5 Questions with Amplify Bookstore
Amplify Bookstore is an online bookstore specialising in books by BIPOC authors.
It was co-founded by Marina Sano and Jing Xuan Teo, two Masters students who wanted a bookstore that made finding books by BIPOC authors simple.
No.1
In your website’s About page, you state that you started Amplify because “we recognised how difficult it was to find books created by people like us, or with characters that looked like us.” We’re curious if you learned anything new or encountered any surprises while setting up the bookstore.
Marina: Going in, we knew the stats—we knew that white authors make up an overwhelming majority of what’s published and what’s marketed, but going through the ordering process has still been so disheartening. There are great titles in the catalogues we look at, don’t get me wrong, but the titles by BIPOC authors are so limited, that I can find myself scrolling through lines and lines of spreadsheets before I manage to find something for the shop.
Xuan: We are very grateful to everyone who has taken the time out of their day to speak to us about our store, especially in the early days of Amplify. However, a common tone across the responses we’ve received from white folks, while congratulatory, have also been of disbelief; warnings against the bookshop being too ‘niche’ and thus not financially viable in the long run, since most of the bestsellers are written by white authors. But we hope to prove that not only are there excellent stories by authors of colour, but also that people are interested in these stories and will buy them when they are given a platform to shine.
No.2
How do you select the books that go in the Amplify catalogue?
First and foremost, we only stock books by authors of colour. Our starting catalogue was hugely influenced by our own reading tastes and books that were personally on our radar. Since our launch, we have been hard at work getting in contact with publishers to keep up to date with new releases. We’re looking forward to being able to stock more new releases, more genres, and extend our coverage of global representation in the coming months.
Our store is also on the land of the Wurundjeri people and thus we are also looking to expand Amplify’s First Nations catalogue.
No.3
You [Amplify’s founders Xuan and Marina] were both raised in Singapore. Tell us a little bit about your reading experiences growing up.
Marina: I’ve always been a huge reader and was lucky enough to have parents who were happy to support that. I was always able to get books or even just be taken to a library or bookshop to sit and read to my heart’s content (or at least as long as my mum could stretch out her coffee—if you’re ever in Singapore, Kinokuniya is massive and so much fun).
As far as representation goes, the first time I realised it was an option (or that it should be) to see my mixed identity in a book was, embarrassingly, when I was about 20. Despite not being a western country, Singapore’s English-language bookshelves are largely stocked with western imports, so the selection isn’t too dissimilar to those we see here. After that realisation, I went online to seek out the books which would reflect me. I discovered Celeste Ng’s Everything I Never Told You, and Akemi Dawn Bowman and Ruth Ozeki’s work. That was a massive turning point for me, realising that not only could I find books, but some of them had been popular titles that had been hiding in plain sight all along.
Xuan: I grew up with a massive love of books. My parents refused to get my sisters and I lots of toys, and cancelled Disney Channel early on so books were all we had. I was obsessed with Cassandra Clare and David Levithan as a teen—I think I have almost all of Levithan’s books. But all of the English-language books we had were written by white authors and featured white characters, so if I wanted to find myself on the page, I had to turn to my Chinese textbook (I was never a big reader of Chinese books). Singapore was never well represented in the wider media, but I’ve recently discovered some Singaporean writers that I’m really excited to dive into, such as Jing-Jing Lee, Amanda Lee Koe, and Lauren Ho.
No.4
Amplify also does something called “The Supercut Box”, where you will personally curate a selection of three books for those interested. What factors do you take into consideration when putting together these boxes?
With the Supercut, we’re trying to curate a box that will be perfect for the receiver. So we ask them what they’ve read recently, who they like to read, what genres they like, etc. From there, we dig through our inventory and our personal knowledge to find things that are similar, and hope that they haven’t read it yet! We also ask if they have any particular representation they wish to see; that way, we can curate the box according to what they’re seeking.
No.5
What do you hope will come out of this initiative?
We really hope that Amplify will help shine a light on the incredible voices that already exist and continue to pop up in literature. On top of that, the primary mission is to highlight the lack of diversity in the industry, to make people realise how wrong that is, and to be a force for change in remedying this issue. We also want Amplify to be an easy place for anyone to find representation, especially for those of us who may have never seen it before.
L: Marina Sano; R: Jing Xuan Teo
On top of individual titles, Amplify offers book boxes ($75): a curated collection of three books by authors from different regions. These book boxes are a great way to explore BIPOC authors and stories from all around the world.
Amplify also offers a personalised box of three books, The Supercut Box ($85). Answer a short questionnaire when purchasing The Supercut Box and Amplify will curate a selection based off the responses.
There is also a Pre-Loved section. Here, customers can find a selection of second-hand books by BIPOC authors, starting from as low as $8.
Amplify uses carbon-offset domestic shipping, and packaging made from recycled or sustainable materials. Every packaging component is compostable or recyclable.