Bookshop Review for Bloggers
Earn money and save local bookstores as a blogger!
Hey everyone!
I wanted to draw your attention to a startup, that I anticipate you will be hearing more about in the coming months.
Bookshop, which was founded to support independent bookstores, distributes earnings through a pooled fund and provides digital storefronts that let local stores keep the profits on any sales they generate. Launched in late January, Bookshop has served as a lifeline for indie booksellers during a pandemic that has forced many of them to shut up shop.
Bookshop is relevant to Blogging Guide readers for two main reasons:
Bookshop is directly taking on Amazon, in its attempt to save local stores and indie booksellers (which I think is an admirable goal).
Bookshop’s affiliate program is open to everyone—even individual bloggers. The approval process takes 2 minutes, and it pays out a higher royalty than Amazon currently does on affiliate book sales. If you have a blog, write on Medium, publish on Substack, or just want to put together a useful list of books, you can easily do so with Bookshop, and get paid a 10% affiliate commission on any books sold through your link.
Bookshop’s affiliate program is open to all — whether you’re a “Bookstagrammer” with a dozen followers or a magazine with a national audience. Hunter says the set-up is simple and that out of 5,000 affiliates, only around 100 have asked Bookshop for help with the process.
Affiliate Sign Up Process
Step 1. Sign Up
Go to the Bookshop website and create an affiliate account.
Step 2. Confirm Email
Step 3. Fill Out Your Profile
How Do You Make Money Through Bookshop?
You can create a list of recommended books. You can then share this list. If someone buys one of the books, you will receive a 10% affiliate commission. For example, here is the store I created for Blogging Guide (it took maybe 3 minutes):
You can search for a book in the Bookshop system. When you view the book’s product page, scroll down past the book description, and you will see a button allowing you to copy your personalized affiliate link for that book. You can share this link anywhere and will receive a 10% commission if someone purchases a book through it.
As I discussed in a previous article, Amazon is already slashing its affiliate payout rates. Until now there was not a great alternative for promoting books.
As a blogger or writer, affiliate earnings should always be one of your streams of revenue.
However, now with Bookshop, there appears to be a viable alternative. So I would suggest setting up an account, and look for places to add these links in your existing or future content.
Some ideas on where you might post one of these links:
Medium Articles (note: this may affect your article getting curated, but it is allowed as long as you include some sort of disclaimer—such as “Disclosure: I am an affiliate of Bookshop.org and I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.” to your website or post.
Substack Newsletter
Instagram
Pinterest
Your Personal Blog
Email List
Friends, family, or anyone looking for a recommendation
I hope you found this Bookshop review for bloggers useful!
Until next time!
Casey
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