Why Join
Being a member of Booksellers Aotearoa NZ is the best way to find your people
By joining you help run your business more effectively and make sure your interests are represented to the book trade, wider retail community and government.
Our membership is a cross-section of booksellers from small to large, independent, secondhand, festival, franchise, online, specialist and campus booksellers. Membership also allows you to access the collective wisdom of booksellers from across Aotearoa, while giving you deals and information to help you run your business more effectively.
Booksellers members can sell and redeem Booksellers Tokens – valid in over 200 bookshops nationwide – and sell and redeem the Booksellers Gift Card – sold in supermarkets, pharmacies, gas stations and department stores nationwide, but only redeemable at bookshops.
We are founding members of the Coalition for Books, a collaborative organisation that works to raise the profile of Aotearoa’s books and authors. The Coalition develops programmes and initiatives that serve authors, publishers, booksellers, festivals, readers and organisations that make up the literary ecosystem of Aotearoa New Zealand.
We founded BookHub which allows readers to browse and buy books and discover more than 70 bookstores around the motu.
Member’s Benefits
All members receive a subscription to both the weekly industry newsletter The Read – featuring the Nielsen BookData bestseller charts and the Indie Top 20 – and the Preview of Reviews, an advance list of the books to be reviewed in newspapers, magazines and on radio. Preview of Reviews includes advance notice of The NZ Listener Top 100 and Kids Top 50 books.
Members may participate in the Booksellers Aotearoa Exchange Card scheme, which encourages the public to buy books as gifts for others. Members also earn subscription access to the RISE Bookselling network of exchanges, conferences and education programmes, organised by the European and International Booksellers Federation.
Members benefit from our advocacy on key issues affecting the industry to government, agencies and other book industry organisations.
Members also benefit from expert advice and information in a multitude of areas affecting bookselling, and earn access to the expert advice of other booksellers in New Zealand via our members-only channels.
Our members are booksellers, publishers and industry friends
Annual National Conference
Brings our members together from across the country to hear from booksellers, authors, publishers and specialists to interrogate our industry and reflect on trends and best practice. It is an opportunity to network, learn new skills, spend time on your business and to reward your staff over a weekend focused on bookselling. One day is dedicated to a trade exhibition showcasing all the best upcoming titles and offering opportunities to network with publishers and suppliers to the industry.
We co-host the Aotearoa Book Industry Awards with PANZ, recognising excellence in the publishing and bookselling world.
Aotearoa NZ Bookshop Day
Observed in October is our annual grassroots celebration of bookselling and bookshops. We provide promotional collateral, cheerlead bookshops through social and traditional media, run national competitions, and lift the profile of bookshops as we head into our most important trading period.