Many authors and booksellers have serious concerns about Amazon. By their sheer immensity, and also their very questionable business practices, they are eclipsing and forcing small booksellers out of business, booksellers who support a diversity of ideas, which will one day affect the diversity of reading material available to all of us.
And Amazon has treated authors very poorly. I’ve never been able to get any accounting or even correspondence from Amazon which, through clever marketing to self-publishers, gained the rights to print my book without ever telling me how many they print. Authors have to simply believe what they say. I hear regularly that people bought my book on Amazon, but I don’t see the money. I was recently forced to threaten a lawsuit before Amazon and Lulu.com responded to some of my complaints. A little web research will reveal many other authors in similar situations.
An excellent alternative to Amazon exists (and please tell all your friends): www.addall.com. This site compiles the titles of many booksellers around the world - including Amazon and Half.com (eBay) and many small independent booksellers - and lets you compare their prices easily. You can often find a seller selling for less than Amazon, or you might choose to pay twenty cents more and buy from an independent business person.
Another alternative: Buy from me! If you want a discount, please email me, and I’ll do what I can. But please, support small business!
Why? Small businesses are better places to work. Small businesses spend their money in their local economies, supporting people like you and me. Small booksellers and publishers support diversity and freedom of ideas. Big corporations don’t. Spend your money in such a way as to create the world you want to live in. Thanks!
