Friday, March 29, 2013

On Recent Disputes and Acquisitions in the Book World

There was some gloomy news for authors and indie-lovin' readers this week. First we got wind of the Simon & Schuster / Barnes & Noble financial dispute that is causing B&N to drastically reduce their orders of S&S titles, to the point where they are no longer stocking some smaller-name authors' books. Next, I woke up this morning and learned that Amazon is acquiring Goodreads. Is nothing safe from the Great Corporation anymore?
Calvin and Hobbes explains corporate greed. Click to embiggen.
S&S author Stephanie Burgis' blog post is a heart-rending explanation of the S&S/B&N dispute and how it affects writers like her. I still recommend her MG historical fantasy series (first book: Kat, Incorrigible [US]; A Most Improper Magick [UK]) to anyone whom I think would have the slightest interest in MG historical fantasies, even though it's been almost three years since I read and loved it. I'll even admit to being randomly stalkerish: every time I find myself in the Middle Grade section of a bookstore, I inadvertently check to see if I can find her books.

By industry standards, Stephanie is a lesser-known author; by personal standards, what Stephanie writes is better than half of what I see on the shelves. Which is why it tore at me so when I read about her wrenching search of B&Ns that were still stocking her books after the dispute was made public:
For context, about half the B&Ns in the country, from what I could tell last year, stocked the paperback of Kat, Incorrigible and the hardcover of Renegade Magic. I think it might be normal to expect those numbers to go down a bit this time round, but I was hoping that at least 1/4 of the B&Ns I looked at would stock Renegade Magic.

Instead, I found...zero. Absolutely zero B&Ns, in any of the zipcode areas I looked up (and I looked up a LOT) were carrying the paperback of Renegade Magic - even stores that had always carried high stocks of the Kat, Incorrigible paperback and the Renegade Magic hardcover.
When large, profit-oriented corporations clash, it's usually the ordinary, hard-working individuals that slip through the cracks and are affected most. (No CEOs have to give up their multimillion-dollar mansions, maid service, and fancy cars as they're cajoling, threatening, or warning other companies of what will happen to them if they get in the way of profitization.) And this is sad, in the way that reading about the ordeals of homeless child soldiers in war-torn countries is sad--in a momentary, far-off, unrelatable way. But what Stephanie describes is how it affects us, our friends, our family, all the people we hope to influence with our words:
It really hurts that this has happened, through the sheer bad luck of being an author caught in the middle of a larger power struggle. My publisher will move on from this. So will B&N. But my book may have slipped through the cracks by then.

And the reason I am talking about this in public...

...is that when I walk into a bookstore, as a reader, I rarely notice the books that aren't stocked there. Maybe, if I'm looking for one book in particular, I'll be disappointed if I don't see it, but I won't really think anything of that. I'll just think, oh, well, this particular store didn't stock it.
You are an average, non-book-blogging consumer.
When you walk into a bookstore, what's going to
catch your eye? [Image from cafepress.com]
Customer Philosophy #1: The harder it is to find something, the less people are going to try to find it. If you're read this, you are probably either a book blogger or someone who appreciates book bloggers. Sadly, our numbers combined make up only a very small portion of the population: you're not going to find the majority of Veronica Roth or Cassandra Clare fans active on Goodreads or the blogosphere. Put yourself in the shoes of a non-blogger for a minute. You walk into your local bookstore. Perhaps you are a teenager forced to enter because your parents threatened to not give you car rights unless you read three books on your summer vacation; perhaps you are an adult, just popping into air-conditioned haven as a brief respite during your errand run; or you've just celebrated your tenth birthday (double digits!) and have a couple giftcards to use. You randomly browse the shelves, reading titles and summaries here and there. What's going to catch your eye? Most likely the large stacks of a single bestselling title displayed prominently in the center of the store; that, or a jacket summary that strikes a chord with you. Like Stephanie said, you are not going to notice what's not there. And if what's not there are some great books that will make you laugh and cry and want to read them over and over, the average, casual consumer is going to have no chance to even consider those books. Because he or she does not know those books even exist.

