Keywords: blog , amazon , black bookstores , bookshop , bookstores , equal opportunity reader , ethical buying , indie bookstores , shopping for books , thoughtful purchases

I’ve also had people express concern about the price of Bookshop’s stock being more expensive than Amazon. The first thing to remember is that part of what guarantees the low prices of a megacorp like Amazon is dodging corporate taxes and exploiting their workers in addition to buying and distributing in massive bulk. Bookshop sells books on behalf of indie booksellers who don’t have the ability to do these things, so sometimes their prices are higher(especially on popular titles and hardbacks). For small press and indie press books they’re very competitive, I find. As the site grows and begins to ship internationally, hopefully their prices will get better across the board. I understand book budgets though (since I’m always over mine), which brings me to my second point. Bookshop isn’t always more expensive. Recently I wanted to buy the e-book of the necromancer fantasy adventure Gideon the Ninth. I checked prices on Amazon and Bookshop and on the latter–the book is a whole dollar cheaper! I’d encourage you to use Bookshop when they have a competitive price like this, and keep checking in as their site grows.

https://equalopportunityreader.com/2020/08/22/faq-why-i-link-to-bookshop-instead-of-amazon