Book Shopping Alternatives to Amazon

First off, look at this new blog! After (many) tears and screams, I’ve successfully migrated my blog to WordPress, and my website entirely to another host. I’m still learning my way around, and I still have a lot to do presentation-wise on everything that isn’t this blog, but… this one looks nice, right? Right. I still have a lot to learn about this theme specifically as well (it supports book reviews as a separate thing! But I have no idea how to add in books yet), but I’m excited for the future with it.

Now, onto today’s topic. One book-related topic that comes up a lot is where to get books other than Amazon. A lot of my friends, as well as myself, are anti-Amazon for various political, environmental, and consumer reasons, but Amazon also does a good job of dominating the market. Any market. And buying books there is just SO easy, right? So, let’s go into a brief list of why you shouldn’t get your books from Amazon, and then I will give you plenty of alternatives! (Sorry to folks in other areas, this list will be US/North American centric. I know some European countries have other alternatives, like Spain has its own version of Libby, but I’m not familiar with all of them and definitely not enough to expound on them. Feel free to leave a comment with information about resources in other countries!)

This post is written with the assumption that you care about the book industry. If you don’t, well, you can move along, this blog in general probably isn’t for you honestly.

On the other side of this, I would like to acknowledge that self-publishing with Amazon and Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited feature has allowed a lot of authors to get their books out into the world when traditional avenues weren’t working out. Some of these indie authors are only available via Amazon, and while that’s problematic in itself with Amazon dominating the market, supporting indie authors is also important, so I’m not going to tell you what to do in that regard. Honestly, I’m not telling you what to do at all, just giving you information. Decide whatever you want!

Reasons to Not Buy Books from Amazon

1. Amazon is terrible for brick-and-mortar stores, especially your local independent bookstore (if you even still have one left). See, selling books doesn’t come with a high profit margin at all. Many independent bookstores barely eke out a profit, and a lot of that is through selling other stuff (gift shop items, cafe, etc.). My own independent bookstore, which I love, loses six figures a year (but thankfully can afford to do so due to who owns it). The reason is because publishers set the list price of a book and sell at a slight discount to booksellers, but it’s nothing like the wholesale discount stores get for other types of items. Also, because publishers set the list price, booksellers aren’t able to sell the books at a higher price to generate more of a profit. This is the basis of the struggle for booksellers. But Amazon, because it sells pretty much everything under the sun, is able to sell books at a loss and make up those numbers elsewhere. And that loss can be big—they often sell at even more of a discount to further give them a one-up on independent stores. Because, again, they don’t care if they lose money on books. They easily make that back up with cheap decor and bad quality clothes. (My rant on fast fashion is for another day and blog, but I do have one.) (Target, which is the biggest seller of books in brick-and-mortar stores, also takes advantage of this. It’s not just an Amazon problem. Also, sorry I don’t have a source on this—I read about Target and much of this paragraph in The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore by Evan Friss but don’t currently have it on hand to cite, as I loaned it from the library.)
2. Amazon is terrible for libraries. “Wait, how does Amazon affect libraries?” you might ask. Two completely different services, right? One word: Audible. Amazon has put a lot of work into cornering the market on audiobooks, and this affects libraries in ways that many non-librarians don’t realize. Not just Audible Exclusives (although yes, also those), which are usually the biggest names in new books that libraries can’t have, but also their lobbying behind how audiobooks and ebooks are handled and priced for libraries. See, libraries lease audiobooks and ebooks, and the lease terms vary from book to book, library to library. A lease term will have a certain number of checkouts before the lease needs to be renewed, and they will also have a specific number of people who can have the book checked out at one time. The publishers’ reasoning for this is that it mimics borrowing a physical book from the library; only one person can have each physical book at a time and eventually they need to be replaced due to damage and general wear and tear. However, in the digital sphere, this is artificial and unnecessary, but it’s what libraries have to deal with because Amazon (in part) lobbied for these anti-library measures. With these lease terms controlling how many people can have an audiobook at one time, and only so many times before a library has to pay for it again, it creates long waitlists, especially for the big names, and often an audiobook is unavailable completely. That’s where Amazon wins: many people will just go grab it from them instead of waiting! I have had The Fellowship of the Ring, which is not a new book by any means, on hold from my library since November 24th, and I’ve moved two whole places in line in that time. (And I have an advantage: as a Massachusetts library card holder, I get access to all public library networks in the state, not just mine. I’m often able to get audiobooks a lot faster through this than if I only had my own network accessible. Not all states offer something like this, though.)
   