One of my favorite indies is Children's Book World in Haverford, PA. They've got the requisite displays of popular bestsellers, but they've also got beautifully colorful, lovingly stocked shelves that seem to contain exactly one copy of every single children's, middle grade, and YA book published within the last ten years. Even if I've already read most of the books I see there, I delight in the possibility that another reader can stand where I stand and find those lesser-known books that I love.
Book 3 of Stephanie Burgis' MG historical fantasy series is out on April 2 from Atheneum Books.
If you're interested in buying a copy, please consider buying from IndieBound.

The other big book-related news this week that Amazon has acquired Goodreads. I don't think that this acquisition is going to change individuals' daily actions on Goodreads (I hope not), and it seems like the main reason for the acquisition, at least according to that article, is to "Kindle integration" and to get the leg-up on Apple regarding social media. So if day-to-day Goodreads use isn't going to change, and if a convenient Kindle integration system is to be implemented (which all sounds good), how is this acquisition going to affect us? Author Kate Messner wrote a great (and much more succinct) blog post about the matter, in which she notes:
People who use GoodReads are book lovers who like to keep track of their reading and share great books with one another. And soon, they’ll be supporting Amazon whether they chose to or not.

I understand that lots of people like buying books online, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But if you like bookstores — real brick-and-mortar bookstores that smell like paper, with smiling people who know your kids — then you need to support them, or they won’t be here for long.
forbes.com
A world without brick-and-mortar bookstores? Noooooooooooo. And yet this is what Amazon is directing the market towards: transitioning all business into online-only. A wave of the mouse and the click of a button; as soon as possible, your order in your hands.

A fair number of you are probably like me in terms of my complicated relationship with Amazon: I dislike their profit-driven, community-squeezing, capitalist philosophy and actions, but invariably end up purchasing some of my stuff from them anyway. It's gotten to the point where it's hard to NOT use Amazon in some portion of our lives. So no, I'm not going to say you should avoid Amazon completely. I just think that all of us should sit down for a bit and rethink our relationship with Amazon. Is it...

...Nonexistent? Congratulations! You are a better and more self-motivated person than I am.

...Dependent? You probably have a retail problem and/or don't know about the socioeconomic effects of Amazon's Amazonian (d'oh!) dynasty on nearly everything.

...Measured? That's where I'd like to be, and hopefully you'd like to party in this category with me too. It's like a form of dieting: you don't need to cut it entirely out of your life, but you should learn to have it in moderation, and balance your intake with a variety of others.

How should we express our support for brick-and-mortar and indie bookstores while still enjoying Goodreads? I like Kate's suggestion:
Write your reviews. Log your reading and recommend your books. And end each review with a link to IndieBound....My review [of Linda Urban's THE CENTER OF EVERYTHING] ends like this now:

I support independent bookstores. You can use this link to find one near you or order THE CENTER OF EVERYTHING on IndieBound: http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780547763484
This is a great way to still use Goodreads for what you love about it while making it clear your support and valuing of indies. Nice!

Common reasons for why people are not buying indie is money: Amazon has, compared to pretty much all brick-and-mortar stores, lower price, and also that super-appealing Free Shipping option. It's hard to resist the call of perpetual discounts and free shipping. But you CAN, and you SHOULD try! Here's a semi-mathematical argument for why it's not hard to switch from buying Amazon to buying indie:

Say you want to buy five books. Recently published books on Amazon tend to be approximately 25-33% off their list price. If you pare off a book from your original five, that gets you down to within a few bucks of the Amazon price. Shipping might cost you between $4 and $10; some indies, like my other favorite, Doylestown Bookshop in Doylestown, PA, have nifty discounts like 10% off all online orders and free shipping for orders over $30.

Does your TBR pile look like this or maybe even ten times worse?
If so, you probably don't need to buy that new book
as badly as you think you do.
Sure, you get one fewer book than you'd get if you bought from Amazon, but look around you: you're probably surrounded by brand-spanking-new books you bought months or even years ago when you told yourself you just couldn't live if you didn't buy that book right then. And now it's still lying there, unread, among dozens of other books in the same situation. You don't need that one book immediately; read the ones you already own, put that one on your shopping list for next time, and see if you still need that book as badly the next time you buy books. Frugal Retail Therapist advice: Before purchasing that thing you think you absolutely must have, put it back "on the shelf" for a week, thus giving you the time to think about whether or not you truly need that item ASAP.

