The Wānaka woman behind online bookstore Bookety Book Books has launched a crowdfunding campaign to create an online community for book lovers everywhere.
For Bookety’s Mandy Myles, the community is a natural next step after she opened an online independent bookstore during the Covid-19 pandemic. At the time, her fun social media posts and Zoom book clubs connected locked-down book lovers across the country - and she has been building that community ever since.
Now that her bookstore is an established business, sending books across New Zealand from her garage in Wānaka, Myles has decided to do more for the community she has created and nurtured over the past five years.
She is now on a mission to create a website that works as a home for book lovers across Aotearoa, a space for everyone to celebrate the joy of reading.
The project, she says, is another step in her commitment to breaking down the barriers that make some people feel excluded from reading.
“Over the past five years, I’ve seen just how much people crave book recommendations, curated reading lists, and meaningful bookish connections,” Myles told the Herald.
“For many, walking into a bookstore or scrolling online stores can be overwhelming, with so many books published every month. I want to make it easier for readers to discover great books and feel inspired, without needing to rely on book sales to sustain that work.”
With an already loyal customer base for her online bookstore, Myles’ decision to create a whole new site from scratch might raise eyebrows but, as she explained, this is a project for everyone - not just Bookety customers.
“People access books in all sorts of ways, libraries, audiobooks, swaps with friends, and I want to support all readers, regardless of how they choose to read. By removing the pressure to funnel everything through my sales, I can broaden the scope for more discussions on all sorts of books,” she said.
The website will include book reviews, reading lists, author interviews, information on book clubs and bookstores, as well as literacy advocacy content.
It builds on Myles’ true strength, not as a traditional bookseller, but as someone who people seek for book recommendations and for creating meaningful connections between readers. As much as she loves talking to people about books, that alone doesn’t pay the bills - so she hopes creating the community in its own home, away from social media, will allow her to keep providing what people want, free of charge, while providing for herself as well.
“While this idea shares some DNA with bigger sites like LitHub or the New York Times Book Review, it will be entirely Bookety Book Books in flavour," Myles explained.
“I’m not a particularly serious person, I just really love books and believe reading should feel joyful and fun, not intimidating or overly academic.”
Myles has launched a crowdfunding campaign to turn her book community dreams into a reality for all New Zealanders and is calling on all book lovers who can help her get to her goal.
It’s a bold move for a one-woman band like Myles - who runs Bookety Book Books from her home in Wānaka - but she’s used to taking leaps of faith.
This year, she shifted the business away from a focus on direct book sales and onto a subscription model, a pivot in response to dwindling sales, and the recognition that it was becoming increasingly hard to expand the online customer base.
She has also been busy hosting multiple book clubs across the country (and online), setting up book penpals across New Zealand, and has used her Bookety platform for advocacy for the newer generation of readers.
Her focus on the book community led to Myles last month receiving the Titlepage Bookselling Trailblazer of the year at the Aotearoa New Zealand Book Industry 2025 awards.
‘Times are tough’: Crowdfunding campaign is ‘all or nothing’
For all her enthusiasm and optimism about the future, Myles also notes that many of her innovative ways of doing things have been born out of just how tough business is these days.
“At the heart of everything is a love for reading, but I’m also thinking about how to make my business more sustainable for the long term.”
She points out that, this year alone, Aotearoa has lost eight independent bookstores. Many others are struggling to stay afloat.
“Times are tough. And while selling books is part of what I do, I’ve come to understand that what people truly want from me, and what I love most, is making the content, the recommendations, and creating the connection between readers. If there’s a way to dedicate more of my focus to just that, I can only imagine what’s possible.”
Despite the economic downturn and the decline in literacy rates, Bookety’s founder refuses to feel pessimistic about the future.
“I’m hugely optimistic. It’s one of the big inspirations behind this site, getting back to the roots of what builds a strong book industry: excited, inspired readers. And lots of them. As long as people are reading, the industry will grow, and that’s good for all booksellers,” she added.
“Books connect us in so many ways, to each other, to ourselves, and to what is happening in the world. They help us have hard conversations, shift perspectives, and bring people together. They’re powerful. And even more so when shared.”
For Myles, this campaign is “all or nothing”.
“I was a bit naïve about just how much work goes on behind the scenes of a crowdfunding campaign, it’s a lot! And I know it’s a tough time to be asking for money. Things are tight for so many right now, and there’s absolutely no pressure to pledge if you’re not in a position to, I completely understand. But I truly believe in this next step and what it can do to inspire readers and move Bookety Book Books into a more sustainable phase. So I’m keeping at it, hopeful we can reach our goal.”
If successful in her crowdfunding, Mandy Myles hopes to launch her new online home for book lovers before Christmas.