Since launching in January 2020, Bookshop.org, the independent online bookselling platform, has provided a vital revenue stream to indie bookstores and offered readers an alternative to Amazon. “When we launched at Winter Institute that year, there was a lot of skepticism, a lot of pushback, and fear we would become a competitor,” says CEO Andy Hunter. “But then the pandemic happened, and for those booksellers who didn’t have an established online business, we became a lifeline.”

Since then, Bookshop.org has been embraced by stores and readers alike. It reported 2025 revenue of just under $70 million, a 55% increase over 2024. The company distributes 10% of all profits to participating bookstores twice a year, totaling $9.5 million last year (a record). Since it launched, it has paid out more than $46 million. Hunter says he wants annual revenue to hit $100 million.

One reason for the growth is that Bookshop.org is reaching a broader swath of readers. “Romance, for example, has become a top-three sales category nearly every month—a significant shift from 2020 and 2021, when it barely registered,” Hunter says. “And serious nonfiction and literary fiction remain strong, in opposition to the broader market trend.” Mystery and thriller readers are the next target demographic, he notes.

Introduced in January 2025, e-book sales now account for more than 5% of Bookshop.org’s revenue, a figure Hunter expects will climb. Two recent partnerships are central to that. A deal with Draft2Digital, which went live last month, brought 1.2 million e-book titles from approximately 330,000 self-published authors onto the platform, complementing the roughly 100,000 Draft2Digital print titles Bookshop.org already carried. Hunter views the relationship as yet another way to “push back against Amazon’s dominance.”

And a brand new Spotify feature allows U.S. and U.K. users to buy print books in the Spotify app through Bookshop.org. Spotify counts roughly one-quarter of the U.S. population among its users. “I don’t know how many people listening to audiobooks will buy physical books,” Hunter says. “But just to get that message in front of that many people is worth it.”

The e-book momentum has also sped up plans for a Bookshop.org e-ink reading device, which Hunter calls a “Kindle killer”—though its release has been delayed due to rising manufacturing costs. “The price of memory has gone up insanely,” Hunter says, adding more than $100 to the projected per-unit cost. The company is now weighing whether to build a simpler device, wait for prices to stabilize, or find a new hardware partner.

Hunter cites a poll in which 40% of Bookshop.org customers reported owning an e-reader, with nearly half of those who own devices saying they would switch to one that benefits independent bookstores. “There are billions of dollars in e-book sales that independent bookstores have no way of capturing right now,” he adds.

For 2026, Hunter is projecting 15%–30% growth. Beyond revenue, Bookshop.org’s major push is to achieve deeper integration with point-of-sale systems, which would allow customers to order online and pick up in stores, a feature he describes as “the big gambit for 2027.” The platform is also piloting automated email marketing tools for store partners this year, aimed at smaller shops that lack the staff to sustain regular customer outreach.

Bookshop.org now works with approximately 2,900 booksellers, about 90% of the American Booksellers Association’s 3,200 members. A recent partner survey found that 98% have a favorable impression of the platform, and 94% said they would recommend it to a new bookseller. Hunter credits both statistics in part to Steph Opitz, the company’s departed director of bookseller partnerships, who is now head of Consortium Book Sales & Distribution.

Hunter says Bookshop.org’s wins are a reflection of the broader success of indie bookselling. ABA membership, which bottomed out at 1,880 stores in 2019, has steadily climbed since. In-store sales grew for 73% of ABA members in 2025, and their e-commerce sales rose 25%.

“If I told you in 2019 that there was going to be a massive resurgence of indie bookstores after 20 years of decline,” Hunter says, “nobody would have believed me. ”