Indie Bookstore Online Options: A Primer

Last week's announcement by libro.fm of the creation of Bookstore Link just a few weeks before the launch of Bookshop has caused some confusion in the book world, since the programs overlap in some ways but have significant differences in others--and similarities in some ways with IndieBound.org. Here Shelf Awareness aims to try to clarify matters.

Bookstore Link was created by Libro.fm, the private company that specializes in selling downloadable audiobooks through more than 900 independent bookstores. Bookstore Link is a simple tool that can be used by authors, media and people on social media to find a bookstore to purchase the print or audio version of a book. The links go to Libro.fm partner stores and are integrated with the ABA's IndieCommerce and IndieLite sites, as well as Bookmanager, so that consumers clicking on a title will be taken directly to a store's page for that book. Stores that don't partner with Libro.fm can sign up for free and be included in the Bookstore Link store listings. The bookstore keeps all the proceeds from the print book sale; the bookstore and Libro.fm share the proceeds of the audiobook sale under their normal agreement.

Libro.fm has had a marketing agreement with the ABA for libro.fm but not for Bookstore Link. Founder and CEO Mark Pearson says that the company has found that many Libro.fm users are listening to audiobooks and reading more print books, and Bookstore Link makes it easy for them to do so from their local bookstore. "Our goal is to drive traffic to stores' websites instead of Amazon," he says.

Bookshop is a B-Corp. (a for-profit entity that aims to be socially beneficial) created by Andy Hunter, a co-founder of Electric Literature, LitHub and Catapult, that intends to build "a network of publishers, authors, bookstagrammers, celebrity book clubs, and other media sites to target socially-conscious online consumers who are not yet buying their books online through an independent bookstore"--and keep their sales from going to Amazon. Hunter notes that Bookshop is ideal for publishers and other organizations that want to link somewhere that supports indies but don't want to limit it to a single store.

An affiliate of the ABA, Bookshop is designed to benefit independent bookstores in a variety of ways. Bookstores can participate by signing up as a partner and share in a pool of money created by Bookshop, representing 10% of Bookshop's gross sales. Bookstores that become affiliates (and can then work with Bookshop to create a website, links and content specific to the store, and sell through Bookshop) receive 25% of the gross sales they generate. Bookshop has three independent booksellers on its board. Hummingbird Digital Media will provide e-book sales on Bookshop. For now, there is no designated downloadable audio partner on Bookshop, although Libro.fm would be a logical choice; Hummingbird could also provide that service. Bookshop will launch later this month; it will be highlighted at Winter Institute next week.

Launched in 2008, the ABA's IndieBound.org site has offered consumers two ways to buy books, either directly through an IndieBound.org buy button or through an independent bookstore with IndieCommerce, IndieLite or another e-commerce solution. With the launch of Bookshop, which the ABA has been working with, IndieBound.org's buy buttons will go to Bookshop. In another major change, IndieBound.org will expand the roster of bookstores it refers customers to so that all ABA member stores, whether or not they have e-commerce websites, will be listed. (It had limited the roster to the approximately 500 members with IndieCommerce or IndieLite e-commerce sites as well as members with other e-commerce sites, so as not to frustrate consumers who wanted to buy books online as quickly as possible.)

While it's unlikely that indie booksellers can use all these online sales options together, they do overlap and have somewhat different focuses, offering indies a range of choice. As a result, ABA president Jamie Fiocco, owner of Flyleaf Books, Chapel Hill, N.C., says, "It will require more homework to be done by members to figure out what solution works best for them." She adds the ABA is always looking to "identify tools that will make us more viable." The association has been working with Bookshop for "a year now and we're excited about its release." Calling Libro.fm "a great partner," she says, "We look forward to working with them, too."

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