#6 Andy Hunter: Taking on Amazon, Ethical Consumption, and Hoarding Books

The Everygirl Book Club hosts an interview with Andy Hunter, founder and CEO of Bookshop.org and publisher of Literary Hub, Bookmarks, and CrimeReads. Andy shares his current reads and recommendations, how books helped him navigate a challenging upbringing, and the formative titles that shaped his life. He discusses the creation of Bookshop.org and its mission to support independent bookstores in the face of Amazon’s dominance, early skepticism from investors, the platform’s rapid pandemic-era growth, and the impact of BookTok on book sales and niche bookstores. Andy also dives into Bookshop’s goals for the future, including improving bookstore technology and expanding independent bookstore access to e-books.

00:00 Welcome and Introductions

00:42 Vacation Reads and ARCs

06:10 How Books Shaped Andy

07:41 Childhood Favorites and Classics

13:03 Raising Readers at Home

15:12 Building Bookshop Against Amazon

20:06 BookTok and Indie Bookstore Boom

26:09 Opening a Bookstore Advice

27:41 Boldness and Embracing Failure

29:46 Anti-Acquisition Guardrails

42:10 Affordable Ethical Reading

45:56 Finding Better Book Recs

49:30 Impact And Future Plans

59:29 Final Thanks And Sign Off

Books mentioned:

Dodge City by Patrick deWitt

French Exit by Patrick deWitt

The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt

A Real Animal by Emeline Atwood

Famous Men by Julie Buntin

I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman

On the Road by Jack Kerouac

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson

Watership Down by Richard Adams

The Tin Drum by Gunter Grass

The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis

Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson

Charlotte's Web by E.B. White

The Mixed-Up Files of Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg

The Dark is Rising series by Susan Cooper

Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery

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