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The Big Green Bookshop is calling on independent bookshops to club together to investigate what options they have for stocking e-readers.
The London bookshop’s co-owner Simon Key has written a blog calling for independent booksellers to rally together to have strength-in-numbers when negotiating with large technology companies which produce the e-reading hardware.
He said: “Some independent bookshops have signed up to sell Kobo e-readers already. It's far too early to tell if this was the right decision or not.
"We decided not to sign up, for various reasons. I guess one of those reasons was that it was the only offer on the table. We weren't given options. The Kobo might well be the best e-reader out there, but it would be nice if we could be the ones making that decision.”
Key told The Bookseller that he recognised the Booksellers Association did “excellent work” on behalf of booksellers in aiding discussions with technology companies such as Kobo.
Key said: “Let's say 40 or 50 indie booksellers got together and decided that we wanted in on some of that e-book action. Perhaps we could decide what would be best for us. This being the case, we could then approach e-book suppliers, as a group of shops and see if we could negotiate something better.” Some indies had already expressed interest in the idea, Key added.
Interested booksellers can contact Key through his Twitter, website or Facebook.