Happy New Year! Did you rest and relax and eat all sorts
of goodies this holiday? I hope so (I sure know I did!). Since it’s the
beginning of January everyone is thinking about resolutions and I have plenty
of my own. One of mine is book-related and I think it deserves sharing.
Resolution: To Put My Money Where My Mouth Is
How often in the past year have industry folk and the
general public alike heard how independent (and big box) bookstores are
struggling? How ‘evil’ Amazon is? How Amazon doesn’t care about local
booksellers? Lots and lots. And, on the flip side, how often is it discussed
that local bookstores know books and their customers better than anyone else? And
who hosts author events? Local bookstores—we hear about this all the time!
Although these discussions are complicated they make one thing clear in my
mind: If we want the wonderful institution of local, independent bookstores to
remain, we need to support them over online retailers.
I have not been doing this. Buying books on Amazon is
(often) cheaper and easier than from a physical store. 99% of my books come
from the online retailer—I even have an Amazon.com credit card which gives me
reward points that I turn around and use at Amazon. I’ve embraced Amazon as
much as anyone else—even knowing its pitfalls better than the general public.
And I’m beginning to feel horrible about it.
And so, my New Years Resolution is to buy more books—at
least 50%—at a local store. This means the books I buy are going to cost more,
and being on a budget such as I am, I’ll probably have to buy fewer books. But
with my reading levels staying the same I’ll have to visit the library to get
that additional reading material—and that’s another fine institution to be more
actively supporting!
Do you have any book-related resolutions for 2012?
What a great resolution! I love Amazon as well, but really want to support my favorite authors. I may have to do this with you! ;)
ReplyDeleteNice to *meet* you! :) And I'm so jealous that you're an editorial assistant. That would be so awesome! I'm excited to read more about what you do everyday!
@Chantele: Welcome to my blog!
ReplyDeleteI would love to buy more books at actual brick-and-mortar stores, but it's so hard lately. Our Borders is gone, and the closest book store seem so far away.
ReplyDeleteI buy books off Amazon all the time, and I feel slightly better knowing that the majority of the time they are coming from sellers are (or appear to be) actual secondhand book shops. It's just that a lot of the time, I want very specific old books (Sweet Valley High, anyone?!) and I can find them a lot easier online.
I also have a secret love for thrift stores. Many times, I can get like twenty books for $20. Even if I only end up liking half of them, I still feel like I won. (Although, I noticed that I start judging books by their cover. Haha.)