Bulk Book Ordering – But make it simple!
For corporate learning, employee onboarding, or team holiday gifts, providing books to employees is a powerful engagement tool. But the administrative work, bulk ordering, distribution logistics, and managing inventory can be a major headache.
Amazon’s Your Company Bookshelf program solves this by offering a simple, automated solution that provides maximum choice for your employees while saving your team time and resources.
📖 Key Benefits for Your Organization
This program is designed to simplify administration and maximize employee engagement.
- Save Time and Resources: The administrative burden of distribution and inventory management is removed.
- Control the Budget: You indicate the number of recipients and the specific amount to give each recipient.
- Exclusive Access & Reporting: Your Bookshelf is unique; only invited recipients can access it and apply credits. Amazon provides reports detailing outstanding invitations, expiration dates, claimed credits, and remaining budget.
- Choice of Titles: You can add as many books as you like, choosing from new releases, top authors, and highly-ranked titles.
💡 What Employees Can Expect
Once invited, employees enjoy flexibility and full ownership of their chosen book:
- Choice for Readers: Employees are engaged by the choice of title, book format (Kindle, paperback, or hardcover), and delivery preferences. (Note: Audible is not included, and format availability is subject to inventory).
- How to Join: Recipients must apply the credit to their personal Amazon account to join the Bookshelf.
- Keep the Book: The book is theirs to keep; they do not need to return it after finishing it.
- No Sharing of Personal Data: Your organization will not have access to any personal account or reading data.
- Expiration Warning: If the invitation expires, the organization’s Bookshelf admin will need to send a new invitation.
To maximize engagement, remember to launch a department-wide announcement about the Bookshelf to excite and prepare recipients for the invitation!
🚀 How to Launch Your Bookshelf in 4 Simple Steps
Getting started is easy and requires just a few steps to create, fund, and invite recipients:
| Step | Action | Details |
| 1. Choose Books | Select Your Titles | Search the expansive Amazon selection for books available in Kindle, paperback, and hardcover formats. |
| 2. Add Funds | Set Your Budget | Your Bookshelf is funded by the balance in your Amazon Incentives account. (Note: You will need an Amazon Business in iO and an Incentives account, which your Amazon representative can link to the bookshelf.) |
| 3. Upload Recipients | Provide Emails | Upload a list of your recipients’ emails. |
| 4. Send Invites | Set Credit & Expiration | Set the credit amount to offer recipients, choose an expiration date, and Amazon will send the invitation on your behalf |
This is a great time to prepare your team for the Holidays!
🎉 Happy Shopping 🎁
Summary
What it is: A corporate program by Amazon that replaces manual bulk book ordering with an automated, easy-to-manage system.
How it works for Rice: You create a “Bookshelf,” add funds (via an Amazon Incentives account), upload recipient emails, and Amazon sends an invitation with a credit. This saves administrative time and controls the budget.
How it works (for the Employee): The employee clicks the invitation, applies the credit to their personal Amazon account, and uses that credit to choose a free book (Kindle, paperback, or hardcover) from Rice’s curated selection. The book is theirs to keep.
Please contact Alyssa Montelongo (am510@rice.edu) or procurement@rice.edu with any additional questions.