Back in November, we reported on Bookshop, a new online bookstore that hopes to snatch a tiny percentage of sales away from Amazon. The goal: help support independent bookstores and the wider literary community by providing a “virtuous alternative” to Amazon. Last week, Bookshop went live, although it’s still in beta.
At the American Booksellers Association Winter Institute, Bookshop founder Andy Hunter said that Bookshop’s sales goal for 2023 is $36 million, or 1 percent of Amazon’s sales. (No small goal.) So far, The New York Times and The New York Review of Books have agreed to link every book review and bestseller list title with Bookshop. On average, Bookshop will discount books by 8 percent. Anyone can become a Bookshop affiliate and earn 10 percent off sales they generate.
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.
Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.
