I wanted to write this post as a follow-up to my latest LTB as it’s something that is important to me, and I have been working really hard over the last year to change my habits and choices around books and reading for the better.
For me, it all started a couple of years ago when I realised I was impulsively buying way too many books that I ended up having little to no interest in reading. I had worked to reduce overconsumption elsewhere in my life so why was I letting books pile up unread? When I asked myself that, other questions arose. Why was I supporting Amazon and huge chain stores for my book buying, when I have refused to touch fast fashion since my mid-20s and will always seek out an independent business for other areas of my personal shopping? Sustainable and ethical practices are important to me, so why wasn’t I looking at them in all aspects of my life?
Added to this, writers and indie bookstores today are now facing increasing challenges from these huge companies, namely Amazon. There’s a lot of talk in book spaces at the moment about purchasing power and boycotts. Sure, you can get amazing deals, but cheap books for us mean that someone is losing out somewhere and that someone is almost always the author or a small business.
So what did I do?
I stopped buying books. For a short while at least. If you read my LTB post then you’ll know that my first task was to try and quit my impulsive spending habits (hello ADHD). Once I had a handle on that, I reviewed how and where I was going to start purchasing books again. The first thing I did was quit buying physical books from Amazon altogether. There are SO many places to buy physical books these days that for me, this one is a no-brainer. I found my local indie bookstore and made sure to put my money there. If they didn’t have a book I wanted they would order it in for me. I also found other places to order online. (Don’t worry, I will have a big list at the end of this discussion.)
The next thing I did was to buy more second-hand. Vinted and eBay are treasure troves of used books, and I have nearly always been able to find what I wanted. Thrift bookstores too are great, though I don’t have any nearby, so online is best for me. There are so many books in the world already and fostering a circular economy by giving a home to pre-loved books is always a good thing. For those who like ‘new’ books, I’ve even bought absolutely pristine special editions on Vinted for pennies!
I also made sure to join a library. I live in the middle of nowhere and my local library has a rather dismal collection of speculative fiction books. In an effort to stick to my ethics, however, I did some research and found a selection of libraries that let people join them online from anywhere in the world. You do have to pay for them, but I have already made up my fee in the amount of titles I’ve borrowed in just three months.
The last thing I did was probably the hardest. I ditched Kindle books. If you’re a reader, you probably own a Kindle. It’s so easy and convenient to buy and read with one! It took me a long time to take this step, despite working hard on all these other points because it required more effort. Let me tell you now though, it doesn’t actually have to be difficult. The final straw for me was the DRM drama. If you missed it, basically you don’t own your Kindle books. You can no longer download them to anything but your Kindle device and Amazon can take them away from you despite you paying for them. Where do I get my ebooks now? Publisher websites and Kobo. They have all the books I have ever wanted to buy digitally and I don’t miss Kindle at all. In my lists below I’ll add some info on how you can make the switch too.
The final way to say goodbye to Amazon? Say goodbye to Audible. When you cancel your membership, you keep all the audiobooks you’ve already purchased, so don’t worry about losing them. Where should you go then? I will recommend Libro.fm forever.
You may have noticed too that I have changed the format of my review posts in order to provide links to places you can find the books. None of the links will ever take you anywhere owned by Amazon. I refuse to advertise them and this includes Goodreads (exception if I am contractually obligated to by a publisher). I strongly encourage you users of Goodreads to switch to another platform. My personal favourite is Storygraph, but I know people who use and enjoy Fable too.
I haven’t typed all this out in order to make myself feel good or to come across as holier-than-thou. I am hoping that some of you reading this will realise that it’s not that difficult to stop supporting these companies that are quite literally destroying livelihoods and the planet. I do understand too that there are accessibility issues to some of this. I am very lucky to live in the UK where I have so many options, but I hope that at least some of the options work for most.
Below is a big list of alternative places to get books. I am thinking of making this list available from the header of my blog where it can be accessible and updated regularly. What do you think? Are there places I can add to the list?
PLACES TO BUY BOOKS THAT AREN’T AMAZON
PHYSICAL BOOKS:
- Bookshop.org to support an indie bookstore of your choice with your online physical book purchases anywhere in the world.
- World of Books for online second-hand books in the UK.
- EBay, Vinted (UK & EU) or Pango Books (US) for second-hand books from regular people.
INDIE BOOKSTORES THAT SELL ONLINE:
(mostly UK as that is where I live but some offer intl shipping)
- Blackwells
- Dryad Books
- Honnomushi Cat Bookshop
- Folde Books
- Jacaranda Books
- Goldsboro
- The Broken Binding
- Daunt Books
- Inkstone Books
- Sherlock & Pages
INDIE PUBLISHER WEBSITES THAT SELL DIRECTLY:
- Solaris Books
- Angry Robot Books
- Scribe Publications
- Flame Tree Press
- Faber Books
- Salt
- Verve
- Linen Press
- Atlantic Books
AUDIOBOOKS & EBOOKS:
- Libro.fm – use my link (affiliate) to get 2 free books when you join!
- Kobo* for ebooks, audiobooks & a KU alternative
- Everand
- Audiobooks.com
*In order to get Kobo books onto your Kindle, you need to download Adobe Digital Editions to convert the files into ebooks. I then store these in Calibre, which I use to email my books to my Kindle.
LIBRARIES THAT ANYONE CAN JOIN:
- Orange County Libraries (joining fee)
- Queen’s Public Library (joining fee)
- Charleston Community Library
- Libraries Unlimited (UK only)
- Open Library
- Project Gutenberg
Pages of Emma 
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