Amazon is the world’s largest bookseller. In the US, over 70-80% of all books sold online are sold by Amazon. Amazon has revolutionized the book publishing industry, making it easy and inexpensive for anyone to publish their works and sell them throughout much of the world. They have also led the transition from buying books in stores to buying them online. Besides the convenience of shopping at home at any time of the day or night, millions of titles are available – far more than any store could stock on its shelves.
Of course, this didn’t work out so well for physical bookstores. As Amazon’s market share grew since its founding in 1995, it took business away from local physical bookstores, forcing many to close. For this reason, some readers avoid purchasing books from Amazon while others do so grudgingly.
Recently, some Amazon customers have become displeased because its founder, Jeff Bezos, is now among the “tech bros” in President Trump’s inner circle.
The purpose of this article is not to discuss that issue or express my opinion, but rather to suggest some alternatives for purchasing books and eBooks if you wish to reduce or discontinue your purchases from Amazon.
Other Ways to Buy Paperbacks Online
Directly from the author
This is the best way to support your favorite authors since they’ll earn the highest profit from books they sell directly. Not all authors choose to maintain an inventory of their books and handle order fulfillment, but some do, including me. Visit the author’s website to learn if you can buy books directly from them. As a bonus, I will sign the books I sell directly at no additional charge. Your favorite authors might do that on request, too.
If an author you like is local, find out if they have any personal appearances scheduled, such as a book signing event or a table at a book fair. Join their email list to be informed of upcoming appearances and new releases.
Your local bookstore / Bookshop.org
Local bookstores can carry only a tiny fraction of all available books, and most of those books come from the big, major publishers and larger independent publishers. However, some stores now offer most books currently in print on their website. Building and maintaining their own website would be a massive undertaking, so they use a service called bookshop.org. Bookshop.org (formerly Indiebound) serves bookstores all over the country. They handle the online catalog and the order fulfillment and the local bookstore gets a percentage of the profit. You can either go to your store’s website which will redirect you to bookshop.org (with your store’s name and logo at the top of the page) or you can go directly to bookshop.org and select your favorite local bookstore so they receive their cut.
If you prefer to purchase your books in person from your local store, you’re not limited to what you see on their shelves. The store should be able to order any book that’s in print. They should be happy to do so, since it’s a guaranteed sale and the book won’t take up space on their shelf.
Most bookstores buy their books from a large printer/distributor called Ingram. It’s the world’s largest book distributor, operating in the US and many other countries. Ingram distributes books from publishers of all sizes and they print on demand for self-published authors and small publishers who list their books with Ingram.
Barnes & Noble
Barnes & Noble is mostly known for their large physical bookstores, but they have a website to sell books and eBooks online, too. As with local bookstores, B&N can stock only a limited inventory of books, but they can sell anything in print from their website.
You can order books online from Walmart, Target, and other huge retailers too, but I recommend patronizing bookstores since that’s what they exist for and they face a challenging business environment.
Other Ways to Buy eBooks
As with paperbacks and hardbound books, Amazon dominates the market with their Kindle readers and Kindle books sold on Amazon.
But they’re not the only player in the marketplace. Apple, Kobo, Smashwords, and Barnes & Noble are other sources of eBooks in the US. Other vendors exist internationally. Most of these companies are served by the same eBook distributors, so their catalogs should be about the same.
The industry standard file format for eBooks is .epub. Until recently, Kindle eBooks used different file formats, .mobi and .azw3. But that has changed! Amazon has now abandoned the .mobi and .azw3 formats in favor of .epub.
As this is a relatively new development, many articles on the internet still state that Kindle devices will only read .mobi or .azw3 files. That information is now outdated.
You can use the Send to Kindle app to send eBooks purchased elsewhere to your Kindle or email them to your Kindle email address.
You Can Borrow eBooks from Your Local Library
Most libraries now lend eBooks as well as physical books. In the US, most libraries use OverDrive, which requires installing an app called Libby on your reading device. Hoopla is another popular library lending service. The UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and certain other countries use a similar app called BorrowBox. Contact your local library to find out which system and app they use and how to sign on.
For LGBTQ+ readers, there’s a website called Queer Liberation Library that specializes in LGBTQ+-themed books. It was created as a way for LGBTQ+ youth to access banned books, but people of any age can use it. It is essentially a curated subset of the eBooks in OverDrive/Libby.
Authors receive royalties from eBooks borrowed from a library. Just as libraries purchase the physical books on their shelves, they either purchase the eBook for unlimited borrowing or pay a small fee each time the book is borrowed.
© 2025 Dave Hughes. All rights reserved.
Photo credits:
Amazon box: Sean Robbins
Bookstore: Peggy_Marco
eReader: Pexels
Library: Dave Hughes