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Buying Books and Feeling Good About It

October 7, 2023

books

On Wednesday I shared a 5-star memoir about a woman who worked as an executive at Amazon for over a decade. I knew, even as I was making my disdain for Amazon clear in my review (it’s a horrible company and Bezos a walking Napoleon complex in an interminable midlife crisis), that I was on shaky ground for anyone who’s been reading The Gilmore Guide to Books regularly. Under every book I review is a purchase link to Amazon. If I find them to be so vile and reprehensible, then why do I advertise for them? Hypocritical, right?

Believe me, I have wrestled with this since I started this blog. Unfortunately, while I love The Gilmore Guide to Books it does cost money to operate and being an Amazon affiliate is a way to earn a small amount of cash for those expenses. Also, I am a huge supporter of independent bookstores and do all my book shopping where I live, but know that many of my readers don’t have indie stores near them. Or they only read e-books, making Amazon their only option.  Thankfully, there’s a group out there now that allows you to support small book stores AND get all the newest releases.

A bit of explanation is in order. Bookshop.org is a nonprofit organization that lets customers buy a book online and have the proceeds go to the independent bookstore of their choice. Their link comes first under my review. When you click on it you’ll be purchasing the book from an indie store and I’ll get a small commission (no cost to you). You can set up a free account the same way you do with Amazon. They charge shipping fees, but the books are discounted to offset them. More importantly, the profits go directly to either the store you choose or a pooled fund comprised of all participating stores (over 1,000 stores and growing).

Finally, you’ll notice a new search bar on the right-hand side of the blog page.

You can use it to search Bookshop for any of the books you want. Easy peasy and feels so much better than giving an egomaniacal manchild YOUR money to go to space rather than give back (proportionately) to the planet and people who made his billions possible.

 

And in case you were wondering—the adorable kitten with a book graphic was my attempt at to ease my guilt for still having an Amazon link. Because who doesn’t love kittens and books?!!

 

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8 Comments
Filed Under: Feature Tagged: books, essays

Comments

  1. Gayle Weiswasser says

    October 7, 2023 at 11:06 am

    Hi! My understanding is that the indies get a 30% commission on books sold through Bookshop, which is less than the commission they get on sales through their stores. Not sure if that is every sale or the ones that are done though a particular bookstore account on Bookshop. Either way, it’s a great option if you can’t buy directly from an indie.

    Reply
    • Catherine says

      October 8, 2023 at 5:52 pm

      Oh, no! In the About section of their site I saw (Under Buy A Book): “Your order will be filled by our distributor and the full profit from your purchase will sent to the bookstore you’ve selected” and believed it. I thought that’s why they’re a non-profit–was I being too naive?

      Reply
  2. Lisa’s Yarns says

    October 7, 2023 at 2:08 pm

    I totally get that you can hate Amazon but still need the affiliate revenue. I am glad that places like Bookshop.org! I have used them before and it’s really slick! I don’t buy books often as I almost exclusively read ebooks from the library. So when I do buy a book, I try to get it from an Indie. I am planning to visit Parnassus Books next Friday when I am in the Nashville area for work! I’m so excited to see it with my own eyes! I also really want to go to The Bookshelf in Thomasville, GA!

    Reply
    • Catherine says

      October 15, 2023 at 5:27 pm

      Lucky you! What fun that must have been.

      I’m the same way, the majority of my books come from the library.

      Reply
  3. Laila says

    October 8, 2023 at 8:27 am

    Good on you for including the Bookshop.org link. They’re great. I give Bezos enough of my money with other products, unfortunately.

    Reply
    • Catherine says

      October 15, 2023 at 5:26 pm

      Oh, I’m not completely innocent. It’s impossible not to shop Amazon. My standard is to look for whatever it is locally and only if I can’t find it at any other store or online shop will I buy it. And never books, but I’m lucky to live somewhere with great libraries and stores.

      Reply
  4. susan says

    October 17, 2023 at 6:39 am

    Bookshop sounds good to me. Thx for explaining about it. Now about those audios …

    Reply
    • Catherine says

      October 19, 2023 at 6:07 pm

      For me it’s not audio, but the stranglehold Amazon has on e-books. Thank God, for the library.

      Reply

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