Why We Recommend Bookshop.org — The Publishing Times

The Publishing Times explains why we recommend Bookshop.org to indie authors — covering the 10% affiliate commission, author shop setup, indie bookstore support…

For most self-published authors, the conversation about where to sell books begins and ends with Amazon KDP. That is understandable. Amazon accounts for roughly 70% of all ebook sales in the United States and an enormous share of print-on-demand paperback sales. But there is a second conversation that serious indie authors are increasingly having, and it centres on a platform that does something Amazon structurally cannot: it routes a portion of every sale directly to independent bookstores.

That platform is Bookshop.org, and after two years of monitoring its growth and affiliate performance, The Publishing Times recommends it without reservation — not as a replacement for Amazon, but as a complementary channel that earns you money, builds goodwill with readers who distrust Amazon, and strengthens the broader ecosystem that publishing depends on.

Here is the full picture.

What Bookshop.org Actually Is

Bookshop.org launched in January 2020, founded by Andy Hunter with the explicit mission of channelling online book sales revenue toward independent bookstores. The model is straightforward: Bookshop.org sells books at standard retail prices, takes a margin to cover operations, and distributes 10% of every sale into a pool shared among affiliated independent bookstores across the United States and the United Kingdom. A further 10% goes directly to the affiliate who referred the sale — which, for authors, is the most immediately relevant number.

The platform does not compete with Amazon on price. It competes on ethics. And in a market where a meaningful segment of readers actively avoids Amazon for political, economic, or cultural reasons, Bookshop.org captures sales that would otherwise go to a physical bookstore, a library, or simply nowhere.

The Affiliate Programme: How It Works for Authors

The Bookshop.org affiliate programme is one of the most straightforward in publishing. Once you register as an affiliate, you receive a unique affiliate ID, which you append to any Bookshop.org URL. Every purchase made through a link containing your affiliate ID earns you a 10% commission.

That commission applies to any book purchased, not just your own titles. If a reader clicks your affiliate link to look at your book and then adds three other books to their cart, you earn 10% on the entire order. This is structurally different from Amazon's affiliate programme, which pays lower rates and has a shorter attribution window.

The practical implication for authors is significant. If you have a newsletter, a blog, a podcast, or any platform where you recommend books — which most authors do — every recommendation becomes a revenue opportunity. A single email to a list of 2,000 readers recommending five books for the summer could generate hundreds of dollars in affiliate commissions if even a fraction of readers click through and purchase.

Setting up your author shop is equally simple. Bookshop.org allows authors to create a curated storefront — a list of books you recommend, including your own — that lives at a permanent URL. Readers who visit your author shop and purchase anything generate affiliate income for you automatically. Many authors include their Bookshop.org shop link in their email signature, their website footer, and their social media bios as a passive income stream that requires no ongoing maintenance.

The Case for Your Own Book Being Listed

For your own titles to appear on Bookshop.org, they need to be distributed through Ingram — either directly via IngramSpark or through a distributor like Draft2Digital that feeds into the Ingram network. If you publish exclusively through Amazon KDP and have not enabled Expanded Distribution, your book will not be searchable on Bookshop.org.

This is worth addressing. The royalty structure on Bookshop.org for print books is approximately 30% of the list price after Bookshop takes its cut and the wholesale discount is applied. That is lower than KDP's 60% royalty on print, but the comparison is not quite apples-to-apples: KDP print royalties assume Amazon handles fulfilment and distribution, while Bookshop.org sales go through the Ingram network and reach bookstores that would never stock an Amazon-exclusive title.

The more relevant question is whether being listed on Bookshop.org increases your discoverability among readers who would not find you on Amazon. The answer, for authors with any kind of platform or press coverage, is yes. Bookshop.org is increasingly cited in book recommendations by journalists, podcasters, and newsletter writers who prefer to link to it over Amazon. If your book is not listed there, those recommendations generate no sales for you.

Why This Matters Beyond the Commission

The argument for Bookshop.org is not purely financial. Independent bookstores are the primary venue through which literary culture is transmitted — they host author events, curate staff picks, and introduce readers to books that algorithmic recommendation engines never surface. When independent bookstores close, the entire ecosystem of literary discovery contracts.

Self-published authors have a complicated relationship with traditional bookstores. Most indie bookstores do not stock self-published titles, and the ones that do typically require returnable inventory through Ingram — a logistical and financial commitment that many indie authors are not prepared to make. Bookshop.org does not require you to be stocked in physical stores. It simply routes a portion of online sales revenue to the stores that are keeping literary culture alive, regardless of whether your book sits on their shelves.

For readers who care about this — and there are more of them than the Amazon-centric view of publishing suggests — buying through Bookshop.org is a values-aligned act. Giving those readers a frictionless way to purchase your book through a platform they trust is good for your sales and good for the industry.

How to Get Started: A Practical Checklist

Getting your Bookshop.org presence in order takes less than an afternoon. Here is what we recommend:

Register as a Bookshop.org affiliate at bookshop.org/affiliates. The process is free and approval is typically immediate.
Create your author shop by curating a list of books you recommend — include your own titles, books that influenced your writing, and books you genuinely think your readers will love.
Ensure your book is in the Ingram network via IngramSpark or Draft2Digital's Ingram distribution option. Without this, your title will not appear on Bookshop.org.
Add your affiliate link to your author website — in the footer, on your books page, and anywhere you currently link to Amazon.
Update your newsletter to include a Bookshop.org link alongside any Amazon links when recommending books. Many email service providers allow you to A/B test which link gets more clicks.
Link to Bookshop.org in your social media bios as a permanent passive income source.

Our Recommendation

We do not suggest abandoning Amazon. KDP remains the dominant platform for ebook sales, and the Kindle ecosystem has no serious rival for reach. But treating Amazon as the only channel is a strategic error that leaves money on the table and cedes ground to a platform that has demonstrated, repeatedly, that its interests and authors' interests are not always aligned.

Bookshop.org offers something rare in the current publishing landscape: a business model that is genuinely aligned with the interests of authors, readers, and the bookstores that sustain literary culture. The affiliate programme is generous, the setup is simple, and the reputational benefit of being associated with a platform that supports independent bookstores is real.

We use it. We recommend it. And we earn a commission when you purchase through our links — which, in the spirit of full transparency, is exactly how affiliate journalism is supposed to work.

Browse books for authors on Bookshop.org →

The Publishing Times earns affiliate commissions from Bookshop.org purchases made through our links. This does not affect our editorial independence or the recommendations we make.

Why We Recommend Bookshop.org to Every Self-Published Author