Booksellers fighting back against the algorithm


Could human run book subscriptions be better than the online retailers’ automatic algorithm?

Yesterday, I spotted an article by Rebecca Nicholson in The Guardian about a whole new approach to selling books. Handcrafted bespoke book subscriptions.

Rebecca Nicholson’s first example is Heywood Hill. From the tone of the article, I get the impression Rebecca went to visit them. In Heywood Hill, Rebecca Nicholson made this discovery.

Heywood Hill’s subscription is as bespoke as possible: each package is individually tailored to the reader’s tastes following a conversation between the subscriber and a bookseller.

Meet the booksellers who are fighting back against the algorithm, theguardian.com

Bookshops specifically name-dropped

  • Heywood Hill, London
  • Mr B’s, an independent bookshop in Bath
  • erm, actually that’s it.

Most of the article deals with Heywood Hill’s people-driven approach to book based subscription boxes. An idea that I have been quite excited to pass on. I would love to see more book shops offering a service like this. A service not driven by an algorithm but by people that love and understand books and your tastes in them.

What about you, would you like to be surprised with a book in the post that you did not pick but that you may really enjoy?


About Matthew Brown

Matthew is a writer, web dev, and geek from Kent (UK). He is the founder and current chair of Thanet Creative as well as head geek for Author Buzz. His ambitions include seeing a film or TV series based on something he wrote. Matt is also responsible for fixing stuff on AuthorBuzz.co.uk when it breaks.

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