We all know how to find a book that we'd like to read, either to buy or to borrow--right? Not exactly. Depending on where one lives, this can be a challenge to find even the more popular books, because of distribution considerations, further complicated by high shipping charges. This can even be the case with ebooks, as not all countries have access. When I first published This Time, I was thrilled to see it appear in all the Amazons. Still, for those who don't live in an "Amazon country" (Australia is an example), getting my book from Amazon meant paying exorbitant shipping fees. It was, in fact, fellow Ricardians (people interested in restoring Richard III's good name) who pointed me to alternative book distributors. So, here's a list of places, besides the usual suspects such as Amazon, to buy and find books no matter where you live.
Print Books:
Buy: Better World Books and The Book Depository
Find: Google Books (will also search libraries); AddAll; Bookfinder
eBooks:
Buy & Free: Smashwords; Digital Books; Project Gutenberg; Google Books; Internet Archive
Find: AddAll Ebooks
I'm sure this list is not comprehensive. If you know of other resources, please let us know.
And let us not forget about a great resource--the local library. Since I live in the USA, I do have ready access to Amazon, B&N, etc., but the cost of some research material can be quite high, so I relied on my library to obtain these books through the inter-library loan (ILL) system. ILL gave me access to books from public and university libraries from all over the US. I can't say enough good about the libraries and our librarians.
Though we do not have an Australian Amazon, it is no problem ordering books from the American one. I have also ordered from Amazon in the UK and in Germany, though especially with the latter all the associated costs (P&P, handling etc) just get too exorbitant.
ReplyDeleteOn the whole I would recommend the Book Depository, as they do not charge any of the associated costs. The price of the individual book might be a bit higher than with Amazon, but when taking P&P etc into account, it is cheaper.
Dorothea, you were one of those who gave me the heads-up on alternative distributors. I've seen shipping cost as much as $15 USD for a single book to be shipped to Australia, for example. This is much too high, as far as I'm concerned. I'm glad there are places like The Book Depository and Better World Books that take the edge of shipping costs for a goodly chunk of the world.
ReplyDeleteJoan, I've recently purchased quite a number of Ricardian books (both fiction and non) from www.alibris.com for ridiculously low prices. Of course, they're in the US and like Dorothea I'm in Australia, but I've been getting near pristine copies of books for as little as .99 from them. Well worth a visit
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