Bookshop.org - The Amazon Competitor

Hello everyone! I hope your writing is going well this month as we are now at the halfway point. For those who aren’t keeping up with the approx. 1667 words per day, don’t sweat it. Just consistently writing will help you reach your ultimate goal of finishing your story.

Today, I want to talk a little bit about a new bookshop alternative to Amazon. Bookshop.org is an online bookstore that supports local, independent bookstores. For a long time, local and independent bookstores struggled to financially keep up with Amazon. During COVID, it’s even more difficult for local bookstores to stay in business. Less foot traffic means less sales and rent for bookstores don’t just stop because of pandemic.

Many have had to either quickly pivot to online stores to reach customers or be left behind. What Bookshop.org does is help those bookshops with another revenue option. For all books purchased on Bookshop.org, they share about 75% of their profit margin with bookstores, publications, and authors along with a 10% match for independent bookstores on all affiliate link purchases.

By no means does this fix everything, but every little bit does help. The Chicago Tribune said it best when they said:

““Bookshop.org hopes to play Rebel Alliance to Amazon’s Empire.””

— Chicago Tribune

At least, that is what it feels like when you support Bookshop. I don’t actually think Amazon is the evil Empire, but they do have a definite advantage due to their size of operations. Helping support local and independent bookstores, along with your local libraries, is incredibly important to preserving literary options and opportunities for everyone. Low income communities can be especially hard hit by situations such as these and support is often needed.

I have joined the affiliate program and will be doing some posts in the future with affiliate links. I will disclose when I do and if you find a story you really want in your collection, please feel free to purchase. Otherwise, if you don’t have the money, support your local library and check books out. The staff at your local library really enjoy people checking out books.

Until next time, read, write, repeat.

J.J.

I am back...and I'm PUBLISHED!!!

Remember a few blogs ago I mentioned I had a big surprise? Well, this is the surprise. I will have my first short story published in the anthology, "The Monsters Hiding in Your Closet."

The anthology is about monsters that can be found in your closet. Well, maybe not your closet, but somebodies. There are 10 stories in total, all geared to children 9-12 years old, but I think teens and parents could enjoy them as well!

I have been waiting a few months to officially announce this and I am beyond excited to finally see the anthology come together. Right now, it is in the process of heading off to print.

The anthology drops October 1st, but you can pre-order the anthology here on Amazon.

Now that I am back after a month of near silence, I hope to bring some more comic book reviews your way. I am going to push my original timelines back a bit, focusing on a blog per month.

Why?

Because I want to bring quality content together and I feel like a full month gives me the time to actually deliver. Longer, more focused content around comics, movies, and writing. Hopefully more content you want to see. For example, do you want to learn about how to network with other writers or how I got involved in publishing a short story to an anthology? I can answer questions like that.

So, please leave a response in the comments what you would like to see more of. More comic book reviews? Writing Prompts? Challenges?

Let me know and I can start getting you the content you would like to see. You can email me, but the best ways to get in touch are through the comment section below and my Twitter: @JjLahr.

-J.J.