It’s time for book lovers to turn the page on Amazon – and now there is no excuse

A website has launched in the UK that has the potential to transform the online book-buying experience and seriously rattle Amazon’s gilded cage, writes Rupert Hawksley

Jessica Graham of Primrose Hill Books talks to customers outside the independent shop  (AFP/Getty)

It was, perhaps, an unfortunate week to launch a bookshop. None of us had time to think about anything other than the US election – though the two things are linked by a certain amount of fiction, I suppose.  

Nevertheless, events across the pond – historic as they may be – must not be allowed to entirely overshadow some very good news for book lovers in this country. On Monday, a website called bookshop.org launched in the UK. It is no exaggeration to say that it has the potential to transform the online book-buying experience, while offering a much-needed lifeline to independent bookstores and seriously rattling Amazon’s gilded cage. There is, then, an awful lot to like about writer Andy Hunter’s literary venture, which he has brought over here after a successful launch in the US.

Here’s how it works. Independent bookstores – more than 130 of them already – sign up to the website, which allows them to display their stock online however they choose. This encourages visitors to browse in the way you might on the high street (by which I mean, of course, you pop in for one book and leave an hour later with a bagful of the things).

So Lutyens & Rubinstein on London’s Kensington Park Road, for example, recommends books under headers, such as “Take Your Mind Off Everything” and “Need a Drink?”. The Chorlton Bookshop in Manchester, meanwhile, is currently suggesting books under the banner, “You Think You’ve Got It Bad…” First up? Camus’ The Plague. Point taken!

In effect, you can wander around bookstores the length and breadth of the country from the comfort of your own home – very welcome indeed, as we endure a second national lockdown.

But the best thing is that the bookstores receive the full profit margin from each sale – 30 per cent of the cover price. And if you don’t have time to browse and simply want to order a specific title, the profits from that sale are split among participating stores. So far, almost £75,000 has been raised. Since January, $7.5m (£5.7m) has been raised for independent bookstores in the US, which gives you some idea of our appetite for an alternative to Amazon. Retail no doubt feels like a fairly lonely pursuit right now but, as bookshop.org illustrates, there really is strength in numbers.

Sadly, the danger with ventures such as these is that, after a high-profile launch and some early enthusiasm, customers begin to fall away, lured by Amazon’s unmatchable prices. I do hope bookshop.org avoids that fate, not out of sympathy or any particular desire to “stick it to the man” but because it is such a brilliant service. The books in Preston are different from the ones in Penzance, which are different from the ones in Portmeirion. Who knows what you’ll find.

Believe me, an hour spent browsing books and you’ll have forgotten all about the US elections and Donald Trump. Get on with it, though – he’ll have another book out soon. The Art of the Steal, perhaps?    

Yours,

Rupert Hawksley

Senior commissioning editor, Voices