Furthermore, when you buy from Amazon, little to none of your money goes toward your community; when you buy indie, more than 40% of what you pay goes back into that bookstore so they can stay in business and do cool things do make your bookwormy self happy, like author signing events, book clubs, etc. And, as I've said before, these community-oriented features are really what make indies so precious and worth keeping around.
Does Amazon throw you Mockingjay midnight release parties?
OR BAKE YOU TEAM HUNGER GAMES COOKIES???
To wrap up this long post: we need to be aware of these goings-on in the industry, and of how our consumerist choices affect our community. Games played by corporate bigshots may not seem to directly affect our everyday lives, but everything is connected. Support community; buy indie. You CAN do it. We're all behind you.

30 comments:

  1. There aren't many indie stores where I live, but there is one near my work place. Just one, but I'm there nearly every week, even if just to browse. But they're so poorly stocked sometimes (especially if you are like me and have read most of the popular YA titles) that it's difficult not to buy from larger book stores, or even Amazon. I only found out about the S&S/B&N dispute yesterday, when my feed was full of Goodreads news. I read Stephanie's post and I agree that it's heartbreaking. You're right - it's the hard-working, ordinary people who are affected the most. It's definitely sad to see, though I hope there will be some sort of resolution and soon.

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    1. Yeah, unfortunately not all indie bookstores are up to the same standards as the ones that give indies their good reputation. It's definitely what Amazon does well that brick-and-mortar stores sometimes struggle with: having a good stock of books. The good thing is, a lot of indie bookstores are happy to ship online, which will hopefully eliminate some of the frustrations of having no local indies or local indies that are poorly run!

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  2. This makes me so sad but I'm definitely willing to buy indie, especially if I can do it online. Children's Book World is so wonderful but it's a half hour drive from me so it's not my first choice for when I just need one book. We really need to support our communities and small businesses!

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    1. Wait--Megan, where do you live?? CBW was also about a half hour drive from my college, a couple exits down the freeway. Could we have been neighbors and not known all this time??

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  3. The goings-on in the industry lately just make me sad. I know it's all about the bottom line for businesses, that they're not really thinking about the repercussions of their actions, especially not with how it effects the individual author and reader, but, come on. Do you not see what's going on? How can you make this better, not worse?

    Amazon is horrifying in its drive to snatch up everything book-related. Still, I admit to being an Amazon user. A Prime Member, even. But I still buy from Indies online and every review I do is linked to Amazon, IndieBound, and Barnes & Noble. I'm wondering what will happen now that they've bought up Goodreads. I use it to keep track of the books I want to read and have read as well as to find new books that my top friends are interested in but is that going to change once Amazon gets their claws into it?

    Great, insightful post, by the way!

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    1. I hope that little about Goodreads will change in its day-to-day offerings, but I'm scared of the other possibilities! Why must everything be snatched up for profits? Yes, this applies to the Wattpad followings that attract millions of reviews and publishers snag them for six figures and slap a cover on them and bind them into a physical book and call it ready to publish. A lot of things are lost in the mad dash for profit, and we all don't need as much money to lead a good life as we think we do.

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  4. This post made me think long and hard about my book buying habits and has inspired me to try to change them. I am an Amazon Prime member and Kindle owner, so I have spent quite a lot of money on Amazon over the past couple of years ever since Borders closed. However, as you mentioned, my bookshelf is now overflowing with all of these brand new books that I just had to have at the time and yet haven't gotten around to reading yet.

