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Where to Buy Books Other than Amazon A few years back I had a habit of every six months or so doing a thread on Fedi about options for getting books other than Amazon. Eventually it finally occurred to me that I could write it once, put it up on website, and update as needed, rather than constantly reinventing the wheel. Here’s the updated version for the new site. https://jessmahler.com/where-to-buy-books-other-than-amazon/ 24 comments
 @JessMahler Welcome! If you have any kobo questions I've used two of them on and off over the last 10 years or so, both side loading and using the kobo store. (They make it VERY easy to read any epub book, not just their store) @Canageek @JessMahler and there's also koreader, which is an incredible alternative ui/app that can be very easily installed on kobo's @Ember @JessMahler I've never gone that far, but I did install some custom fonts on my old one.  @JessMahler Kobo ebooks can only be read in their ereader, their app and some on their web site; are you sure? I've bought several ebooks through Kobo and got downloadable non-DRM'd epub files that I can copy to my third-party ebook reader which has never so much as touched a network since I got it brand new. But then I also specifically avoid anything that's not explicitly listed as unemcumbered by DRM. @mkj @JessMahler Oh, Kobo definitely pushes you toward that choice. And anything covered by DRM would obviously be problematic because of that alone. But I haven't bought any non-DRM'd ebook from them which hasn't been available as a file download (epub in my cases) that I could then safekeep and transfer to my ereader myself. @mkj @JessMahler iirc epub drm is pretty trivial to remove anyway  @JessMahler Are you restricting your list to only places that sell books, or would you consider adding sources like Standard Ebooks, who provide high-quality multiformat ebooks from freely-available sources? @yojimbo @CyberpunkLibrarian  @JessMahler I live in Poland where all publishers sell ebooks without DRM encryptions. They have own ways of marking who bought an ebook (like writing your email on some page or in HTML tags). For those rare moments when I need to buy an ebook in English, Amazon is my place to go because I know that I can DeDRM the file and put it on my ebook reader (nevermind of brand). @JessMahler I would recommend Kenny’s Bookshop in Galway, which is family-owned and run, and ships worldwide, often at very competitive prices: https://www.kennys.ie/ @JessMahler Pluto press in the UK is a non-fiction leftwing publisher offering print and DRM-free books! https://www.plutobooks.com @JessMahler I’ve been buying used physical books from Ebay for a while now. Their search is better than Amazon and prices are extremely affordable. The more particular your interest, the more likely you will find it.  @JessMahler I always go to my local, Boulder Bookstore. If it ain’t on their shelves, they order it and it consistently arrives within one week. Easy peezy!  I've gotten more than a few used physical books from "Better World Books". They tend to stock ex-library stuff, so they come with stamps and stickers from the source. I even got a first edition "What I Saw in California" by Edwin Bryant (1848, just before the gold rush) for a reasonable price from them because the library that held it had rebound the book, so only the interior was original. @JessMahler On top of the library point, most libraries probably have an ebook/audiobook library you can access for free. Libby and Overdrive are most common. This goes for both US and UK. @JessMahler Thank you! Lots of people prefer to buy elsewhere, but so many 'independent' shops are owned by Amazon. It's hard to find those untouched by Bezos. @JessMahler hive.co.uk for Britishes- does EBooks (DRMed, but otherwise normal EPub) and with every purchase you can pick a local independent bookshop to get a cut. |
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@JessMahler I found a mistake in your Kobo section- Cobo also makes its own e-readers which are generally comparable to kindles, but a lot cheaper. so you don't have to read them in the app, you can also read them on an e-reader the same as a Kindle.