Where Should You Get Books From?
It’s no secret that Amazon offers the best book prices. Prices can be reduced to almost 50 percent off, and it offers tons of other deals. It’s the cheapest and easiest option, because you can get them delivered straight to your door. However, Amazon is not the best option for buying books, and there are other places that are extremely important to support.
First, the way Amazon sells its books is unethical. Almost anyone can sell books on Amazon, including third party sellers. This means that people can easily sell pirated books on Amazon, or people selling these books obtain them in unethical ways, like obtaining them for free or taking books that had damage that would have otherwise been discarded. Since these books were obtained for free or discarded, the only people making this money are the sellers and Amazon, while the authors and publishers get nothing. Since Amazon also gets a portion of the money made on each purchase, they profit off of these unethical books that are being sold. Even if the books are sold by Amazon, not a third party seller, it is still unethical. Amazon will discount these prices extremely low since they can make the money back with other things sold on their website. This is detrimental to independent book sellers, because more people will want to buy books from Amazon, and won’t want to buy them from book sellers since they are more expensive. However, indie bookstores can’t afford to discount their books as high as Amazon does, because they don’t have tons of other money from different items to pay their workers with.
Secondly, it’s extremely important to support local bookstores. Local bookstores are extremely important for showcasing new books and authors, especially local authors. You can find titles by authors that live right near you in local bookstores, but it’s much harder to do this while browsing on Amazon. Buying from local bookstores actually helps the economy. The money stays in the economy and helps to support your town and the people in it. So buying from these bookstores can actually help you, your friends, your family, or just your community. Another thing that’s great about local bookstores is that you can browse a bunch of physical books, so you might be able to get a new book you have never heard of before. But yes, buying all your books from local bookstores is really expensive. Many chain bookstores like Barnes and Noble often have discounts online as well, and if you pay online you can get the books delivered to your bookstore without any shipping cost. Barnes and Noble also often has special and signed editions of books, which can be hard to get on Amazon. Barnes and Noble is still a chain, but it’s still great to support and a lot better than buying on Amazon.
Another way you can get your books is by buying them secondhand. While used books may not be as satisfying as buying new books, they are cheaper and better for the environment. There are many websites where you can get used books, such as AbeBooks and Thrift Books. There are also bookstores that sell used books, such as Pickwick Bookshop, which is in Nyack, NY.
Lastly, you can support your local libraries. There’s no reason to spend money on books you may never reread, or books you might not enjoy. Plus, it’s free, and the libraries need the support. You can also find new titles you have never heard of at the library, and they may become one of your new favorite books. Libraries can also offer forms of reading and entertainment other than books, such as movies, audiobooks, ebooks, and magazines.
Overall, there are many ways you can get books so that you won’t be supporting Amazon. Sometimes Amazon is the cheapest and easiest option, and it can be annoying to spend full price on books when they’re available at reduced prices. However, if you are able to, you should definitely try to buy your books elsewhere.
Stop Buying Books From Amazon – The Midwest State
Where Should You Buy Your Books? – The New York Times
The Importance of Independent Bookstores | Swenson Book Development
