Ilana MasadNov 26, 2022

If you really want to support the authors in your life this holiday season: please buy their books from your local bookstore, from Bookshop, or get it from the library!

(Feel free to review it on the big A but if you can help it, don't buy it from the Bezos machine)

@bookstodon #bookstodon #books

Show threadLif StrandNov 26, 2022
@ilanaslightly @bookstodon
I've always been curious about the Bezos machine issue. Lots of small businesses depend on it for the world-wide reach it provides. Lots of indie authors (and small presses) have no other way to get their books out there. For instance, the nearest bookstore that Bookshop supports is 175 miles from me.
Show threadmullet huntressNov 26, 2022
@lifstrand @ilanaslightly @bookstodon Bookshop ships anywhere, doesn’t matter how close a store is to you :)
Issue is that people buy most or all of their books there. Bezos makes explicit efforts to undercut bookstores to cement the monopoly. Just off the top of my ex-indie shop bookseller head:
-ships new releases b4 pub dates (breaks bookstore ‘code of conduct’)
-undercuts publisher-set “industry-wide list prices” ALL THE TIME
-bought audible
-bought goodreads
Show threadIlana Masad
@Chicago @lifstrand @bookstodon All this - plus, I think part of the issue is that people forget that Amazon started as a bookstore. Its whole thing was to dominate the online shopping sphere in books, and it's caused irreparable harms and changes to the industry as a whole, not just to booksellers. Again, no judgement if it's the only affordable option people have - but if they can afford elsewhere, they should buy from elsewhere.
Nov 26, 2022 at 3:01amWeb
Show threadUltra Violet  🌹🏴Nov 26, 2022
@ilanaslightly @Chicago @lifstrand @bookstodon as an indie bookseller I appreciate your sentiment.
Show threadIlana MasadNov 26, 2022
@MarchViolet @Chicago @lifstrand @bookstodon <3 <3 Thank you for the work you do!
Show threadUltra Violet  🌹🏴Nov 26, 2022
@ilanaslightly @Chicago @lifstrand @bookstodon I appreciate the people who keep us indies alive by supporting our shops. Buy local and keep your money in the community.
Show threadDarnell Clayton Nov 26, 2022
@ilanaslightly @Chicago @lifstrand @bookstodon I also think Amazon’s money-back guarantee feature, Amazon Prime, plus quick delivery is attractive to people.
Amazon delivery rivals that of UPS & FedEx for me, & I can count on them to deliver items undamaged.
UPS is good & I experienced some issues with FedEx.
Using USPS makes me nervous as items disappear into the ether with no accountability or feedback! 🤯
Show threadhighly principled invertebrateNov 26, 2022
@ilanaslightly @Chicago @lifstrand @bookstodon I think though that their era is starting to come to an end, as they are no longer either as reliable in delivery times nor as easy to use as they once were. Irony on this is that thusly the degradation of the USPS, which they often use and phone systems, as they insist now on having phone numbers in their data mining wing, are now having them as at best questionable if not worse than the Indy bookstores they once so easily crushed in speed and ease of use. This is among the mainstays of why I now rarely use them for anything and consider them an "option of last resort", even as about 15-20 years ago I don't think a month went bye that I didn't order something from them.