Eight independent bookstores in Singapore have partnered to launch Bookshop.sg, "a one-stop online bookstore featuring more than 40,000 titles," the Straits Times reported. The online store, which opened for orders on May 14, is a joint effort by bookstores Epigram Books, Basheer Graphic Books, Wardah Books, Thryft, Sea Breeze Books, City Book Room, Union Book, and Nurul Anwar Bookstore.
Thryft's CEO Eddie Lim said Bookshop.sg provides free local shipping for purchases above SGD$150 (about US$115), with a SGD$5.90 fee (about US$4.55) for smaller purchases, while allowing readers to mix and match titles from the eight bookstores.
"We are providing an alternative for people who are conscious about where their dollar is spent," added Ibrahim Tahir, founder of Wardah Books, who first gathered indie booksellers at his store last December to discuss ways to cooperate. He described the collective effort as an act of "radical cooperation."
"The dollar that you spend in a local bookshop stays within the community," he continued. "It drives things that we do such as book events, launches with local authors and book clubs. Amazon doesn't do that."
Epigram Books publisher Edmund Wee, who sells books through an online bookstore, observed: "The more outlets you have (to sell your books), the better it is for the bookseller. Every outlet extends your potential buyer, I don't see it as a competition."
Thryft's Lim said that Bookshop.sg will provide an "on par or better experience" than Amazon and hopes the online store will also drive new readers to physical stores: "For the ecosystem to survive, it needs to recognize that the keystone is the bookshop. The bookshop is what ties together publishers, writers and readers all in one space--and space is important because this is where human beings interact."
---
BookPeople, the Australian bookselling association, and Booksellers Aotearoa New Zealand are partnering for an "industry-defining" Trans-Tasman Bookselling Survey, designed to provide data about booksellers in both countries and their impact on culture and the economy, Books+Publishing reported.
"We only have a vague understanding of bookselling as an industry," said BookPeople CEO Robbie Egan. "Politicians and publishers want to know our story. We have to be able to describe what booksellers do and what value they bring to their communities, towns and cities, and we need to articulate what our economic worth is to the country. We employ a lot of people, but we don't know anything about the demographics of our workforce or the state of our financial health."
The survey is open to all booksellers in all roles, with specific questions for senior staff with financial control and specific questions for more junior staff. Egan added that the hope is that "the survey will be longitudinal, and we tried to make it as accessible and painless as possible. This first survey will provide a baseline, and allow us to open up conversations, support lobbying efforts and increase representation of booksellers in discussions with and about the book industry." --Robert Gray