Rossiter Books is one of the 650 bookshops to share in the £5m profit generated since the launch by Bookshop.org, the ethical alternative to Amazon that champions independent bookshops.

Last year, the Booksellers Association (BA) reported 77 new independent bookshops opening their doors, despite business rates increasing up to 100% under the government’s new reforms, announced in the autumn 2025 budget and set come into effect in April.

As Bookshop.org’s mission is to support independent bookshops, bolstering their business strategy in the age of ecommerce, the £5m milestone represents a key moment for the book retail industry.

The news comes during the National Year of Reading, the nation-wide campaign aiming to encourage people of all ages to make reading a regular part of their lives. Following the launch of ebooks in 2025, this year Bookshop.org are also set to add a new audiobook offering to their services, further increasing the revenue stream options for brick-and-mortar bookshops.

Andy Rossiter, Rossiter Books, said: “It’s fantastic news that this significant milestone has been achieved. Bookshop.org delivers us a steady income stream which helps us make regular improvements to our shops.

It is also great that we can recommend an ethical option for those customers who wish to buy books online.”

Meryl Halls, Managing Director of the Booksellers Association, said: “At a time when many independent bookshops are grappling with rising costs and the disproportionate impact of business rates reform, additional revenue streams are more important than ever. Bookshop.org provides a valuable opportunity for independent bookshops to compete more effectively with global online retailers, while also enabling them to reach readers through digital formats.

Independent bookshops remain unrivalled innovators and tireless champions of reading for pleasure, and the continued success of Bookshop.org reflects how well its agile digital platform complements the ethos and strengths of independent bookselling.”

Nicole Vanderbilt, Managing Director of Bookshop.org UK, said: “We’re delighted to have reached this important milestone for the indie bookshops in our network. Our mission at Bookshop.org is to work with indies to ensure they have a robust, resilient, multi-channel business that meets a wide array of readers where they are: shopping online, reading ebooks, and soon listening to audio. While Amazon continues to hurt bookselling, authors, and ultimately readers, by encouraging the proliferation of AI slop and deep discounts on many titles, we are proud to keep bookselling human. Rather than seeking profit at all costs by replacing employees with robots and authors with AI, we believe that when Bookshop.org sells more, indies do better, and our society does too, as a result.”

To find out more about Rossiter Books, please visit their website here and their Bookshop.org page here.

Bookshop.org is an online bookselling platform and affiliate network with a mission to financially support independent bookstores and literary culture.

Bookshop.org launched in the UK in November 2020, and currently has over 650 independent bookshops and over 11,000 affiliates using the platform.