Bookshop CEO Andy Hunter's crusade to save books from Amazon

Decoder with Nilay Patel

Andy Hunter is the CEO of Bookshop.org, a website he launched in 2020 that lets local bookshops sell all over the country. He always meant it to compete directly with Amazon, and the timing of that launch right into the teeth of the pandemic meant it was able to start strong and grow quickly.

Now Bookshop is selling ebooks, which is another market hugely dominated by Amazon. For Andy and Bookshop to get what they want, they’re probably going to have to gear up for a big fight. It’s kind of the app store question all over again, just like the big cases Epic had against Apple and Google, and it's all prime Decoder territory.

Links:

• Bookshop is launching an ebook store to take on Amazon | The Verge
• As greenwashing soars, some question B Corp certification | BBC
• ‘The Goliath is Amazon’: After 100 years, B&N wants to go back to its roots | Decoder
• How Bookshop survives and thrives in Amazon’s world | Wired
• Apple to pay $450M after Supreme Court denies price-fixing appeal [2016] | The Verge
• Epic Games vs Apple | The Verge

Transcript: https://www.theverge.com/e/604809

Credits:

Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.

Our producers are Kate Cox and Nick Statt. This episode was edited by Xander Adams.

The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.

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