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Former Book Depository MD to launch new online bookstore

Former managing director of the Book Depository Kieron Smith has announced plans to launch a new online bookselling business, reports the Bookseller. Smith, who left the Book Depository in November 2013 after managing the business for five years, plans to launch the Best Little Bookshop online store in coming months, selling books from a wide range of publishers and ‘partnering’ with other booksellers around the world who sell specialist and hard-to-find books. In announcing the plans at the Independent Publishers Guild conference in London this week, Smith said that the store will initially launch in four languages—English, German, French and Arabic—and will aim to become ‘the most loved little online bookseller in the world’. Smith said that, unlike the Book Depository and its parent company Amazon, the Best Little Bookshop will not be ‘driven by algorithms to create book lists’. ‘We believe good bookselling is a craft, that careful selection and exceptional service makes for more delighted book buyers,’ said Smith. ‘By being independently minded … we believe that we can add a human touch to book buying that is sorely missed online.’

 

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Category: International news