Batchline Offers Indie Bookshops New Functionality with Jellybooks’ Peek-Inside Approach (21 June 2022)
It is Independent Bookshop Week from 18 to 25 June 2022, and Batchline and Jellybooks are delighted to use IBW to launch a new technology partnership set to improve the indie bookshop landscape.
Book technology specialists Jellybooks and Batchline, owned by the Bookseller Association, have teamed up to help independent booksellers better engage with readers online. A turn-key integration of the Jellybooks' one-click cloud reader solution with the Batchline ecommerce solution for bookshops means that clickable book samples and peek-inside functionality will start to appear on independent bookseller websites across the country.
From novels to children's books, illustrated books for the coffee table to travel guides for the beaches of Devon, the experience indies can offer consumers has improved with this development, allowing consumers to view beautifully rendered, accessible samples with just a single click. The technology works fluidly on any connected device and screen size.
There are more than 1,000 independent bookshops trading in the UK, according to the Bookseller Association, and more than a third of independent bookshops now also sell books online, and the new service gives readers the opportunity to browse bookshelves virtually and to peek inside books online. According to market research, being able to sample a book is one of the most powerful features in converting book browsers into book buyers. The new online sample reading platform, embedded directly into indie bookshops websites via Batchline, is another step in levelling the playing field between independent high street bookshops and the international technology giants.
The online ebook reading experience from Jellybooks offers all the familiar features that readers are familiar with from Kindle and Apple Books reading apps, such as re-flowable pages, variable font size and day and night mode that make reading samples truly accessible, but doesn’t require apps or downloads.
The e-commerce tools from Batchline now insert online Jellybooks samples directly and automatically into the pages of participating retailers. Jon Garrad of Book-ish, an award-winning bookshop in Crickhowell (Powys, Wales) tweeted:
“It's pretty neat. Interactive browsing for your shoppers, next to no effort for you (you need to upload one file and tick a few boxes on your website, A MINUTE'S WORK).”
Over 30,000 titles from Penguin Random House are available as are many thousands of books from Pan Macmillan, Hachette, Harper Collins, Bloomsbury, DK, and many other publishers, large and small. Bookbugs and DragonTales, in Norwich, shared their enthusiasm on Twitter, describing the new platform as:
“This is so good! It's actually harder to find a book on our site without Peek Inside functionality than with now. Love this!”
The service is also in use by Blackwell’s Books and will go live with many independent, chain, and non-traditional booksellers across the UK and Ireland in the coming days and weeks.
About Jellybooks and its DISCOVERY platform for publishers and bookshops
Jellybooks is a publishing technology specialist with a focus on audience insights, book discovery, cloud reading and data-smart software and workflow solutions for book publishers and retailers.
The Jellybooks Cloud Reader is a one-click reading platform requiring no app to be installed and no file to be downloaded. It is available in ten languages including English, German, Dutch, French, Spanish, and Italian.
The Jellybooks DISCOVERY program for bookshops is supported by publishers and is made available for free to all UK and Irish retailers. It has been funded in part by Arts Council England and Innovate UK.
To find out more about DISCOVERY for bookshops, visit www.jellybooks.com/about/bookshops/bookshops-peek-inside
To find out more about DISCOVERY for publishers, visit www.jellybooks.com/about/publishers/jellybooks-publishers-intro
About Batch
Batch is a fully-owned subsidiary of the Bookseller Association. Batch Services are experts at building low-cost bespoke systems for retailers in the bookselling and entertainment industries.
Retailers and suppliers use Batch to manipulate and manage their supply chain data. Batch can also establish secure automated links to booksellers' accounts and stock control packages. In addition, Batch provides a reliable, cost-effective and constructive service to translate data from any format into the format required by customers' trading partners, including online retailers.
To find out more about Batchline ecommerce solutions with the integrated peek inside feature, visit https://batch.co.uk/web/batchline/website-packages
About Independent Bookshop Week
Independent Bookshop Week is a celebration of independent bookshops in the UK highlighting the vital role independent bookshops play in their communities. The campaign was launched in 2006 by the Booksellers Association and celebrated its 15th birthday in June 2021. Hachette UK is the headline sponsor of Independent Bookshop Week.