The BookSmarts Podcast, with Joshua Tallent
Arts:Books
In this episode, Joshua talks with Andy Hunter, Founder & CEO of BookShop.org. Andy started BookShop out of a concern for the future of independent bookstores. As Amazon has grown and taken a larger share of the online book selling market, publishers have become more dependent on that one store. BookShop aims to give more power back to indie booksellers and to publishers, by providing a convenient platform both for bookstores and for consumers to use, and by providing access to an affiliate program that pays 10% of the sale price of a book.
Andy talks about his reasons for starting BookShop, and reflects on being surprised at just how many readers are willing to forego buying books at Amazon in order to support their local bookstores. He also talks about what metadata would most help him as a bookseller to sell more books, calling out specifically the need for a higher-level categorization system that is more consumer-friendly than BISAC and the need for more options around book spreads and samples for complex books.
Finally, Andy talks about where he sees hope for the future in publishing. He appreciates that he is seeing more focus on innovation and more understanding of the need for a diverse ecosystem and more consumer choice. Innovation, though, is still lacking; for example, the use of proprietary DRM makes it hard for consumers to read their ebooks wherever they want. There is a chance that the industry will be more supportive of innovators and of new ways of book selling, but there are some potential roadblocks to that hopeful future. Andy also expresses concern about the fracturing of the market with more publishers focusing on direct-to-consumer options instead of focusing support on current book selling options like indie bookstores.
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/booksmarts/messageEpisode 23: Mark Herschberg How Books Might Escape the Page
Episode 22: George Slowik, Jr. on the 150th Anniversary of Publishers Weekly
Episode 21: Thad McIlroy on Metadata Quality, the Backlist, and more
Episode 20: Todd Sattersten on The Magic Number
Episode 19: Scott Miller on Publishing at FranklinCovey
Episode 18: Robin Whitten on Audiobook Demographics and Quality
Episode 17: Fran Toolan on Cybersecurity
Episode 16: Nick Espinosa on Cybersecurity
Episode 15: Updates on Keywords and Reviews
Episode 14: Mary McAveney on Book Discovery
Episode 13: Alessandra Torre on Indie Author Strategies that Publishers Can Use
Episode 12: Michael Cader on Challenges and Opportunities in Publishing
Episode 11: Recent Kindle Changes: A+ Pages and the Death of the MOBI Format
Episode 10: The Need for Standards
Episode 9: Erik Nelson on Branding and Marketing
Episode 8: Everything You Wanted to Know About Keywords
Episode 6: Clay Tablets and Metadata Overwriting
Episode 5: Ian Lamont on Advertising and Direct-to-Consumer Sales
Episode 4: Drs. Rachel Noorda and Kathi Inman Berens on Book Discovery
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Lit Society: Books and Drama
Ex Libris
Write The Book: Conversations on Craft
Gulliver’s Travels
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Fresh Air
Myths and Legends