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?