#supporting independent bookstores

[shipping-receiving]

Thinking about how Eunho’s few moments of real vulnerability and honesty with another person – when he allows himself to be anything other than entirely pleasant – have all come in Jiyun’s presence

[gladiolusarchive]

Independent Bookstores Map of the US, Organized by Region

[mollyringle]

Amazon's ebook charts are full of AI-generated spam I have said it before, but it bears repeating now more than ever: please buy your books from independent booksellers rather than Amazon, whenever possible.

I got the above article from a friend who works in the mass-book-printing side of the industry, and he reports that Amazon does not offer any assistance at all in weeding out AI-generated nonsense books like the ones in this article. They say it's all up to the printers and publishers to flag those—and to take on the legal liability if they fail to catch one and it turns out to be pirated, say.

Meanwhile, from the more obvious consumer end, allowing junk AI books to get listed on their site makes Amazon harder to browse for meaningful content, because there's too much dreck clogging up the list.

Legit bookstores have legit humans selecting the titles they sell. Please reward them for being sane and helpful by buying your books from those.

I will add that there are of course legit humans writing and self-publishing on Amazon, and that may be one of the only ways to buy their book. (Though I urge authors not to go exclusive with Amazon, given the issue above and about a hundred other issues.) To support author friends who are known humans, do order wherever. 🙂

[greaseonmymouth]

I can't believe people haven't learned anything from the internet archive case.

maybe don't break the law? like? if nothing else, please learn that?

there are ways to make books accessible to the wider public that doesn't involve CRIME. the internet archive was in breach of the law. they made a bad choice and are now acting surprised about it, and are trying to get people to donate to them to appeal a case that frankly they shouldn't win, because they broke the law.

there are also people encouraging to show support to the internet archive by....further breaking the law. actively encouraging pirating and torrenting books. guys. seriously?

public libraries make books accessible to the public because they paid for the book from the publishers who published it, and through that license are entitled to loan out the book. the internet archive did not such thing. the did not have permission to make the books accessible. the internet archive is now in danger of shutting down through their own bad choices and not because the publishers suing them are villains whose only motivation is to destroy them.

i am frankly mad that the internet archive did this in the first place, as somebody who relied on them and their wayback machine very heavily during the research and writing of my dissertation in 2020 (about digital publishing nonetheless) and to find out that they'd digitised and released a bunch of in-copyright books without permission at the same time... we might lose a valuable resource because they fucked up. they. fucked. up.

[mszyreads]

Took a relaxing trip to a local indie bookstore and couldn't leave without getting Miyazaki's Shuna's Journey! I'll share a flip-through later to show how beautiful the art and layout are. Also stopped by a local coffee shop and had a necessary chai latte with a cherry almond scone 🌸

I picked up a super scary, probably haunted clown doll at the thrift store (not pictured) and I am sure she will make her debut in some book photos at some point 😉

[astriiformes]

how do you find wilderness years books in the states? i keep looking for VNAs and EDAs in my local used book stores and they’re really hard to come across if you’re not in the UK (and i live in a big city). do you have any tips?

Alas geography is in my favor here -- the oldest independent science fiction bookstore in the United States is here in the Twin Cities, and they have a lot of used paperbacks along with their newer novels, including said VNAs. It's the only place I've ever come across Wilderness Years books, with the exception of the one or two that got reprinted for the 50th anniversary.

They do technically have a website (that, like I would expect from a sci-fi bookstore founded in 1974 and mostly run by one guy, looks like it dates to about the 90s) but the only used books they have cataloged for purchase there are autographed copies. That said, there is an email address on the site, so if you're feeling particularly determined, you could maybe inquire about what they have in stock?

I wish I had better tips, but living in a pair of cities with a long, strong history of supporting independent booksellers is the best one I've got. Uncle Hugo's is absolutely beloved here in part because it's such a rarity, and has things you can't find many other places. If your own city has any places specializing in sci-fi media, you might have some luck -- I imagine many of them also probably sell used books, though maybe not all. If not, seeking one out when you're visiting a city that does have one is never a bad idea!

[opandapants]

Sat April 29, 2023 is Independent Bookstore Day!

I’m ready to explore some local bookshops I haven’t yet browsed! If you’re in Seattle, you can find all the Seattle Independent Bookstore Day info here: https://www.seattlebookstoreday.com/ If you hit up all 27 participating Seattle-area booksores between April 29th and May 8th, and get a stamp in your bookstore passport from each, then you will receive a Bookstore Day Champion Stamp Card, which gives you a one-time 25% discount at each participating store until April 26, 2024). But if you can’t make it to all 27, but you can make it to at least 5 of the bookstores (and get the stamps), then you can still receive a single 25% off coupon at any one of those stores.  Going to 5 bookstores in 1 week feels like a treat all on its lonesome. 25% off coupon sounds like the cherry on top. 

Get out this weekend and support local bookstores. 

[arrolyn1114]

Another good one that I use is Abebooks. Books are like the one thing I don't buy on Amazon. Supporting small, independent bookshops: This is the way.

Independent bookstores around the country have a particularly clever lifeline, one perfectly suited to the unprecedented moment we find ourselves in. The strange part? It came into being just weeks before the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic, and before the bookstores started closing up shop wondering if they’d reopen at all.

The lifeline in question is called Bookshop. 

