Alternatives to Amazon?

[aisa0]

I've been buying books from Amazon since they've existed. I'm not sure how many days they existed before I purchased a book, but it wasn't many. I was living in a small town, and the closest bookstore was well on an hour away, and no way did they have books on topics I was interested in. Buying books from Amazon was a complete no-brainer

Comments

[lupagreenwolf]

Powell's is big, but independent.

[aisa0]

What does independent mean, in this context? Or more broadly, why would you recommend them?

[lupagreenwolf]

Independent as in not a huge corporate thing--primarily based in Portland. And they're very community-based; they support a LOT of local authors and causes, and they're a huge part of the local economy.

[thewronghands]

I'll second the Powell's recommendation -- I always try to go when I'm in Portland. They have a good selection, and they also have books that I wouldn't have encountered anywhere else. It broadens my reading horizons just to browse there.

There are other local equivalents -- Tattered Cover in Denver, Elliott Bay Books in Seattle. I haven't found the ur-bookstore near you, but there must be one.

I generally go with Bookpool for technical books. http://isbn.nu is a good first stop for comparative pricing on used or hard to find books.

Best of luck!

Albris

[grumpygranpa]

I used Albris years ago and got some nice used historical novels from them as well as some other rare books. I'm surprised that they have less of a selection than your local store. Must have fallen on hard times.

Re: Albris

[grumpygranpa]

I just checked my Favorites. As you know, they go back to the mid '90's! I have links for AbeBooks, http://www.abebooks.com/ and something called computer library, http://www.computerlibrary.com/. They are both still there. Additionally, try http://bookshop.blackwell.co.uk/jsp/welcome.jsp and http://www.bookfinder.com/. Let me know if anything looks good.

Re: Albris

[aisa0]

We were looking for Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser, and while we managed to find some an Alibris, others we found only locally.

Re: Albris

[grumpygranpa]

I seem to have a copy of books one and two of that series. Swords and Deviltry and Swords Against Death. Don't ever remember reading them but one was published in 1973 and the other in 1970. If you want them, I'll put them in the mail! They are paperbacks by Ace, numbers 79171 and 79151.

[ferrousoxide]

abebooks.com is a nice place for used things. They search local retailers all over the country.

And of course, buy from your local bookstore! In your case, Page One (the new bookstore) and Page One Two (the used version owned by the same folk) are great.

[aisa0]

They are now the same store, in the same space that used to be Page One only. I was there today. :-)

[ferrousoxide]

Eek. The economy is bad enough that they had to consolidate into one shop? That's sad. End of an era, really. Oh well. Still, good folk and good books.

[anda]

I'm not sure if it was the economy or that Walgreens moved in the corner spot in the Page One Too stripmall, razing the old buildings and fencing that corner area off and stealing basically -all- the parking, making that location a) relatively invisible and b) difficult to access.

[anda]

I see folks have suggested abebooks.com and other things which are good, but there's one thing that keeps me coming back to Amazon - free shipping. While abebooks and alibris provide a single front end, buying several books can end up costing you easily as much in shipping as the books themselves, because they come from different folks and thus there is no combining to save costs.

[chop_sockey]

This.

[aisa0]

Ah, I had no idea whether other people in the industry had mimicked that offer or not.

These days, I order a lot of books from Amazon Marketplace, and therefor do pay shipping on them. I still come out ahead, but having to pay shipping on new books would likely drive me somewhere else as well.

Thank you.

[_wirehead_]

i get most of my books via either paperbackswap or bookmooch these days. you're recycling and you get to connect with real humans -- it's a nice feeling to send something off, knowing it's going to someone who really wants it.

[nightbluesprite]

Woah! Neat idea. :D

[aisa0]

You got yarrowkat all excited about Paperback Swap . :-)

[_wirehead_]

it's pretty much the best thing ever if you read a lot but don't want to hold on to a lot of books. though i hold onto a fair number that i get from the swap sites, and still have more points there than i can use. :)