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How to Resist Amazon and Why: The Fight for Local Economics, Data Privacy, Fair Labor, Independent Bookstores, and a People-Powered Future!
How to Resist Amazon and Why: The Fight for Local Economics, Data Privacy, Fair Labor, Independent Bookstores, and a People-Powered Future! | Danny Caine
4 posts | 1 read | 1 to read
When a company's workers are literally dying on the job, when their business model relies on preying on local businesses and even their own vendors, when their CEO is the richest person in the world while their workers make low wages with impossible quotas... wouldn't you want to resist? Danny Caine, owner of Raven Book Store in Lawrence, Kansas has been an outspoken critic of the seemingly unstoppable Goliath of the bookselling world: Amazon. In this book, he lays out the case for shifting our personal money and civic investment away from global corporate behemoths and to small, local, independent businesses. Well-researched and lively, his tale covers the history of big box stores, the big political drama of delivery, and the perils of warehouse work. He shows how Amazon's ruthless discount strategies mean authors, publishers, and even Amazon themselves can lose money on every book sold. And he spells out a clear path to resistance, in a world where consumers are struggling to get by. In-depth research is interspersed with charming personal anecdotes from bookstore life, making this a readable, fascinating, essential book for the 2020s.
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ImperfectCJ
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This is from an email from author and biomechanist Katy Bowman, and I've verified the print and e-book numbers (https://thetechylife.com/how-much-money-does-amazon-take-from-book-sales/). Still looking for audiobook numbers as the linked article is less detailed on those. I also learned that Amazon controls 80% of book distribution in the US.

If you, like me, are alarmed by this, check out bookshop.org, libro.fm, and kobo.com for alternatives.

Tamra I love to support local shops & the library! 💕 1mo
Amiable I‘m very proud to say that I‘ve never bought a book from Amazon. I distrusted Bezos from day one and refused to purchase books from there. 1mo
lil1inblue I heard a rumor that kobo is working on compatibility with bookshop.org ebooks, so soon our kobo reads may benefit local bookshops! *crosses fingers* 1mo
See All 18 Comments
ImperfectCJ I long ago quit buying books from Amazon, but it was in 2020 after getting one too many counterfeit/knock-off items after I'd done hours of research to order a specific brand that I cancelled my Prime membership. The only time my family orders anything through Amazon is when my kids get an Amazon gift card. I figure Amazon already has the money, no use in letting them keep it without sending something. 1mo
ImperfectCJ I should probably get rid of my Goodreads account, but I've had it since well before Amazon bought them, and I feel so nostalgic. And I only use my Ring cameras as wildlife cams in my backyard, but I should probably get rid of those, too. 1mo
ImperfectCJ @lil1inblue What lovely news! 🤞 1mo
lil1inblue @ImperfectCJ This makes me so happy! 🥰 1mo
Clare-Dragonfly @lil1inblue Ooh, that‘s so exciting! Thank you! 1mo
Faranae I don't buy anything from Amazon if I can help it. I live in a kind of far-flung place, so this sometimes means Amazon is the only way a company serves my region, and then I mostly do without.

Incidentally, kobo e-readers can read regular epubs - kepubs work slightly better (and are easily converted to in calibre), and you can side-load any epub of pdf you want.

For GR: it's very easy to import your GR to StoryGraph or OpenLibrary!
1mo
ImperfectCJ @Faranae I love StoryGraph! I actually don't use my GR anymore (haven't for several years), I just haven't deleted it yet. My fave thing about Kobo is how it's attached to Overdrive (and how it's more responsive than my old Paperwhite) 1mo
GingerAntics This is precisely why I get all my audiobooks and ebooks from Apple Books or the library. I get physical copies from anyone but Amazon whenever possible. 1mo
Suet624 It's important to keep pointing this out to folks who don't know this. Thank you. 1mo
Tamra @ImperfectCJ I dumped GR for Storygraph and have no regrets. 1mo
Ruthiella Yeah. I‘ve long stopped buying books from Amazon. Thriftbooks, Better World Books, Blackwell‘s for UK titles, Bookshop.org. There are so many other options. 1mo
BarbaraBB I finally deleted my GR now. Storygraph is so much better but I still had that account 1mo
AnnCrystal Wow 🥺📚💝. 1mo
PuddleJumper That's terrible and yet unsurprising. I don't buy physical books from Amazon, I still use Kindle Unlimited. I'll need to research whether I can read other ebooks on my Kindle 1mo
46 likes18 comments
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BC_Dittemore
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Well… I finally did it. ☝️ I canceled my Audible membership. Sucks, because I took full advantage of premium status; the Great Courses lectures were one of the best things I had ever come across. But the amount of ‘included-with-membership‘ books made it possible for me to save a huge chunk of titles purchased with credits. Which will give me some time before I (most likely) move to LibroFM.

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peanutnine
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Happy Independent Bookstore Day! I'm off to catch the last six bookstores on the Greater Charlotte Book Crawl. Support your local indies today! 📚
#independentbookstoreday #bookcrawl #gcbc
(oh and Benny says hi 😽) #catsoflitsy

Ruthiella Hi Benny! 😻 Hope your human has fun! 5mo
BookNAround Yay! Hope you had a good day with your last six stores! I went to celebrate Independent Bookstore Day at Park Road Books and bought an obscene number of books. 😂 5mo
peanutnine @BookNAround nice! We had a great day. I didn't buy too many today, but my purchases from the month as a whole were pretty obscene 🤭😂 5mo
TieDyeDude 😻 5mo
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barbwire
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Seems like an appropriate way to celebrate Independent Bookstore Day. Honestly, I haven‘t missed them in the two months since I quit Amazon.