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.

New Year, New Goals, New Everything!

It's New Year's Eve and during this time of year everyone is putting out New Year resolutions. Instead of New Year resolutions, I would rather do goals. So, without further ado, here are my New Year goals.

Sad robot is waiting for the ball to drop...2016 was rough for him.

1. Blog every Friday: Yep, you heard it here first. As you may know, my blog posts have been weekly, but inconsistent. So, I will be moving them to Friday to accommodate my schedule and start the weekend off right...accompanied by movies, good books, and video games.
2. Get five short stories published: As you may have seen, I have only released one short story for viewing and I really want to do more. However, publishing them on my website is completely different than getting a story published in a magazine or anthology. I hope to get some of my short stories published in Asimov, Clarkesworld, Analog, or the ultimate long-shot for my romance stories...The New Yorker.
3. Read more novels...and finish them: I don't read nearly as much as I should. I haven't finished Dune...or Wool...or Game of Thrones...or Mr. Mercedes...or whatever book I plan on buying this weekend.
4. Attain agent representation for my novel: I have a novel written, edited, beta-read, and edited again. All I need to do is find the right agent. In order to accomplish this goal, I plan on submitting queries to 2-3 agents per week.
5. Lose Weight: I know I sound like every January member at Fitness Evolution, but I do need to work on it. The weight is packing on too easily and wanting to stick around like the cold death grip of Minnesota's winter. It's time for me to melt a modest 10 pounds of fat through consistent workout and smarter eating.

So, now you know my New Year goals. What are your goals? Leave a comment on what yours are or message me on Twitter. May you all have a great New Year and remember: Don't be like the sad robot above.