3. Amazon doesn’t care about your books. I’m in a number of book-related groups and discussions, and one thing I see constantly is complaints about how books shipped by Amazon arrive with bent and ripped covers, because the robots at the distribution center just throw them into an appropriately sized box (often with other items) without caring about getting jostled around before they arrive at their destination. Additionally, they have been getting worse and worse with preorders; I saw this with video games years back and see it happening with books much the same. So many Onyx Storm preorders got cancelled just a few days before its release, or are now arriving late. Amazon doesn’t care about that loss (whether a single book or a single customer). They’ll make it up elsewhere. On the other hand, my local bookstore makes it a point to check every book for smushed edges and ripped covers before processing them, and employees have even offered to get me another copy of something off the shelf if they notice a mar while I’m checking out. Customer service from independent stores really can’t be beat.
4. Amazon is a terrible company. There, that’s it, the last reason. Amazon is doing plenty without book sales, and there are political, environmental, and consumer reasons you shouldn’t buy from them.

Okay, now that I’ve hopefully convinced some of you to ditch Amazon, at least in part… what are the alternatives? I’m so glad you asked because, even though Amazon has done a good job of dominating the market, there thankfully are alternatives! As I mentioned, this list is US-centric, but please feel free to leave a comment about resources in other areas if you know them!

Physical Book Alternatives to Amazon

1. Libraries. This has to be first on the list, right? I mean, I’m a librarian! But in addition to what your local library has on the shelf, did you know that you can get books from other libraries? Your library might be part of a regional network, and many offer Interlibrary Loans through that. They may also offer Interlibrary Loans beyond just your regional network; in Massachusetts, we have our regional network, Commonwealth Catalog (almost every public and many academic libraries in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, hence its name), and the ability to get books from libraries all over the country (and sometimes all over the world) through WorldShare. If my regional network doesn’t have a book, someone else almost always will! In fact, filling these requests is a big part of my new position, so it’s something I’m well familiar with, but not everybody is. So, if your own library doesn’t have a book you’re looking for, don’t be discouraged, and ask your friendly local librarian if there are other avenues to get it! (Also, I acknowledge that not all areas have robust library systems, especially in the current political climate. As with all of these suggestions, your mileage may vary.)
2. Bookstores, independent or not. I’m a huge fan of them. HUGE fan. Unfortunately, they’re not as prolific as they used to be. Even where I am, we had multiple Borders, Waldenbooks, Barnes & Nobles, and independent stores within a 20 minute drive when I was growing up before Amazon, and now I have… one (new books) bookstore within 30 minutes. The closest Barnes & Noble isn’t even close, it’s 40 minutes on the highway. Still, if you have a physical store, I cannot stress how important it is to shop there. Not only will you support your actual local community, you’ll get way better customer service than Amazon could ever, and personal recommendations from people who actually know books, not just an algorithm. And they have author events, book clubs, and just generally a sense of community! But also, used bookstores! I do have one used bookstore down the street from me that I grew up going to and is still standing, and there are a couple others in town as well. Sometimes they’re combined with another niche thing (one store is a “books and games” store, and specializes in fantasy/scifi and TTRPGs; another is books and used CDs/records) but I love supporting these little oddity shops, and the selection is often better curated than a big store would be.
   • I mentioned my own local bookstore already, but I want to shout out a few in Chicago that I loved while I lived there: after-words (which I tragically didn’t discover until I was about to move, but has an amazingly curated selection), Myopic Books, and Volumes (which I still have a giftcard to sitting in my wallet, oops).
3. Bookshop.org. Want to support independent bookstores, but don’t have any nearby or the ability to get to a store? If you’re going to be ordering online anyway, shop on bookshop.org! Every purchase benefits an independent bookstore, and you can select exactly which one you want your purchase to go to if you have one in mind. If I want to order a book that my local indie can’t get for me, this is where I go. (I think some shops also have used books listed, but I use it for new books. For used books, I go to the next item on the list.)
4. Abebooks. Abebooks is a book specialized marketplace for individual sellers and stores to sell online. I love it because you can look for specific editions; when I was rebuilding my book collection, I wanted a very specific edition of many books (sometimes because of translator, sometimes because of the cover), and it was so easy to find them through here. It’s also how I rounded out my hardcover Tamora Pierce collection! But again, it is a marketplace comprised of individual sellers, so read notes on book quality, reviewer ratings, etc. When you’re looking for a specific (especially older) book instead of just browsing a used bookstore, this is the place to go.
5. Little Free Libraries. Honestly, I haven’t used these myself (but there are two in town and I have a number of books to drop off), and every LFL varies wildly in terms of what’s there, but it’s a low/no risk way to find some books while also supporting the community! In that same vein, I’ve gotten a number of books and seen a lot more posted in my local Buy Nothing group, and they’re often best sellers that people read once and wanted to pass along. Both are great ways to support community and save some money!