    I've recently discovered how wonderful indie bookstores are and want to start changing my book buying habits. In February, I was able to go a signing with Robin Benway, Megan Miranda, and Yelena Black. I'm so grateful for the bookstore for hosting the event because Robin Benway's Audrey, Wait! is one of my all-time favorite books. I know that every time I pick up one of the signed books I bought at the event, I'll remember that special evening when I was able to meet them. I also was able to visit another indie bookstore a couple of weeks ago for Stephenie Meyer's THE HOST tour. It was so exciting to get to meet her in person (because her Twilight books got me started reading YA books) as well as the two male actors.

    I want to begin filling my shelves with carefully selected signed books instead of books that I buy from Amazon just because I can save a couple of dollars. I've started to see how indie bookstores will allow me to begin building a meaningful book collection. For example, I recently pre-ordered Elizabeth Norris' Unbreakable from Books of Wonder, and along with sending me a signed book, I'll also get signed swag and a special booklet with bonus content. How cool is that? Sure, it costs twice as much as it would if I were to buy a copy from Amazon because of the shipping costs and lack of discount, but Amazon can't offer me a signed version or the extra goodies.

    My rate of accumulation of books will slow down in transitioning more to shopping at independent bookstores, but that's okay with me because I have so many unread books at the moment that it's becoming kind of overwhelming. Thank you for this wake-up call post!

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    1. Sarah, I'm really happy that my post made you reflect on your book buying habits! If I can inspire even one person to reflect on their own actions and how they are influencing today's society, I consider it a good day in my world. Truly, the books we own that have special stories behind how we acquired them are the ones that will matter in the long run.

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  5. Wonderful post Steph. Thanks for your thoughtful insights and making me think this morning.

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  6. I'm conflicted with this decision, and here's why:

    - Indie bookstores are fabulous when they are well-done and certainly worth keeping in business. I don't think a reader would disagree with that. We LOVE bookstores. We LOVE cute shops that aren't corporate. Readers, by nature, are people that seek out intimate places where people understand us.

    - Amazon is fabulous. Yes, it can be visceral and vicious in its tactics, but it is a company that focuses very heavily on customer service. My one local indie bookstore is a used bookstore that charges high for books, doesn't try to improve itself, and is genuinely really bad in its business practices because the owners care about their revenue, period, not how that will improve their product. Customer service is not something to sneeze at because it's good business. Regardless of how shitty Amazon can be, I love my Kindle, I love the sales, I love the fact that Amazon has made a point to be extremely *good* about making it a business where the customer is important.

    - The balance is hard to find. If I live in an area with an indie store, you better believe I'll support it. My college has at least one indie that's spitting distance away. It's adorable and is known for being a great store. But there are some things about it that aren't the best business practices. They completely ignore genre romance (which is bad on both in terms of profits and in terms of genre discrimination, as it's a non-genre-specific store) and, regardless of how you can order something through them, what is on the shelves directly effects purchasing value.

    I just think this is a matter of figuring out where that balance is - and maybe, just maybe, seeing where Indie stores can work to fight back with Amazon. Customers love both, but Amazon did not get where it is by stupid business practices, and I think indie bookstores can take from that something, at least in spirit, that may help them gain a wider audience.

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    1. I think that what make Amazon so successful and popular are the very qualities that successful businesses--both indie and, for lack of a better word, "corporate," ones--possess. The customer service, the flexibility in offerings, the well-stocked inventory. This says to me that it's possible to have Amazon-esque success while still having as positive a consumer image as more local businesses. It's a societal issue that people are driven to have far more money than they'll ever need. Why do you need to earn enough money to buy a private island every year?

      Furthermore, Amazon's business practices often entail trying to dodge laws that other businesspeople abide by, such as paying taxes, etc. The customer is important, yes, but this to me is another example of human beings' selfish nature: each of us believes in our self-importance so much that most of us are willing to overlook others' hardships for the sake of feeling good about ours, whether materialistically, spiritually, emotionally, whatever. Amazon's decade-long dodging of taxes, its pressuring the postal service to perform beyond their capabilities, its devaluation of *production*. Sure, Amazon may be customer-focused, but its customer focus is on the very superficial and short-term basis that customers love to save money, and they're willing to corporatize and commercialize artistic endeavors to the point where they're getting the whole world to think that the process of writing a book should only cost 99 cents.

