Supporting Independent Bookstores
At a seminar I attended on marketing books, the leader asked us how many had issues with Amazon. Nearly every hand in the room went up. The leader continued by asking us how many of us had bought something from Amazon in the last day, week, and month. By the time she got to “week,” nearly everyone had admitted to buying something from Amazon in that time frame.
If, on the other hand, you have some energy to put into supporting others, there are options. An excellent option is supporting independent bookstores. I’d suggest also including chain stores such as B&N in this.
Energion Publications does not distribute anything exclusively through Amazon.com or any other retailer. We give our customers as much choice as possible. You can find these other choices through our Energion Direct retail site and our bookstore on the Aer.io platform. Starting in those two places, you can find plenty of alternatives to buying from Amazon.
Our purpose here is not to disparage Amazon, but rather to give you choice. If you would like to shop elsewhere, there are excellent alternatives.
Let’s look at what services each platform can provide for you.
Energion Direct
This is our direct retail outlet. Here you can search a catalog that is exclusively of material we publish. In addition, for books that are usable as texts and for small group study, we provide quantity discounts. In addition, on most pages (soon to be all), we have a link for previews and retailers.
You can click this button to find a preview of the book and access to various retailer links if you prefer to buy other than direct. We also do not sell ebooks directly, but if you follow this link you can find retailers who carry our ebooks and audio books.
Previews
When you click or tap the Preview button, you’ll see a page something like the one below.
Using the arrows to the right and left, you can page through a portion of the book. In the upper left hand corner there is a “To Listing” link, which will take you to the listing of the book. In the upper right corner is a read “Buy Now” button. Either link will take you to a display that will allow you either to buy the book using the Aer.io platform, where there is a listing of all Energion titles, or where you will find links to other platforms.
You can see this page below. When this image was created, we had a free download on this particular title. We offer regular free ebook downloads. Subscribe to our feed or our email list to get notified of these opportunities.
Finding Retailers
But in about the middle of the page you will see some grey buttons. In particular, note two buttons: IndieBound and BookShop. I’ve linked the words here to the same URL they are linked to on the book page. These pages will offer you lists of local bookshops. You may need to special order a book from them, but you can do so, and support local business.
Ebooks and Audio Books
In addition, IndieBound provides some links to ebook retailers who work with independent bookstores so that you can support local business by buying your ebooks through those links. One of those platforms is Kobo, which is an excellent alternative to Amazon, as is B&N, also linked.
I must include one more option here, which hasn’t yet been linked from the example book. An excellent option for ebooks is a subscription program. Scribd.com provides such a program for just $9.99 per month. Take a look at their listing for Who’s Afraid of the Old Testament God?. They also carry most Energion titles.
Bottom Line
We at Energion don’t want to tell you how to shop. We do want to provide you with as much choice as possible and let you know what your options are.
Enjoy!
(Featured image by Hassan Nawaz from Pixabay)
