Or, Help Me Stay On Hiatus And Maybe Get Free Books!
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Let me start by telling you a little about BookShop.org: For several decades, independent booksellers have been in decline. This is in keeping with the ordinary state of retail; online shopping was becoming the norm even before COVID. Books, however, are among the lowest-profit businesses out there, and keeping a shop is, in many cases, more an avocation than a business.
Most independent booksellers go through a supplier like Ingram to get their stock, especially if they are too small to deal directly with publishers. By the time COVID struck, there had long been a need for a way for local bookstores to compete online, and Amazon affiliate links simply don’t pay much. That’s why Bookshop was created: It’s Ingram, giving you a way to support your local bookseller.
Bookshop.org is a benefit corporation. By design, 75% of its profits go to local bookstores, affiliates, authors, publications, and the others who make up book culture. Their source is the same as your local book store; they go straight to Ingram for their wholesale supply. When you place an order there, 20% of your payment will go straight to your selected local shop. And, if you use an affiliate link like this one — https://bookshop.org/shop/TNFN — you can direct that a small percentage on top of that helps support The Not Fake News.
YOU WILL PAY MORE. If you want the good things in life, you’ve got to pay to keep them. So, yes, Amazon’s prices will almost definitely be lower than those at BookShop, and the shipping will often be faster. This is partly because Amazon’s business model has been to run at a loss in order to drive their competition under — and it works. Where’s Borders these days? Where’s that Barnes & Noble you used to go to?
Come to that: When was the last time you went to a great local mom and pop restaurant and got an amazing dinner cooked personally by the owner? I remember doing that when I was young, but… jeez; I can’t for the life of me remember the last time I got food that good by eating out. It’s all microwaved pasta like Olive Garden, reheated fish, freezer-burned steak, and fifteen other types of plastic-wrapped crap. I know one decent surviving barbecue stand near me, and there’s no decent pie closer than Washington, D.C. now that Fitzgerald’s closed.
If you want the good things in life, you’ve got to pay to keep them. Why you? you ask. Well, if not you then who?
One way to keep bookstores around is to shop at BookShop. And it beats leaving the house, which is the only other method.
Similarly, the only way you can keep The Not Fake News around is to send us money. You can send cash to PayPal in order to help support us, set up a subscription donation at Patreon, or buy us a coffee. If you want us gone, it’s simple: Don’t send a dime.
P.S. Yes, we’re still on hiatus. Stop complaining. -Editor
The Not Fake News 