More and more writers are making the choice to offer their books via Amazon and reap the rewards of international sales. This is having a clear consequence for independent book sellers, both on and offline.
Because of this, there has been a countermove by authors who have chosen only sell their titles via independent outlets.
For instance, Dave Eggers refused to sell the hardback edition of his novel The Every through Amazon. He said that this move was to “highlight the vital importance of independent bookstores.”
Another writer who has more recently made this choice is Lydia Davis. She is refusing to offer her next book on the mega-site Amazon. Instead, the collection of short stories, entitled ‘Our Strangers’, will only be available on independent bookselling websites and in select stores.
She does not “believe (that) corporations should have as much control over our lives as they do.
Discussing this move, she said: “We value small businesses, yet we give too much of our business to the large and the powerful – and often, increasingly, we have hardly any choice.”
Our Strangers is published by Canongate and will be released on October 5th to support Bookshop Day, which happens just two days later. Davis, who won the Man Booker international prize in 2013, has released seven collections of short stories.
She added: “I am all the more pleased, now, that Canongate, with its long history of independence and its high standards, will be publishing Our Strangers and doing so in a way that puts my book on the shelves of booksellers who are so much more likely to care about it.”
