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> Bookshop offers another option. Say you’re a small bookstore owner. It takes only a few minutes to set up a digital storefront on Bookshop’s website, list wha
by TulliusCicero 4y ago
> Bookshop offers another option. Say you’re a small bookstore owner. It takes only a few minutes to set up a digital storefront on Bookshop’s website, list what books you want to sell, and, if you want, curate collections of titles to reflect your store’s worldview. You don’t have to actually stock any of the books yourself; Bookshop partners with the wholesaler Ingram to fulfill orders, so you’re off the hook for inventory and shipping. You get a 30 percent cut of the cover price on any book sold through your storefront. (If you’re a blogger, writer, influencer, or other bookish type, you can join Bookshop as an individual, even if you don’t own a brick-and-mortar bookstore, and take home a 10 percent cut on whatever you sell.)
I'm confused. It sounds like the independent booksellers in this scenario are doing basically nothing of note, their web store fronts are just an ad for bookshop.org where the indie gets a large cut. Is that right?
- 35208654 4y agoThey are lending their brand to Bookshop.org, which profits also from selling books (that’s how they can afford to stay in business). I’m a big fan of Bookshop. I just wish they could break into the DRM free epub business. Libro.fm managed to get into the DRM free audiobook business somehow.
- waynesonfire 4y agoYeah, this sounds like a terrible idea.
- bart_spoon 4y agoSo it’s literally just dropshipping.
- Hermel 4y agoI think it is about curation.
- rocketbop 4y agoSounds a bit like dropshipping.
- nordsieck 4y ago> It sounds like the independent booksellers in this scenario are doing basically nothing of note, their web store fronts are just an ad for bookshop.org where the indie gets a large cut. Is that right? I mean, they're sending traffic. I don't think that's "nothing of note".
- oxfordmale 4y agoBook curation, or for that matter, any trustworthy product curation, is highly valuable. You used to be able to ask a bookshop keeper for recommendations based on your preferences and reading history. However, most independent bookshops have now disappeared from the UK. If you only read one genre, such as romantic novels, recommendation engines will easily find your next good read. If your reading habits are more eclectic, this provides a way to look at curated content from your favourite storefronts.
- beauzero 4y agoIt's also very expensive, for an indie bookstore, to get book metadata legally since Baker and Taylor was acquired by Follett and to drive online traffic in a cost effectively.
- paganel 4y ago> Book curation, or for that matter, any trustworthy product curation, is highly valuable I can vouch for that. A small foreign-books bookshop in the city I live in has recently hired a new bookshop seller and, as such, the selection of books has slightly changed. For the better, from my pov, as I'm now in there every week or so and each time I get something I didn't know I had wanted (until seeing it in there, that is). All this to say that the unknown unknowns are a real problem when it comes to purchasing books, and a curator who can solve that for the clients of a bookshop is a highly valuable asset.
- shanebellone 4y ago"unknown unknowns" This is an interesting point and a crux for many small businesses. I suppose curation is being monetized many ways, including subscription clothing boxes. In theory, I think this represents the problem that "influencers" should have fixed.
- oxfordmale 4y agoUnfortunately, most influencers get paid to endorse products and are nothing more than human ad bots. There was a sting in the UK where unwitting influencers agreed to promote a poisonous cyanide drink.
- marban 4y agoAmazon is doing the same with amazon.com/shop/{username} if you sign up as an influencer — I think it's a little known feature though. Works internationally.