bookbybook.app

What It Is

book by book is a cloud-based SaaS built for independent bookstores, positioned as “the app Square didn’t build for bookstores.” It does not replace Square POS; instead, it connects publisher orders, ISBN book data, and Square’s product catalog/inventory to help bookstores reduce the manual work of entering covers, descriptions, prices, and stock levels.

Core Capabilities

The product is centered on bookstore receiving and inventory workflows. Users can upload order files from Ingram, Edelweiss, PubEasy, BookNet CataList, and others, or paste ISBNs, use a traditional barcode scanner, or scan with a phone. The system automatically fills in book descriptions, cover images, and prices, and determines whether to create a new title in Square or restock an existing item. It supports automatic mapping to a bookstore’s existing Square categories, custom product-name formatting, Square catalog and inventory syncing, and can generate Square Purchase Orders or directly update inventory. For cost management, the product provides views for vendor discounts, costs, restocking, COGS, and profit data. However, when updating inventory directly, COGS is not written back to Square due to Square API limitations and can only be referenced within book by book.

Pricing

Pricing is straightforward: Standard costs $29/month or $299/year; Founding Member, available to the first 25 paying customers, costs $22/month or $225/year and includes a permanent 25% discount. A 30-day free trial is available with no credit card required. There are no setup fees, transaction fees, or revenue sharing, and subscriptions can be canceled.

Pros and Cons

The main advantage is its extremely focused use case: it can compress hours of catalog and inventory maintenance into minutes while keeping Square as the system of record, resulting in low migration costs. The downside is its heavy dependence on Square, making it unsuitable for users of other POS systems. Publisher support is limited, and enterprise-grade capabilities such as team permissions, audit logs, security certifications, and an open API are not disclosed.

Who It’s For

It is best suited for small independent bookstores, used bookstores, and community bookstores that already use Square POS but struggle with manually creating book listings and processing incoming orders. It is not a good fit for businesses that need a full ERP, complex multi-store permissions, or strict compliance requirements.

Access in China

The source text does not provide information on access from mainland China, node availability, or ICP filing status, so availability is unknown.