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Why Indie Authors Should Consider Expanding to Bookshop

Image of clouds and sky with Bookshop logo, purple with a capitalized B, header explaining why authors should expand their book sales to Bookshop and Draft2Digital

Bookshop, the online bookselling platform that directs profits to independent bookstores, has announced a partnership with Draft2Digital, one of the world’s largest self-publishing distributors. The deal gives self-published authors the ability to sell their ebooks on Bookshop, with affiliated indie bookstores earning 30 percent of the list price on every sale.

The partnership has the potential to add 1.2 million ebook titles from some 330,000 authors to the platform, with as many as 300,000 ebooks available at launch. Draft2Digital adds between 10,000 and 15,000 new titles to its catalog each month, so that number is expected to grow quickly.

Why This Matters for Authors

For self-published authors, diversifying sales channels beyond Amazon has become an increasingly important business strategy. Here’s why selling on multiple platforms matters:

  • Reaching new readers. Different platforms also attract different reader demographics and tastes.
  • Algorithm independence. Selling on multiple platforms means an author’s livelihood isn’t tied to one company’s search rankings, algorithms, or recommendation engine.
  • Supporting values-aligned retailers. Many authors want to support independent bookstores and alternative retail models. 
  • Books you can read on any device. This partnership adds more ebooks to Bookshop that aren’t locked to one platform. Once you buy them, you can move them to your Kindle or other e-readers or read on your browser.

Bookshop has built a loyal audience among readers who want their purchases to support independent bookstores, and the platform has been actively broadening its reach. Kids’ books are now among its top categories, and romance sales are growing rapidly.

For authors looking to reduce dependence on any single retailer and connect with values-aligned readers, this partnership offers a welcome new option.