Right now, our bookstore partnership is limited to authors who want to boycott Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing and who have an LLC.
I realized that choosing Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing was a mistake because their repeated rejection of my book removal requests made it clear how much control they have over my book. Selecting them for expanded distribution was another mistake. Both KDP and Barnes & Noble Press rely on IngramSpark, which distributes books to bookstores that often behave as though they own the rights. Some even refuse an author’s request to remove a book from their platform. This experience taught me that authors should have the final say over which bookstores are allowed to carry their work and which are not.
Here's the participation rules:
- To qualify as a partner bookstore, you must not work with Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing or any platform connected to IngramSpark. In short, we only partner with bookstores that receive prior approval.
- You must be an LLC.
- Since Bowker is viewed as a monopoly that profits from authors, we’ve chosen not to use ISBNs. We’ll rely on barcodes instead, which give bookstores a scannable identifier for each book. In other words, an ISBN isn’t necessary.
- Your book needs to be copyrighted, but you should only submit a physical copy—not a digital one. This prevents your digital file from being shared with individuals or companies who aren’t authorized to access or distribute your work.