Although the Amazon/Macmillan scuffle has died down a bit, I got curious. I browsed my bookshelves last night to see how many books I had that were published by Macmillan or any of its subsidiaries. Turns out I have more than I thought I did, which shouldn’t be surprising I suppose, given that it’s one of the big six publishing houses.
While I’ve read the occasional e-book, I’m not impressed enough with the technology yet to switch over entirely, so I’m still mainly a print-on-paper book reader. Paper copies don’t mysteriously disappear from my bookshelves because the seller suddenly decided I couldn’t have them any more, even though I legitimately paid for them. Paper copies don’t need batteries or recharging. Paper copies don’t do weird things where I can’t advance the page or read the text. I can write and underline and dog-ear pages in paper copies.
Should Amazon or any other big online bookseller get into a similar skirmish over e-books, or even other aspects of publishing, the sudden-removal-of-merchandise-that-has-nothing-to-do-with-the-issue tactic could happen again. To continue with the example of the Macmillan authors, if I choose to see what the latest offerings are from these authors I’ve an obvious history of reading, and possibly buy them, I may have to get them someplace else, should my usual book sources hoist up their drawbridges suddenly. Given my low resistance level to buying books, this is actually a plausible scenario.
And it is a bloody obvious point that John Scalzi made – I don’t HAVE to buy books from Amazon. No one does. It was just an automatic habit to do so. They made it too easy, which possibly was their goal, and up to now, didn't give consumers pause. But when they eliminated, albeit temporarily, roughly one-sixth of their bookstore catalog, both e-book and print, that made things mighty inconvenient for the consumer. Not to mention all the lost sales for the authors, but that's for another post.
If you have a guilty book-buying habit like I do, and can’t buy the books you want from the usual places, there are alternative sources to feed it:
Your local library – Your tax dollars pay for it, and many libraries’ budgets are being slashed (which has led to some having to close), so may as well use them before they become extinct.
Your local bookstore – There are more independent, used, remainders, and chain bookstores than you might think.
paperbackswap.com - swap, exchange, and trade books
bookdepository.com – I have to admit, this one is becoming my new favorite source. The prices are comparable to Amazon prices, and I especially like the free shipping no matter how much you buy or where you live bit.
indiebound.org - helps you find independent bookstores all over the country
betterworldbooks.com - another one that offers free shipping and funds world literacy projects
I’m sure there are many others to add to this list. Feel free to do so.
