I’ve thought long and hard about how to respond to this merger/buyout/world domination thing, and I’ve started this blog post four times. Four. Enough – what it boils down to is this:
Amazon, yes, is the biggest bookseller in the world. It’s cheap, it’s convenient. Are they killing the industry, trying to take down indie bookstores? Maybe. Not a damn thing I can do about it. They’ll continue selling cheap and convenient, at All on the Same Page Bookstore we’ll keep doing what we do best: topnotch customer service, personal touch, community building, and supporting other indies – our authors and publishers.
(Seems like the indies who are complaining and bemoaning what they consider a sellout by Goodreads are the ones who support indie bookstores, and indie shops, and indie artists – but not indie authors or indie publishers. Had to get that out, because frankly, it smacks of hypocrisy.)
I’ll continue to use Amazon – for research, to look up authors and dates and titles. I might even buy non-book items – heck, I know I will: free two-day shipping, right? I might even order a book for a customer because I can get it cheaper and quicker from Amazon than I can from a publisher – how about that?
And I’ll keep selling my own books on Amazon and those of our publishing house. Why? Because I can sell more that way and that’s the bottom line. It’s business.
As for Goodreads, nope, not ditching my account there. Why? Because now I can save time – when I post a review on GR, it’ll likely go to AZ too. Two birds, and all that. Besides, what’s the point? Sixteen million users, minus a handful who deleted their accounts this weekend – are they gonna miss me? Nope.
Sure, they were “indie.” To a point. I couldn’t list the store as a place to buy books, because we don’t list our stock by ISBN. When’s the last time you, as a reader, used an ISBN to look for a book? What a joke. And Amazon has always been a choice. Nothing’s changing there.
So, yeah, for what it’s worth, here’s what I think. Probably tick off a lot of people, but remember: it’s business, not personal.
I have been very blessed to be a part of my current faith community. During these last few years, and especially during these last few months, they have been so important in my journey forward. And every day they teach me something.
Robin Writes 