Ebook sellers (not Amazon)

Paul_C

Paul_C

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Could we collect in one place details of places to buy ebooks other than Amazon ?

It's a little easier to find places that sell physical books, but I would very much like to avoid Amazon if at all possible.

(I had already reduced my visits to a minimum, but the recent news that Bezos recently increased his fortune by $30 billion while at the same time ending risk payments for Covid-19 to his warehouse staff has really finished me off as far as Amazon is concerned).

So anyone who uses, or knows of, anywhere a little less exploitative would be appreciated.
 
Good question. Amazon is a bit of a disgrace, to be honest.

Personally, I’d Love to support Forbidden Planet if I could, but they don’t have an ebook section.
 
Smashwords.com.
Not as big as Amazon and does have quite a big chunk of erotica (which can be avoided) but a good place to buy. Some authors who are on Amazon also sell there but Amazon pays less to authors who sell through multiple platforms so many authors are kindle only, making selection lower elsewhere. You can buy in multiple formats, which ones are available depends on what the author has enabled but it can be .mobi, .pub and pdf. You will find a chunk of easy to find free stuff - it is much easier to find free or discounted stuff on Smashwords than it is on Amazon. The copy of the book is actually downloaded onto your computer or device as a file that you can copy. They do ask that if you share copies, you pay the author - so it isn't DRM like Amazon. You will be paying in dollars, so your card will incur a currency exchange payment which depends on your card. Some authors use Smashwords for releasing shorts - Barbara Hambly is one that does that. Set in her various fantasy worlds, "further adventures of" is the way she describes them.

Author and Publisher Websites - you have to find on an individual basis, but some do sell direct, and now VAT has gone off digital books in the UK that might be making a comeback. Here are a couple for you:

Ebooks Direct from SF & fantasy writers Diane Duane and Peter Morwood - Diane Duane and Peter Morwood
Whittles Publishing - Home - they do wildlife books as both eBooks and hard backs - a lot of reprints of classic works that are only second hand elsewhere. Mike Tomkies on the Scottish Wildcat for example.
Waterstones sell paperbacks via an online store Buy books, stationery and gifts, online and in store | Waterstones
 
Kobo, Apple, Google Play. There's a load of country-specific ones.
Gutenberg for out of copyright stuff.
Just make sure the format works for your ereader. Kindle use mobi files. It'll read pdfs too, I think, but I've never enjoyed reading that format. The rest use epub. Smashwords can provide nearly any format as Montero said.
 
Ogma said:
Just make sure the format works for your ereader. Kindle use mobi files. It'll read pdfs too, I think, but I've never enjoyed reading that format. The rest use epub. Smashwords can provide nearly any format as Montero said.
Click to expand...

In many cases, and if you're buying from multiple sources anyway, using Calibre to sideload ebooks is a painless process with lots of functionality, including converting between different formats.
 
Ogma said:
Kobo, Apple, Google Play. There's a load of country-specific ones.
Gutenberg for out of copyright stuff.
Just make sure the format works for your ereader. Kindle use mobi files. It'll read pdfs too, I think, but I've never enjoyed reading that format. The rest use epub. Smashwords can provide nearly any format as Montero said.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm not sure about Apple or Google either . . .

Business in 2020 is so much about exploitation of the poor (nothing new there, I know) that it's very hard to know where to spend money without encouraging them.
 
A couple of SFF authors on Smashwords
Andrea K Host Andrea K Höst - very good. Some are at the older end of YA - but sensible organised teens not a twit. Mixture of sci-fi and fantasy with quite a wide range to the stories.

T Kingfisher - some of her fantasy is on Smashwords T Kingfisher - she has a wide range, good imagination, funny in places, sometimes macabre - such as a book with a mixture of a somewhat cack-handed romance (as in the couple are cack-handed) plus some pretty horrendous invading monster threats.

Gail Ann Gibbs - They Called Me Dragon - Gail Ann Gibbs. Wonderful book that is technically SF about a dragon seeming alien visiting the Swiss Alps in the medieval period and his well intentioned breaking of the no interference rule.
 
Why don't publishing houses sell eBooks directly on their websites?
 
Rodders said:
Why don't publishing houses sell eBooks directly on their websites?
Click to expand...

Probably because its a cost.
Hosting files for mass download costs money, even though books are very small. There's also the issue of paying to upkeep that segment of their website and develop it. This is before we get to costly things like DRM and protecting their books from theft. In addition they likely just don't see themselves as retailers of books. They've got such long term contracts with Amazon and book stores that the loss of revenue to using a middleman is seen or is less than teh cost for them to go direct.

In addition they might also feel that if they aren't putting lots of money into marketing to drive traffic to their website then they won't actually make that many sales. Digital books aren't "special editions" so many will happily buy them through their kindle or off the major retail hubs anyway.

I guess for publishers if it ain't broke don't fix it.
 
Pity I have to get mine from Amazon. Would like to be able to maybe read Google books on Kindle or Kobo, B&N etc. I hate being locked into a product like Apple or Microsoft (Xbox) where you have to buy their products because they design them is a specific way that you can't get a generic version of it. Rant over :LOL:
 
biodroid said:
Pity I have to get mine from Amazon. Would like to be able to maybe read Google books on Kindle or Kobo, B&N etc. I hate being locked into a product like Apple or Microsoft (Xbox) where you have to buy their products because they design them is a specific way that you can't get a generic version of it. Rant over
Click to expand...

Calibre conversion and sideload. With a little effort you can read anything you buy on any device.
 
Yea, it's easy to put stuff onto a Kindle, just convert to .mobi, it's stripping the DRM from anything bought from Amazon (I'm sorry - RENTED from Amazon lol) that's a bit of a pain. I can't recall which plugin I had to use for that but a quick google search got me all I needed.
 
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