      I'll even go one step further and say that I think the world would be better off without Amazon. It's made things more convenient, sure, but it's turned society into a herd of unthinking cows who scrounge to save a few cents or dollars at the cost of others' livelihoods. And people don't need as much cheap *stuff* as we've been led to believe by the corporations. It's nice to buy e-books for my Kindle and take advantage of all of Amazon's deals, but the bottom line is that we don't need 90% of the stuff that society leads us to believe we absolutely must own.

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  7. I think you've really broken down the issue of Amazon and book monopolization into a concise manner that I actually understand. It really blows what B&N is doing to the authors of S&S, especially Stephanie Burgis (I did really like her first book, haven't read the other one yet). I am totally one of those people where if I'm shopping in a store and it's not on the shelf, I don't think to buy it later -- unless it's a book I've known about for a long time.

    As for Amazon, yeah, I spend a lot of money at Amazon, which is awful, but it's also really convenient as far as Kindle books go. Now, this isn't to say that I never spend money at indies because I do. I know that in 2012 I definitely dropped over $1000 at my favorite indie. However, my favorite indie is also 2.5 hours away and I don't care to shop at my local indie because they strike me as pompous and rude -- I will never forget trying to strike up a conversation there before the one book event I attended and basically getting the brush off. Sorry, that's not how you win my customer loyalty. On the other hand, my favorite indie, Oblong Books is very wonderful and actually super supportive of YA with great events. The people who work there are also personable and do a great job with customer service.

    Regardless, I love this post and that you've actually put the issues into terms that I can understand.

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    1. Yeah, you and others have made the significant point that not all indies are deserving of the praise that is typically heaped upon indies. That is true for every kind of field, I suppose, and I can only hope that those indies open their eyes to what they could do better. Otherwise, it won't be a surprise why some indies are not doing well, and it wouldn't be fair for those to give other indies a poor reputation.

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  8. We aren't even a full step away from the world being owned by Google, Apple and Amazon. It's convenient in some ways, but far more terrifying in others. When I look at my life, I am so very dependant on all three it stopped being amusing ages ago. Without Google, I don't have an email, my schedule is gone, and I don't even have a blog to keep a schedule for. Without Amazon, I don't have my ebooks, my Kindle, my beloved Book Depository and now GoodReads. And without Apple I'm sans phone, music and audiobooks.
    But on the other hand, a part of me hates all three! When I see young authors swallowed by their power plays, it's horrible and heartbreaing. I'm glad you wrote this post, Steph.

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    1. It almost seems irreversible, the way the world is heading towards utter dependency on the Internet services of a few. I think about how easy it would be to bring down an entire society with cyberattacks. The first time I thought of this was when I realized I was no longer memorizing my friends' and family members' phone numbers the way I used to do as a kid, because now you can just save the number into your phone and two presses of a button can have you connected to that person in no time. More convenient? For sure. Scary how, if we lost that phone, the lines between us and our loved ones would be so easily severed? Yes.

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  9. Wow. Life has gotten a bit scarier. I ordered Stephanie's book from a B&N and was told it had to be a home delivery, rather than an in store pick up. They wouldn't even allow it to be sent to the store. I don't know what to say.

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    1. HOW IN THE WORLD?!?!? That just seems so awfully petty and personal. I don't understand. I don't. :(

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  10. Brava, Steph! Yes, we book lovers need to support the indies. I appreciated your analysis of the news on B&N and Amazon-Goodreads. That's horrible to hear what's happening to midlist authors at B&N. My small college town is lucky to have an Indie bookstore, Gulf of Maine Books, run by the same owners for over 30 years. They are wonderful about supporting local authors and stock a few written children's books. My last visit I picked up Wonder and couldn't put it down even though I don't usually read MG. Amazon is useful for finding books that are out of print or for ebooks for travel reading, but at home I prefer a real book bought locally like fresh farm eggs. We have so many books that we are building more bookshelves.

