The Aussie book world has been rocked by the collapse of Booktopia. Its demise has left many avid readers wondering where they go to discover and order a wide range of titles online.
It's a valid concern as large online book retailers like Amazon and Booktopia are able to offer readers access to a wide range of books, often at crazy discounts.
Unlike Amazon, Booktopia was also an Australian company known for supporting Australian authors and books. Their demise has left a void in the market.
Thankfully it's 2024 - It's a void easily filled
If this had happened ten years ago, we'd be in serious trouble. But in 2024, there are many who can step up to fill this void.
Online shopping is no longer a novelty: Building an eCommerce business with secure payment and efficient delivery is now within the reach of many. Hey, even we have managed to do it!
Folks no longer need to go to large online marketplaces for convenience. You can shop online just as easily from people creating the works - whether it be independent artisans or small businesses.
The price differential often isn't great either, especially when you take account of the quality. Besides, for many, the broader benefits to their community that stems from them buying direct or buying local, outweighs the costs.
Your first stop in a post Booktopia world: Authors and Small Press
Over the past decade many authors have also had to embrace the online world. Today, most have their own websites and social media presence. Many will be selling their books directly online and if not, will have links to their preferred booksellers listed on their website.
All it takes is a google search - and sometimes a willingness to explore pages 5-10 of the search result - to find what you are looking to.
Shopping directly from authors and small press not only allows readers to develop a direct connection to the people creating the works but also contribute towards making writing more sustainable for authors.
It is probably not widely known, but with the exception of a handful, authors in Australia earn well below the poverty line from their craft alone. Buying direct from authors gives a much-needed boost to income.
So if you can, please start your search for books on author or small press websites, like ours.
Looking to shop a wider range?
The above approach will work for some but unfortunately not for most books, especially if they have been published by large, global publishers who have all sorts of distribution arrangements in place and don't allow their authors to sell directly.
In this case the next best avenue are booksellers - but not just any booksellers but independent ones who are indispensable to the local communities in which they operate - and boy, do we have a tale to share about them!
A vanlife book tour to learn the book trade
When it comes to researching a topic, I am nothing if not thorough - and my methods tend to be anything but conventional. So, when Darren and I finally decided to take the plunge and start our own small press, of course I insisted that we setup our van as a camper and embark on an epic road trip along the East Coast to visit every 'indie bookseller' we could find :)
Darren was a bit reluctant of the unconventional approach to begin with ... but soon realised that there was some method to my madness:
There is no better way to learn the book trade than from the folks who have been riding the ups and downs of the trade for decades.
The booksellers that won our hearts
Small business owners tend to have a lot going on at any one time. I knew that if we attempted to making appointments etc, we'd get nowhere. We decided to simply rock up at a town, walk the streets until we came upon a bookseller and see if they'd like to have a chat.
Half of the time, we hit the jackpot: We managed to connect with wonderful bookstore owners who took time out and shared their wisdom about the book trade with us.
Hearing our plans and seeing our first book, most of them also immediately stocked our books, with some re-ordering new titles even to this day.
The market validation was a bonus.
I've meticulously kept a record of these booksellers who generously shared their time, counsel and cashflow with us - and knew one day that this list would serve a higher purpose ...
Find great independent booksellers on our "Buy Local" directory
In the wake of Booktopia's demise, it is my pleasure to share with you our hand curated listing of great independent booksellers in Australia - folks who 'walk the talk' and truly support local authors, illustrators and small press.
Our "Buy Local" directory is filled with people with heart: A foray into their charming bookstores will make your day. They certainly made ours.
Like authors, most independent booksellers have also had to embrace the internet. Today most have an online catalogue you can browse and an online store you can order through.
Booksellers also tend to work with a handful of larger distributors which gives them access to almost every book that is currently in print - most will be able to find and order any book you can think of under the sun.
These indie booksellers are definitely the next best option to buying directly from authors and small press.
A final note - If you can, give Amazon a skip
When Amazon first started, they were seen as a godsend by publishers and authors alike. They breathed a new life into publishers' 'backlist' and over time, grew to also provide a big audience to launch new books with.
Unfortunately, as Amazon grew larger and gained market dominance, they started keeping more and more of the value from books sales for themselves - often through less than noble means...
They also failed to pass on any of the efficiency gains that comes from operating at the scale they do - neither to their consumers, nor to their suppliers and definitely not to their long suffering warehouse employees.
Indeed, Amazon has at every opportunity kept the lion's share of the value themselves, whilst reducing books to the status of "loss leaders" to fuel the rest of their online marketplace business.
This is one of the reasons why books on Amazon (and other large discount retailers) can be so cheap (remember the crazy discounts) - making it impossible for independent booksellers to compete or for authors to make a living.
The large global publishers, being for-profit entities who have to generate shareholder returns, also share the blame in creating this mess. As the cost of doing business with Amazon increased, much to their discredit, they passed these down to their already low paid authors.
These days, an authors would be lucky to walk away with 10% of the book's RRP as royalties. However, if the book is sold through one of the large discount retailers, well it is a lot less.
That $25 book you just bought barly earned its author $2.00. Hasten a guess at how many copies of a given book sells over its lifetime and that "below poverty line" statistic will start making sense...
For the sake of our human culture, we cannot afford to give any more value away to behemoths like Amazon. Through their own choices and actions, they have lost their social license to operate.
In a post Booktopia world, if you can, give Amazon a pass and shop directlly with authors, small press and indie bookshops instead.
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