I feel I should preface by saying that Bookshop.org is in no way affiliated with this post. It’s just a fact that bookstores hate Amazon, and therefore, authors should use other retail links when pitching for distribution and events.
I’m always shocked when authors who are also avid readers don’t know about the Amazon vs. Indie hostility. It seems so obvious to anyone working in publishing and/or bookselling why booksellers would abhor the giant undercutting prices and taking away valuable sales and loyal customers.
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My own loathing of Amazon aside, let’s look at the overall situation and dive into best practices for authors moving forward.
Amazon vs. Everyone Else
It’s no secret that most book sales come from Amazon. In fact, in 2020 the House Judiciary Committee states that “Amazon controlled more than 50 percent of the overall (online and offline) print book market and more than 80 percent of the e-book market.”
So obviously, there’s a competition grudge. Amazon takes away sales from your local bookstore, which leads to less income in general for the store. And running a bookstore is not cheap, so every sale counts.
To add insult to injury, Amazon doesn’t even need the sale to survive. In fact, Amazon operates as a loss-leader, meaning that they are willing to discount and price books so low, that they lose money on each sale. Why would they do that? Well, simply put, they make more money on your Prime subscription and other sales. They’re willing to give books away for practically nothing to keep you logged in and buying more through them.
Barnes & Noble and other bookstores can’t possibly compete with Amazon pricing because they need to make money on each sale to continue operating.
It doesn’t help matters that Amazon regularly schedules deals and promotions at the same time as indie bookstore holidays and events. Rude.
Indie Bookstore Attitudes
As you can see above, there is no love left to lose between booksellers and Amazon. Many booksellers not only actively boycott Amazon and its affiliates (including Goodreads), but they encourage others to do so as well. The American Bookseller Association actually runs whole campaigns with designed assets, social media posts, and more to educate readers about Amazon’s harmful practices.
Actually, let’s talk about Goodreads for a moment. Goodreads is a social media app designed for book readers to keep track of their to-be-read (TBR) lists and book reviews. You can follow friends and family to see what they’re reading as well. It’s the most popular site for those looking for social proof in the form of reader reviews. It’s also owned by Amazon.
That’s why you’ll see that a lot of more politically active readers and industry professionals use other reading tracking platforms like StoryGraph and Fable.
The hatred for Amazon runs so deep in booksellers, that many will actually shun those who regularly use or promote links from the giant. Including authors.
Best Practices for Authors
What does that mean for authors? Should they stop using Amazon at all?
Alas, most book sales do come from Amazon, so it’s rarely an option for an author to avoid it entirely. That being said, authors can still make small changes to their branding to get off on the right foot with bookstores.
Don’t Use Amazon Links When Pitching
It’s common practice to just grab your book’s Amazon URL when hyperlinking in an email. Do it once and then just copy and paste from the template for every pitch moving forward.
Bad move.
When asking for something from a bookstore, like an event, signing, or space on their shelves, it’s best not to send them their nemesis’ link. They will notice, and they will block you.
Instead, look up your book’s link on Bookshop.org and use that instead.
Bookshop.org is the independent response to Amazon that came to life over COVID. There was no easy way to shop brick-and-mortar bookstores when the world shut down, so a lot of readers switched to Amazon for their book needs. Easy peasy and much more navigable than most bookstore websites. To fight back, Bookshop.org was born and indie bookstores could sign up for affiliate accounts to use bookshop’s sales systems to sell their print inventory. They also get a good chunk of overall proceeds from all sales through the site.
Bookshop.org is just as easy to search and shop and any book published through Ingram or IngramSpark will automatically show up there. Bonus: authors can create their own affiliate accounts and use that link to their book to earn affiliate income on top of royalties for each sale.
Add All Your Books’ Retail Links to Your Author Website
When creating your author website, make sure you’re listing all of your books’ retail links, not just Amazon. Bookstores will actually visit your site and check! This means listing:
- Bookshop.org
- Barnes & Noble
- Amazon
- any bookstore stocking your book
Give your readers options for where to buy your book. Readers are a very loyal crowd. If they don’t have an Amazon Prime subscription, they probably pay for a Barnes & Noble membership and will shop there exclusively for books. If they don’t shop at Amazon or B&N, they probably have a blood bond with their local indie bookseller. Truly, the most opinionated and loyal people I know are readers.
Promote Reviews from Readers Outside of Goodreads and Amazon
When talking about your book, it’s easy to pull a review from Amazon or Goodreads to show social proof. “Look, other people like my book so you might too!” It’s a good practice. There’s just no need to limit oneself to those sites.
Like I mentioned above, many readers will post reviews on other platforms like StoryGraph, Fable, LibraryThing, etc. Throw some of those in when you promote your book. You can also search your book title on social media sites and repost those reviews to help with credibility.