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Beating the online booksellers with random surprises

For an annual fee of &#163;60, The Bookshop will send readers a book a month
For an annual fee of &#163;60, The Bookshop will send readers a book a month
PETER SANDGROUND/THE TIMES

The owner of a second-hand bookshop in a sleepy village in southwest Scotland has embarked on a clever but random strategy to defeat the mighty online retailer Amazon.

Shaun Bythell, who owns The Bookshop in Wigtown, established the Random Book Club this summer, quickly expanding its membership throughout Britain and beyond.

The club’s essence is the very opposite of online retailing. There are no digitally selected recommendations and members don’t have to put up with the constant injunction to expand their libraries at the whim of a computer, by pressing items marked “frequently bought together”.

Instead, they are left entirely in Mr Bythell’s hands. For an annual fee of £60 he will guarantee to send them a book a month, selected at random by him.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/beating-the-online-booksellers-with-random-surprises-qrmdqvv8ncg
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