One aspect of writing that I never gave much thought to before publishing a book was how to sell that book—or how books are sold in general. I figured I’d write it first and worry about selling it afterwards.
In the last several months, I’ve learned a lot. I’ve met with a ton of independent booksellers, done presentations, and feel like I’ve gotten to peel back the curtain on this whole thing.
Behind the Curtain
There’s Amazon, of course, and the Barnes & Noble online store—probably the most widely known places to buy a book. But for bookstores to sell it, you also need to have your book available through a distributor like IngramSpark. That’s where booksellers can purchase it at a discounted price so they can still make a profit.
And booksellers need all the help they can get. There are only so many left in my home state of New Hampshire, and it’s hard for them to compete when someone can hop on Amazon and get the same title for a few dollars less.
The Preferred Online Vendor of Books for Indie Booksellers… Bookshop.org
During my book touring, I met several booksellers who told me they preferred Bookshop.org over all other online vendors because it supports local bookstores. When you make a purchase, you can designate a store you want to support, or let Bookshop.org allocate a portion of the proceeds to all participating indie shops.
This sounded like a good idea to me, so I made an affiliate store on Bookshop.org to help support the concept and share some of my favorite books. If you want to check it out, you can find it here: https://bookshop.org/shop/seekers
Bookshop.org allows you to create categories to highlight why certain books are important to you.
What’s Next
Over time, I’ll be adding more books and categories to the shop, but I started with a small selection of favorites. I think the next category I’ll add will be recent books that caught my attention—my own book club of sorts. If you have categories you’d like to see, please let me know. And if you were planning on buying a book through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or another giant like Walmart, please consider purchasing it through Bookshop.org to support your local bookstore.
Because when it comes to buying a book, nothing beats the experience of browsing a real store and holding the real thing. I know life is hectic, which makes Amazon the easy play, but Bookshop.org offers a way to reward the in-person experience when we don’t have time to get there.
Hope you give it a shot—and if you do, let me know how it goes.
Thanks,
Matt
Navigating the Book World
If you are interested in reading more about navigating the world of writing, I share much of what I learn and go through at In Writing.