Most people’s first thought for buying an ebook is to go to Amazon. Bookshop.org is trying to combat that notion with its own ebook store that will give money back to your local bookstore. While its new ebook experience is okay, there are still things you should know before dumping your Kindle.
How Bookshop’s eBooks Work
For those not familiar with Bookshop.org in general, the online retailer sells books and then gives a portion of the sales to local bookstores. You can select your local bookstore or one you want to support, and then 30% of a book’s cover price goes to that store.
If you buy something from the site without selecting a store, then the extra money is put into a pot that’s split between participating stores.
Since most local bookstores can’t afford to sell online and compete against Amazon or Barnes and Noble, it’s a way for small, physical booksellers to join forces in the digital age.
That model used for physical books is now being adopted for ebooks. (A digital book is more convenient, and sometimes you just don’t want to buy a physical copy.)
Bookshop.org is offering mobile apps for Android and iPhone to read its ebooks. The unfortunate thing is that you can’t buy ebooks inside either of the apps. Because of limitations imposed by Apple and Google, you’ll need to visit Bookshop.org’s website to buy an ebook, which will then show up in your library in the app.
You can read previews of ebooks while browsing the app, but those previews don’t sync across your apps. I ran into this first-hand and was briefly confused about why I couldn’t find the book preview on a second device.
eReaders Might Present a Problem
Once I decided on a title and bought an ebook, it showed up in my library immediately. I checked a second device, and it was there as well. I saw a warning that it could take some time to appear but that it was available instantly.
Diving into the book, I found the reading experience to be okay. There are settings to change the appearance from dark to light. Things like text size can be adjusted, but overall, there are a lot of limits to the font selection and scrolling style. It’s not bad, but it could be much better. The good news is that those software changes can be updated in the future.
The most important thing to know is that there’s (currently) no way to read Bookshop.org-bought ebooks on your Kindle device. Amazon’s eReader is by far the most popular paper-like reader and people might find that disappointing. This is also unlikely to change any time soon. Amazon has started cracking down on even downloading Kindle books as a backup.
Luckily, if you have an Android-based reader like the Boox Palma 2, you can download the Android Bookshop app on it and read your books there. Bookshop has also said it’s working with Kobo to bring its ebooks to those devices.
Is Buying eBooks From Bookshop.org Better Than Buying Kindle Books?
It’s hard to proclaim that buying an ebook from a retailer supporting bookstores is a bad thing. It’s admirable and will be worth the full retail book price for some people.
That said, the biggest consideration for buying ebooks from Bookshop.org is how you plan to read. I already have an Android eReader, so it was a piece of cake to use. I can grab my E Ink device and relax with a book using the Libby app, Kindle app, or now the Bookshop.org app.
If you only have a Kindle reader and want to get away from your phone (or iPad) in the evenings or on the weekend, then I wouldn’t recommend diving in yet. You should probably stick to buying books through Amazon for now.
