Amazonas . We want to change that. “

The bookstore was launched in January 2020, a few weeks before the world was closed due to Covid-19 pandemic. Physical bookstores, like many IRL retailers, faced an existential threat when large masses of people closed inside. Many stores had already been fighting the Goliats of Amazon, Walmart and the goal long before Pandemia restrictions lead more online purchases. The library landed at the right time to provide a kind of crutch for libraries with difficulties and offer an alternative to channel more money on Amazon dates.

It is possible that he has not kept all libraries or knocked down any electronic commerce empire, but the bookstore has done quite well, and has proven popular among readers eager to support independent stores. At the time of writing this article, BookShop says he has raised more than $ 35 million for local bookstores.

“Everyone wants diversity in the landscape,” says Hunter. “Whether you like Amazon or not, everyone understands that it is a healthier market for books when you have a lot of players who sell and competition between them.”