Nicole Vanderbilt on how Bookshop.org is taking on Amazon through recommendations, not algorithms

In this episode Rachel and Simon speak to Nicole Vanderbilt, managing director of Bookshop.org in the UK. She joined Bookshop - an online bookseller set up to financially support independent bookshops - at its launch in November 2020; since then it has raised almost £5 million for over 600 local retailers. As well as selling physical books, Bookshop.org sells e-books and plans to launch audiobooks in 2026. It also offers a trade-in scheme, called Bookloop, for secondhand books. We spoke to Nicole about Bookshop's status as the "ethical alternative to Amazon", how her background in finance and tech has shaped her approach to publishing, and about the challenges of getting people to read. In addition to the standard audio format, the podcast is now available in video. You can check us out on YouTube under Always Take Notes.