Bookstores get 30% of every sale. Yes, it's still not as much as the 40-45% they get normally, but unless the book you bought was only $6, the bookstore got more than $1.80.
I think the article says they get 30% of the profit not the sale/revenue.
Edit: although I don’t understand that because why would they only get 45% if they do it themselves? Seems like they would get 100% of the profit if they do it themselves. If they have to pay some cost out of the profit then it was not by definition profit.
Edit 2: From https://bookshop.org/pages/about, it looks like it is a 30% commission, which is more like 30% of the sale than of the profit.
Edit: although I don’t understand that because why would they only get 45% if they do it themselves? Seems like they would get 100% of the profit if they do it themselves. If they have to pay some cost out of the profit then it was not by definition profit.
Edit 2: From https://bookshop.org/pages/about, it looks like it is a 30% commission, which is more like 30% of the sale than of the profit.
TL;DR: ignore me. i am talking to myself.