Amazon and LivingSmall — what’s with all the links to Amazon on the site? Doesn’t the behemoth Amazon represent everything that is Big in just the way that this site is seeking to question? Well, yes. I have a vexed relationship with Amazon — as a book-addict it is almost impossible to resist the lure of their speedy delivery of almost any book one might want. So, more often than I’d like, I find myself ordering from Amazon. However, Amazon’s size isn’t the only problematic aspect of their business — their practice of putting links to used book sales for new books is enormously injurious to first novelists like myself, for whom sales figures are crucial. I had a vigorous, if futile email exchange with Amazon over this when my book came out in hardcover, and was told, essentially, to suck it up. So I put the links to Amazon on this site as a convenience to any readers out there, and because as a former bookseller, I love to sell good books. As mitigation, however, this morning I’m putting up links to several great independent bookstores who will ship books to you, and who have good websites for orders. I urge everyone to buy books from their local independent bookstore (if you still have one), but for those times when you just can’t wait for a bookstore to order a title, well, there’s always Amazon.
cmf
I'm a writer and editor based in Livingston, Montana. I moved to Livingston from the San Francisco Bay area in 2002 in search of affordable housing and a small community with a vibrant arts community. I found both. LivingSmall details my experience buying and renovating a house, building a garden, becoming a part of this community. It also chronicles my efforts to rebuild my life after the sudden death of my younger brother, and closest companion, Patrick in a car wreck.