Digital Book Alternatives

1. Libby. As mentioned, Libby provides audiobooks and ebooks through your library. As such, what’s available to you will vary wildly compared to what’s available to someone else, but libraries do make an effort to have a good selection despite all the anti-library measures on digital book leases. Additionally, your library might offer audiobooks through Hoopla or a similar service, so check your library’s online resources!
2. Libro.fm. This is the audiobook equivalent of bookshop.org, and functions similarly to Audible. You can either buy books individually, or pay for a monthly subscription that comes with free credits. Like bookshop.org, a portion of each purchase (or membership) goes to independent bookstores, and you can select a specific store if you have one in mind.
3. Everand. I was a huge user of Everand back when it was still being called Scribd a couple years ago, and although I have my gripes with its change (like quietly getting rid of the referral program, which was great for us content creators), it’s still a great resource. For one flat subscription fee, you get access to an unlimited amount of both audiobooks and ebooks, and the selection is honestly comparable to other options aside from Audible Exclusives. They recently added “unlocks” for premium titles, so I’m not too familiar with that, but it still seems like a good deal. ($12/month for unlimited non-premium titles and one unlock, or $17/month for three unlocks.) Honestly, I stopped my subscription a while back because I wasn’t listening to audiobooks enough to justify the cost, but they also have sheet music so I’ll probably start it up again for that reason once my flute is back from the repair shop. So I’ll try to remember to update this after I’ve used the new features.
4. Archive.org, Project Gutenberg, and LibriVox. These sites all specialize in things that are in the public domain, and the quality is very varied, but it’s a great resource for FREE BOOKS, especially if you like classic literature or obscure stuff. Also, if you want to try to get into the world of narrating audiobooks, LibriVox is a great place to volunteer and test the waters.
5. Spotify. Okay, I’m just putting this one here for the sake of being comprehensive, but did you know that Spotify premium memberships come with 15 hours of audiobook listening? And then you can buy more, I guess. Personally, I haven’t used this (I have a student account, which either doesn’t let me listen to audiobooks for free or I have the bad luck of wanting to listen to books that aren’t included in this plan), but if you’re truly desperate for that hot release and the library’s hold list is 26 weeks long, this might be worth looking into.

So, with all these options… why are you still buying books from Amazon? Please think about where your money goes. And while we’re on the subject, please consider ditching Goodreads (which is owned by Amazon) and moving to an independent book tracking/reviewing site like The StoryGraph. (If you get ARCs through NetGalley or similar, compromises are made because they still heavily favor Goodreads reviews, but otherwise…)

If you have any other resources, please share in the comments!