Readers, patronizing their local shops for annual Independent Bookstore Day, are once again participating, perhaps unknowingly, in a competition between indie book stores and commerce giant Amazon.
The holiday, created 12 years ago to promote local businesses in the same vein as Record Store Day, has become a nationwide boon to independent sellers, including more than 1,600 participating stores and online retailers. Taking place every year on the last Saturday of April, it’s now supported by the American Booksellers Association (ABA) and saw record online interest in 2024 amid mass increases in book sales.
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But as stores and shoppers geared up and stuffed their carts full of books in anticipation of this year’s event, Amazon simultaneously announced its multi-day annual book sale, taking place between April 23–28 and including massive discounts on physical and increasingly popular e-books.
Users, including many BookTok creators, were upset, calling the move an obvious attempt to steal sales using their age-old tactic of predatory pricing. Many urged fellow readers to protest Amazon’s book event and purchase from a local store instead. In a statement to Fast Company, Amazon refuted the claims that the timing of their sale was intentionally chosen to undermine Independent Bookstore Day, saying, “The dates for our sale were set this year to accommodate additional participating countries.”
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Still, independent bookstore supporters don’t believe it was coincidence. Amazon, originating as an online book seller, still maintains literary dominance, and it isn’t just about ease: Online options exist for independent book store as well, including mass marketplaces like Bookshop.org, IndieBound.org, and ThriftBooks, and the use of e-book reading apps connected to public library systems (like Libby and OverDrive) swelled over months of lockdown.
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Despite expanding into all realms of commerce, health, and even artificial intelligence over the last three decades, the company has continued to invest in its book offerings, even testing physical Amazon book storefronts. It now owns more than 80 percent of industry sales. In 2024, the ABA attempted to intervene in an ongoing Federal Trade Commission antitrust investigation, alleging that Amazon’s dominance constitutes a monopoly power over book sales. The motion was denied.
Independent book stores continue to fight back, however, and have scored some important wins. In the last four years, the number of independent book stores has nearly doubled, leaning into the public’s desire for community engagement and curation. Online communities are throwing their support behind local shops in turn, including Black and LGBTQ-owned businesses, unionized stores, and booksellers focused on diverse, or even banned, catalogs. Simultaneously, a renewed interest in public libraries paired with increasing anti-capitalist sentiment has offered a respite in a financially uncertain time for many.
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Thanks to BookTok and its celebrity ambassadors, reading is cool again. And independent book stores, bolstered by these digital communities, continue to push back against the industry giant.