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    1. "...at home I prefer a real book bought locally like fresh farm eggs." Oh, how that line gives me the warm and fuzzies! :)

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  11. Fantastic job on this post, Steph! I've been trying to buy almost exclusively from indies (Children's Book World, usually!), and I've devised a method to keep overall expenses down ... and to account for the fact that I only can get to CBW every 2-3 months, usually:

    If I want to read a book, I borrow it from the library, which I can usually get delivered to my local branch through inter-library loan. If I still am in love with that title the next time I'm at an indie, I'll buy it. This way, I'm supporting libraries, adding demand for (usually lesser-known) YA books in libraries (maybe they'll buy more copies!), and then I'm ultimately supporting local indie bookstores. And I save my wallet (and space on a tight bookcase) because I limit my purchases to books I love so much that I'll read them again or ones I'll be recommending to all my friends.

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    1. I'm with you all the way, Donna! I, too, really try to only buy books that I know I'll love. Much like how I try not to recommend books unless I absolutely love them. Spreading the support around to all avenues of book publishing and sales!

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  12. I am so jealous of your midnight Mockingjay party! I called around to a few local bookstores and no one was staying open late for it.

    What Stephanie Burgis says is so true -- and sad. I've been meaning to read Kat Incorrigible for a while and I will go seek it out in a brick and mortar store. I am so impressed Children's Book World carries such a thorough stock. I got a few B&N gift cards for my birthday last year and went into the store with a list of 5 books I wanted. They had ZERO. I know I've been guilty of using stores as showrooms for Amazon, especially when Amazon was tax-free in California, but I've noticed lately that it's not really a huge price difference. I will start adding Indie Bound links to my reviews. Here's hoping every little bit helps.

    -Maggie

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    1. Yikes! What's it a sign of if the biggest brick-and-mortar chain bookstore didn't have ANY of the five books you were looking for? This makes it seem like B&N is going the way of supermarket book selections: only the bestsellers, and the cheapo romance or religious MMPBs.

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  13. This is really inspiring to me about looking for an indie bookstore near me. I do try to go to B&N but I've always been more of a library girl than anything else. But I want to put my money where my mouth is. Thanks for the inspiration!

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    1. A library girl? You are perfect the way you are! :) More people need to take a leaf out of your book and use their local libraries.

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  14. This post is really, really good. As always, your thoughts are clear, organized and presented in a way that I can understand and not feel too overwhelmed - I LOVE THAT. Just wanted to throw that in there first!

    Lately, I've been very choosy about where I get my books. Even though I sometimes do use Amazon for them, I do my best to try and support the smaller bookstores in NY whenever I can (like Books of Wonder, for instance). There's still nothing quite like the experience of walking into a bookstore and walking out with a book right away.

    I also like to go to the library, a habit which I had to re-develop after being exposed to a lack of one when I lived in the Philippines. It's so cool to me how I can get all these books I want to read, and pretty quickly too!

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  15. This is such a fantastic and thought-provoking post, Steph. Although I have heard about the Amazon acquisition of Goodreads, I was unaware of the Barnes & Noble/Simon & Schuster dispute. I hope Simon & Schuster is able to come to some sort of resolution with Barnes & Noble, because you're right - it is the little people who suffer the most, and that's not right.

    I rarely use Amazon except for textbooks - I hate having to pay for shipping & handling and I've found better options near me. There's this great local used books store in my area that will order books for me at 25% off their list price. I get to support local business, buy books at a cheaper price than Barnes & Noble, and not have to worry about shipping & handling. I understand that not everyone can do that, though, and that not everyone has access to local book stores. I just hope that those of us who can continue to do our best to support them!

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  16. I happen to work at an indie store myself and we are the only one in our city which is scary but nonetheless I agree that if we dont do something about this amazon thing soon we might have fewer to none bookstores left than the little we do have now. I couldn't imagine a world where I couldn't go or find a bookstore to read or just browse and by books. So PLEASE everyone make an attempt to support your local bookstores !!

    I love this post Steph!

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  17. I stopped worrying about the costs because I'm lucky enough to afford it and just always go to my local indie. For one thing, one of my blogger friends works there so I would feel disloyal if I went anywhere else ;-)

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