Bookshop.org's new ebook platform directly benefits indie bookstores, offering book lovers an alternative to Amazon

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Bookshop.org revolutionized the online book market by connecting customers to brick-and-mortar bookshops who may not have the budget for a sleek e-commerce operation, and now they’ve set their sights on ebooks. The new platform, launched today, lets users buy ebooks directly from Bookshop, with every purchase supporting local bookstores.

“You should be able to buy an ebook from your local bookstore. It’s insane that you can’t!,” explains Andy Hunter, Bookshop’s CEO and founder. Ebooks are available on iPhone or Android through Bookshop’s app, or book lovers can buy titles directly from the website.

When customers designate a bookshop they want to support, all of the proceeds from that sale go to that shop. Otherwise, Bookshop.org pools proceeds to be split between different sellers and to fund its operations.

Bookshop.org launched in early 2020, and the timing was a lifeline for struggling small businesses affected by the pandemic. “More new bookstores have opened since 2020 than any other time in the past fifteen years. We’ve generated over $35 million in profits for local bookstores. Indie bookstores’ online sales overall are about 600% higher than in 2019, and Bookshop.org is a big piece of that,” explains Hunter.

The website launched with a team of only five people at a particularly dramatic time, and launching ebooks was a different kind of challenging. “Building a decent ebook platform has been comparably boring, but it’s extremely complex and a lot of work. To sell books, we partnered with a wholesaler who already had millions of books in their warehouses,” said Hunter. “For ebooks, we had to build a secure digital warehouse, sign on hundreds of publishers, and host millions of titles, with security that is no joke.”

And in true David and Goliath fashion, Hunter knows Bookshop is up against stiff competition from retailers like Amazon. “You also have to deal with skeptics who think it’s impossible to compete with Amazon. When I was trying to raise money from investors to build Bookshop.org, the most common response was, Amazon is going to crush you. Kindle is such a dominant ebook platform, and no one knows if we’ll be able to disrupt it–including us. But honestly, we only have to convert 1% of Kindle readers to support local bookstores for ebooks to be a successful, meaningful revenue stream for indie stores.”

While ebooks are currently only available through Bookshop’s app or website, Hunter hopes Bookshop can integrate with popular e-readers. “Later this year, we hope to support 3rd party e-ink devices like Kobo and Boox, and possibly even launch our own hardware e-reader one day.” Hunter wants to get support for Kindle, too. “Right now it’s not possible; we’ll need Amazon’s cooperation for that to happen. But there’s no good reason you shouldn’t be able to buy an ebook from a bookstore and read it on your Kindle, and we’re committed to trying to make that happen.”

You can check out some of Bookshop’s ebook bestsellers below.