AN independent bookshop is celebrating the first birthday of a ground-breaking web sales site.

Rossiter Books of High Street, Ross-on-Wye, is one of nearly 500 bookshops to benefit from sales of £1.7m over a difficult last 12 months on the Bookshop.org site.

Founded by husband and wife team Andy and Victoria Rossiter in Ross in 2010, the business has expanded to include bookshops in Monmouth and Leominster.

But with footfall lowered during lockdown and the pandemic, they joined up with the new Bookshop.org initiative last year, an "ethical alternative" to Amazon which generates money for independent booksellers and boosts their community.

Bookshop.org marked the anniversary with a swipe at Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, urging customers to stop "sending your money to space and start sending it to the independent bookshops we all love".

And Rossiter events manager Carol Bloomfield said: "At Rossiter Books we were excited to take part in this new adventure in bookselling from the start.

"Being able to continue to serve our customers and get books to them during lockdown made a huge difference to us - financially of course, but also because bookselling is what we love to do.

"Beyond lockdown, Bookshop.org has given us new ways of sharing our passion for books through the individually curated lists which we love creating and sharing."

She added: "It’s a new way to discover books and buy online, and offers an ethical alternative to Amazon whilst supporting independent bookshops.

"All three of our shops are open and shopping directly with us will always be our first preference.

If you want signed copies then you can only buy them from us directly as well.

"But if you want any other books sent to you, then our preference is that you visit our storefront on Bookshop.org as we will benefit by receiving 30 per cent of the RRP of what you order.

"Bookshop.org send you the books directly."

Designed to give the majority of its profits to independent booksellers and to "empower socially conscious shoppers to financially support bookshops when buying books online", Bookshop.org says it offers the most ethical and convenient alternative to Amazon.

With a stock of over four million titles, delivery times of two to three days, carbon neutral shipping on all deliveries, and their taxes duly paid, over the past year Bookshop.org says it has "revolutionised the online book-market and the publishing industry for good".

As well as providing a vast range of books to customers looking to support independent bookshops Bookshop.org has a curated offering of book recommendations from booksellers and authors, including Elena Ferrante, Marian Keyes, Kate Mosse and Jay Rayner.

It also hosts regular virtual events for independent bookshop customers, such as a 1,000-attendee event with Kazuo Ishiguro and upcoming events with Ann Patchett and Yotam Ottolenghi.

Nicole Vanderbilt, Bookshop.org UK managing director, said: "We are delighted by and incredibly grateful for the response we’ve had from readers, bookshops, affiliates and the wider publishing industry.

"However, this is really only the beginning of what we believe we can do together to reshape the industry so that indie bookshops get a greater share of the increasingly online book market.

"We want to live in a world in which indie bookshops thrive - the bookshops that are community stalwarts, the owners who pour their heart and soul into making their high streets a better place, the booksellers who actually read and respond to books before confidently putting them into the hands of a reader.

"We encourage readers to visit these bookshops as much as they possibly can, but when they can’t, our role is to provide an easy, convenient, ethical way to buy books online while supporting these incredible bookshops.

"Our message to readers: stop sending your money to space and start sending it to the independent bookshops we all love. There really is a better way to buy books online."

The platform’s Indie Champions list each month recognises the books that have generated the most money for bookshops.

To mark the anniversary of the website launch, Rossiter Books have shared the titles that have helped them through Bookshop.org since they joined in November 2020.

For more details go to uk.bookshop.org/shop/rossiterbooks and rossiterbooks.co.uk