a note on the process of getting books

 20th March 2024 at 3:57pm

If you are book-inclined, a bookworm, a bookosexual — however you'd define yourself:

supporting independent bookstores and publishing houses is really important!

Although the internet has made it easier to spread the word out, and the world is arguably proner to the exchange of ideas, there is not enough incentive to publish books in the domains of (some) fiction, poetry, etc. or anything outside the realm of easily marketed (and thus potentially profitable) endeavours.

Independent bookstores not only distribute smaller labels and publishing houses — thus contributing to the diversity of the literary landscape — they are usually (safe) places for community and discovery. And they are, unfortunately, a dying breed.

make (good) use of the available resources

On the other hand, (not necessarily in a paradoxical way) I also very much believe in initiatives like archive.org, libgen and Anna's Archive. Authors in big, mainstream publishing houses (similarly to musicians in big labels) are playing a different game altogether, with different rules and aims in the table.