With International Women’s Day quickly approaching, we caught up with book-lover and businesswoman (and former CEO of The Book People) Seni Glaister to discuss her new, ethical project that allows word-of-mouth book recommendations and opens the door for indie authors with no budget to get themselves visible on Amazon.
Seni Glaister is the CEO of new reading platform Litalist
“Litalist is an online community for people looking for an ethical alternative to Amazon,” she told FemaleFirst in an interview. “It’s a place to recommend your favourite books so other readers can enjoy them; to discover new books you’ve not heard of before; and to keep a permanent, visual record of everything you’ve read and loved.”
It’s a platform for authors to discuss their books or books they loved, for readers to browse and talk about the books they want to read, and for small independent bookshops to entice customers to their door. What’s more, it’s thoroughly simple to use and doesn’t rely on inaccurate algorithms to push books (“I may have bought a book about James Bond as a present 15 years ago, but that does not mean I want to be served up other James Bond books!”)
Seni came up with the concept of Litalist during lockdown, when she was inspired by how hard local businesses worked to provide for the community - including her local bookshop.
Bookshops are important because they allow for free browsing, and Seni explains that “discoverability” was the main issue she wanted to solve. But it was more than that. She wanted to make bookselling a more secure place for the future.
“I wanted to come up with a future proofing service that would help everyone in the bookselling ecosystem in the event of any other unseen interruption to the supply chain,” she said. “I began to think about how the independents could continue to thrive when the fickle consumer – that is, all of us - flipped back to their bad old habits when they didn’t need their local suppliers anymore. And I’m always concerned by the motivation of some of the marketplace solutions. They can feel like a lifeline in the short term but in the wrong hands, the small businesses can eventually lose out, potentially terminally.”
With Amazon being a rather damaging place for readers trying to discover something new, independent authors with low marketing budgets, and small businesses who are overlooked, Seni was determined to come up with a way that was both convenient and beneficial to all.
“The short version of the above is that I wanted to make a better online bookshop than Amazon. Let Bezos fly around in his little blue rocket all he wants, meanwhile we will aggregate personal recommendations onto a platform that rewards authors, indie bookshops and curious readers alike.”
Before you search the AppStore for Litalist, though, I’m afraid we have to tell you that the company has no plans to break into the app industry. With AppStore and Google Play taking 30% of transacted value, according to Seni, that means it would only be harder to pay authors and booksellers. Still, you can still use the Litalist website on your mobile device.
The pandemic has definitely given rise to a new wave of readers, and many have been inspired to build book-selling businesses of their own, but it takes a lot more than just being able to recommend good books to people.
“To be a bookseller you must be interested in the process of curating books, of recommending books and of thinking of books from the point of view of someone that may hate the books you love,” Seni shares. “Bookselling is ultimately about putting a selected range of potentially lifechanging pieces of paper in front of people and gently guiding them to pick up the right one for them, not you.”
MORE: What’s on our March 2022 book list?: Travel the world with The Lost Dreamer and Peach Blossom Spring
As for the books that changed Seni’s life, she lists the 90s Japanese novel The Wind Up Bird Chronicles by Haruki Murakami, Toni Morrison’s second novel Sula and The Neapolitan Novels series by Elena Ferrante as major game-changers. Find the book that will change your life and go support your local bookshop today.
Tagged in Books