Got books to buy? Get 'em here!
Off the Beaten Shelf is my internet baby. I love this blog and the community that’s built up around it.
That’s just one of the reasons I’m super careful and conscious about who and what I choose to hype on here. I get requests from people all the time wanting to give me money to promote their company on here, but I think, “Would this really serve my audience? Is this something they’d actually care about and want to see here? Is it something they need?”
99% of the time, the answer is NO. And that’s why I don’t do it.
Recently, I said yes to something and I’m glad I did because I love it and I think you will too.
Have you heard of IndieBound?
I hadn’t until recently, though I’ve been seeing their Indie Next List in bookstores for years. It’s a coalition of local, independent bookstores around the country that work together to keep book-buying dollars in your community.
They summed up their work beautifully on their website:
When you shop at an independently owned business, your entire community benefits:
The Economy
Spend $100 at a local-owned business and $52 of that stays in your community.
Spend $50 at a national chain and keep $6.50 in the local community.
Spend $50 online with a remote vendor with no sales tax collected and keep not one penny in your local community.
Local businesses create higher-paying jobs for our neighbors.
More of your taxes are reinvested in your community--where they belong.
The Environment
Buying local means less packaging, less transportation, and a smaller carbon footprint.
Shopping in a local business district means less infrastructure, less maintenance, and more money to beautify your community.
The Community
Local retailers are your friends and neighbors—support them and they’ll support you.
Local businesses donate to charities at more than twice the rate of national chains.
More independents means more choice, more diversity, and a truly unique community.
These are all things I believe in wholeheartedly. I assume you do too and that’s why you’re here.
It’s also why you’ll start seeing the books mentioned on here with an IndieBound affiliate link. Here’s what that means:
You can easily order the books you want from your local bookstore and keep your book-buying dollars in your community.
You pay the same price as you would in the store and IndieBound gives me 6% back for sending you their way.
In other words, it costs you nothing extra to support this book blog and your community bookstore. How cool is that?!
All affiliate links will be clearly marked and will appear in a list at the end of the post, so as not to disrupt your flow of reading.
I know how annoying it is when publications you read start begging for dollars, which is why you’ll notice very little actually changing in terms of content. And every dollar I make as an IndieBound affiliate gets poured right back into this website (which is not free!).
In other words, it’s a win-win for everybody! So I’d love your support.
If you’d like to check out the recent Indie Bestsellers, click below.
Or if you want to see what books you should be looking forward to, click below.
Not sure where your community bookstores are? Find out when you click below.
