I buy almost all my books at Amazon. Odds are good that you do too, and our reasons are probably similar:

1. Been shopping there for years and years
2. Pricing is excellent
3. My account is there
4. Very convenient and easy to use
5. I have a Kindle—purchased books automagically appear on my device with no effort on my part.

I’ll also say that sales at Amazon account for the majority of sales on books I’ve published through my company, Mythic Island Press LLC, and while that doesn’t add up to nearly enough to make a living, without Amazon I would have little hope for future success. Most writers are in the same situation. I wish it weren’t so, because it’s always worrisome when one agency holds most of the power.

If you follow indie publishing, you’ve probably already heard that Amazon has made a new offer to independent publishers. Details are all over the web but in essence, Amazon is asking for the exclusive right to sell an author’s ebooks — meaning the books won’t be available at any other vendor — in exchange for a very uncertain amount of additional money. It’s possible some writers could benefit from this program, but I won’t be one of them. It took a lot of effort to get the rights back on my books and to re-publish them as ebooks, and as print books too. I like being in control of my distribution; I like being able to offer readers alternatives; and I really like the security of not having all my eggs in one basket.

My books are, and will continue to be, available at Amazon—but there are other places to shop for books. Some of the more obvious are Barnes & Noble, iTunes, Kobo, and Smashwords. I’m not currently selling at all those places, but lots of writers are. One of the less obvious places to look for books is an author’s own website. I’m not selling ebooks from my website, but more and more authors are, with the result that, less transaction fees, every penny paid goes directly and immediately to the writer, with no portion lost to a middleman, and no time spent waiting for the check to arrive. There is no better way to support a writer’s future work, then by buying direct.

And then there is Book View Café. If you’re a regular reader of my blog, you’ve heard me talk about BVC before. Book View Café is an author’s cooperative of over thirty professionals in several different genres working together to publish and promote DRM-free ebooks in both mobi (Kindle) and epub (Nook) formats. Buying a book from BVC is not quite as convenient as buying from Amazon. You have to download the file and then transfer it to your reader. But you’ll receive a reasonably priced and professionally produced book, along with the knowledge that 95% of the purchase price (less transaction fees) will go to the author. I hope you’ll consider that a worthy result!

Below is a list of names you can find at Book View Café. For more details, look here. And please, stop by and browse!

Bohnhoff
Brenchley
Caselberg
Casil
Clough
Dolley
Donnelly
Frost
Gilman
Harper
Kelso
Kerr
Kimbriel
Lange
Le Guin
McIntyre
Moore
Nagata
Nagle
Piziks
Radford
Rice
Robins
Ross
Shiels
Smith
Stevenson
Tarr
Trent
Wright
Zettel