In simple terms, it’s a super clean, user-friendly online bookstore whose raison d’être is supporting independent bookstores — not simply with exposure or resources (though that’s certainly a factor), but with cold hard cash…

[mandyraine]

Author interview with suspense/horror author Sue Rovens

Author Sue Rovens will be at Tomes of Terror (Saturday, October 26) at Bobzbay Books/Red Raccoon Games in Bloomington, Illinois from 10am to 4pm!

Sue Rovens is an indie suspense/horror author who lives in Normal, Illinois. She has written five novels and two books of short horror stories. Track 9, her second novel, received a starred review in Publisher’s Weekly (May 2018). Roven’s short story, “Coming Over,” from her book, In a Corner, Darkly (Volume 1) was turned into a screenplay and short student indie film by the theater department…

[gladiolusarchive]

Indie Bookstore Directory for American Booksellers Association

[xpc-web-dev]

feel the same way about that book about delinquent teenagers playing ruggby.

In addition to being VERY poorly written (all the drarry fanfics I've read from last year to date are better written) It romanticizes a lot of bad things.

The only thing I liked was the idea of ​​giving second chances to people that society marginalizes, through sport, Mainly young people and them being the family they don't have. But she can't develop it very well.

I don't remember the name of the book, just that one character is blonde, unbalanced and the main one runs away from a murderous father.

I've seen so many arts on pinterest that I've been developing a desire to read and above that, as the character reminded me of draco I thought "maybe it's another drarry fan who made a work and now it's becoming known? I want to know".

And holy shit, how bad, absolutely bad. It's worrying how many girls I've read find all that normal.

I was once a teenager and I know it's because they haven't learned yet, and that's precisely the problem for me.

Because then if they meet a possessive mentally challenged asshole who can kill her she might think it's ok since he just needs love and care like her comfort character.

And yes, adult women with a critical sense and good emotional development and therapy can read stuff like that without romanticizing it and bringing it to real life.

CHILDREN / TEENAGERS NO!

And that's why it's so dangerous, and yes, I also know that it's the parents' responsibility what their children read.

But we can easily find pdfs or translations on wattpad on the internet for example

This is horrible.

what is your problem with tiktok or booktok and colleen hoover lmao its not that bad surely

the fact that it actively promotes overconsumerism, the way it sells books to you by just playing into already heavily milked out tropes with very specific character niches that are seen in every book nowadays and how the reading is just seen as something aesthetic or a part of the "it girl routine" maybe? if those are enough reasons for you?

does the fact that these books are the first things you see when you walk into a bookstore not bother you? when you ask someone for a book recommendation they'll follow it up with "its a romance slow burn enemies to lovers". it's always about the aesthetic of the book, how many lines can you take out of context and post as a compilation of your super cute romantic annotations page on instagram. no analyzing the book, no theories, no symbolism or meaningfulness at all. how people stand reading those kind of books and still feel any kind of emotions over these flat as hell books with no world or character building is genuinely baffling to me

no one seems to know about actual literature anymore, which not to sound like a boomer but i think its definitely true. there's always been trend cycles, i agree such as the harry potter craze from the 1990s to the 2000s and the dystopia hunger games/maze runner/divergent blast in the early 2010s but tiktok has just.. shortened these cycles so much. as a result, people like our darling colleen hoover whose written around 46 books since 2015 (according to google) try come up with as much fresh content as they can as quickly as possible for the readers (see overconsumption). the fact that this lady outsold the bible is not outstanding to me, its fucking concerning.

and after all that, the result is badly written books with characters who're about as dimensional as a piece of paper, overuse of tropes, read like they've been written by a toddler, toxic-ass relationships being romanticised, very unnecessary sex scenes and countless other things. seriously if i wanted to read about the kind of stories hoover tells i would just open a wattpad account.

this isn't to say that all booktok books are terrible. i'm trying to highlight some of the flaws i find in authors like colleen hoover, emily henry, taylor jenkins reid, ali hazelwood, sarah j maas and elena armas. some of their works are quite decent :) six of crows, thsoeh, tsoa, circe, daisy jones, where the crawdads sing etc are some books which i think everyone has heard of if theyre active online which were actually nice reads. also i am BEGGING u to reach out of your comfort zone and read something different like non-fiction or fantasy or one of the classics for once if you only read booktok like seriously it might be hard but just do it for the love of god!!

[thistle-nightshade]

Saw a wild take on the clock app. So... from a independent bookstore who has signed up.... Please support bookshop.org.

They are registered as a B Corp. So they are for profit, but they share profits with local bookstores. The store must be signed up with the ABA to become an affiliate, but once they get that set up they get 30% off the list price of the book when we're you're chosen bookstore. This is damn near comparable to what we'd get if we bought the book wholesale and sold it in the store, but we don't have to fuss with shipping costs or man hours. It's literally saving our bacon as an new bookstore. They do a lot of advertising that is anti-amazon. But like... Amazon is literally killing off indie bookstores, and to be successful, you have to compete with them. Bookshop.org is the best way for indie shops to band together and fight off a massive opp like Amazon. It's the collective power babes.

[felixwylde]

Conscious Connection Spree

Where would you go on a shopping spree? Embarking on a shopping spree for me is an adventure that goes beyond the usual consumer hotspots; it’s a quest through spaces that champion creativity, sustainability, and human expression. Independent bookstores are my starting point, where each book is a portal to diverse narratives and overlooked voices. These treasures challenge norms and embrace the…

[illogicalvulcans]

very close to impulsively buying the gomens s1 scriptbook