New online platform to help US indies compete with Amazon

In the US, a new website designed to help independent bookstores compete with Amazon will launch in January, reports Publishers Weekly.

Backed by the American Booksellers Association (ABA), Bookshop is a mobile-friendly website with one-click ordering for physical books and digital audio titles, but not ebooks. Ingram will handle inventory and customer fulfilment.

Ten percent of the list price of every book sold through the site goes into a pool to be distributed every six months to ABA members that opt in as Bookshop partners, while stores that use the platform to sell books through website, newsletter and social media links will also earn 25% of the list price of each book sold.

The site, which was developed by Electric Literature and Literary Hub co-founder Andy Hunter, has investors including the ABA, Grove Atlantic publisher Morgan Entrekin and Hearst chair Will Hearst. Its development came after the ABA acknowledged its consumer website IndieBound has been unable to effectively convert customer traffic to sales.

Category: International news