Show me your Hachettes!
Posted on: May 24, 2014
I tweeted this earlier today:
You should totally go through your house and find all your Hachette books and post a photo! On your blog, on twitter, on facebook, on tumblr, anywhere! I was hoping my stack would be as tall as I am, but alas, it wasn’t. Means I need more Orbit books!
Want something from Orbit, or Little Brown, or Yen Press, or any other Hachette imprint? Order it from your local bookstore. Don’t have a local bookstore or don’t live near one, or are homebound or don’t drive, or for whatever other reason can’t get to a bookstore? Indiebound.com has you covered. Find a store near you, or find a store that’s not near you but sells the book you want, they will mail it to your house. Many indie bookstores also have the capability to get you an e-book too. Oh, it’s a small press Kindle file you’re looking for? Allow me to introduce you to Weightless Books (Small Beer Press, Apex, Lightspeed, Prime, Tachyon, Wyrm and about a bazillion more small press publishers). Happen to be a shopping mall that has a Books-a-million? Not my personal favorite, but if you pre-order on their website they’ll cut you a discount on pre-orders for upcoming Hachette and Hachette imprint titles. Barnes and Noble can probably hook you up too, my family buys a boatload of Yen Press manga through them. Heck, give Paperbackswap a try if money is tight and you don’t mind trading title for title.
Don’t let anyone stop you from getting the books you want. Will it take a few more mouse clicks (or oh god, picking up the phone!) to get the book you want? Yes. Will you be charged for shipping? Yes. Will it cost you a little more? Yes.
And for spending a little more time and money, you’ve sent a message to the biggest e-tailer on the planet that you don’t like their behavior, and you’ll be taking your money elsewhere. If you shop via indiebound, you’ve also supported local businesses, which is nice too.
Amazon is putting the squeeze on Hachette. Who knows who they’ll put the squeeze on next? They’ve got the power to do that, and more. And as consumers, we have the power to spend our hard earned dollars elsewhere. For Hachette titles, and for anything else we want.
I’m not telling you where to spend your book buying funds*
I’m not judging you for how you spend your money or where you buy your stuff.
I’m just telling you there are other options out there.
(Full disclosure: They are my vendor of last resort, but I buy plenty of stuff on Amazon. I should buy less there. Also, plenty of the books in my photo were sent to me at no charge for promotional purposes by Hachette Book Group. They spoil me rotten.)
*actually, I am. When at all possible, please buy from an independent bookstore or e-tailer. You have no excuse.
18 Responses to "Show me your Hachettes!"
4 | Steven M. Long (@StevenMLong)
May 24, 2014 at 8:33 pm
Yeah – I’ve been pretty disturbed by some of Amazon’s behavior, lately. It’s definitely worth looking into alternatives, even if it’s a penny in the ocean: it’s still my penny!
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May 24, 2014 at 10:53 pm
Hmm. I should stack ALL my books by imprint and see what I come up with. Though I don’t have many new Orbit since they spoil me on NetGalley (think they got tired of me bugging them by email and just approved it all).
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May 26, 2014 at 12:28 pm
i have bought so many Tor books over the years…. the idea of that stack is a little scary.
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May 25, 2014 at 10:12 am
I have a few Orbit books, though all were bought through bookstores. Believe it or not, I’ve never spent any money with Amazon.
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May 26, 2014 at 12:28 pm
never bought anything from Amazon? that be bragging rights!
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May 26, 2014 at 12:37 pm
Haha. However, I have “purchased” free eBooks from Amazon. My wife does the Amazon shopping. But I prefer going to a bookstore and looking through the books. It’s more fun.
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May 25, 2014 at 12:02 pm
Hi, Bill Ectric here. I enjoy your blog very much. This is way off the subject, but I couldn’t find another way to contact you. Hope you don’t mind.
Maybe you or one of your readers can help me with this question. I’m reading a book by L. P. Davis called The Artificial Man. The plot seems very similar to something I’ve seen recently – either a movie or TV show. I don’t remember which. Maybe even another book. The plot is this: A man has amnesia. The government is trying to retrieve something from his subconscious mind – something he knows. They have a fake town, similar to the one in The Truman Show, and all the inhabitants are government agents. He thinks he has amnesia from an auto accident. They tell him he is a writer and encourage him to write a novel. They hope that the novel will bring out the secrets hidden in his mind. That is the plot point that seems familiar to me – the idea of having someone write a book that will reveal something they need to know. Have you seen or heard of anything like this? Not the Truman Show aspect of it, the book writing part.
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May 26, 2014 at 12:29 pm
Hey Bill, sorry, the novel you mention doesn’t ring a bell, and I’m not at all up on recent tv/movies. I put a call out on twitter, we’ll see what people come back with.
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May 26, 2014 at 11:05 am
I buy local when I can, but I use Amazon frequently simply because I don’t have a car and they can get things to me fast. But frankly, I’m disturbed by them pulling Hachette titles, because it’s not just the publisher getting punished, it’s the authors. It’s such a dirty way of doing business.
And it’s weird, because up until this year, I’ve been a huge Amazon supporter, because they were one of the first reliable retailers to do online book ordering when I was growing up and lived in a small town without access to a bookstore.
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May 26, 2014 at 12:22 pm
and that’s why I can’t ditch on Amazon too much, because there are far too many people who simply don’t have access to indie bookstores. so it’s a double edged sword. 😦
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May 26, 2014 at 12:26 pm
Mhm. And I use Amazon for so many little things that normally you’d run to Walmart/Target/etc. for, but since there aren’t any that are nearby and Metro accessible, it’s either rent a car or order online. I just wish Amazon would grow up, play nice, and be more ethical.
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May 26, 2014 at 1:36 pm
Reblogged this on bookworm2bookworm's Blog and commented:
Do you buy your books on AMAZON? Did you know that theyre holding some of your author’s and you, by default, hostage while they negotiate their contract with Hachette publisher? PLEASE READ & find alternatives to buying it from them! Amazon’s actions should be punished by US, the consumer! Spread the word, SHARE! TWEET & RETWEET, blog & REBlog!
Thanks!
Melanie
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May 26, 2014 at 3:52 pm
The same Hachette that was sued by the Justice Dept. for price collusion?
The same Hachette that publishes the blatantly racist N. K. Jemisin? (Take any of the stuff Jemisin has said about white people and replace the word ‘white’ with Jew, or Mexican. or Asian, and see how it sounds. Just because you hate Caucasians doesn’t make you any less of a bigot.)
That Hachette? Fuck ’em.
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[…] response to the current Hachette/Amazon debacle, Andrea over at The Little Red Reviewer posted a picture of herself with all of her Hachette and Orbit books from her shelves. I thought it […]
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the Little Red Reviewer 
May 24, 2014 at 4:58 pm
I love this idea!
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