Indie booksellers urge you to resist the siren call of Amazon Prime Day.
In solidarity with the Amazon Strike—in which Amazon warehouse workers in a suburb of Minneapolis are striking to protest their terrible working conditions (unions of Amazon workers in Europe have staged strikes on Prime Days in the past, but the walkout in Minnesota represents the first major action of its kind in the U.S. during the aggressively-marketed, and paradoxically two-day, sales event)—and just because Amazon Prime Day is one of the most odious recent examples of late-stage capitalism in action, booksellers and impassioned book folk across the country have taken to Twitter to urge you to support your local indie bookstores instead of crossing the digital picket line.
We at Lit Hub wholeheartedly endorse the following tweets:
Instead of buying books from that one place on #PrimeDay, go to your local independent bookshop and browse, have a conversation, buy a book. If you don’t live near one, shop at one online.
(hopefully if you follow us you wouldn’t even consider shopping for books on Amazon)
— City Lights Books (@CityLightsBooks) July 14, 2019
Solidarity with #AmazonStrike; these brave workers are fighting for the future of dignified work & need your support! ✊🏿✊🏽✊🏾 Boycott #PrimeDay!
— Haymarket Books (@haymarketbooks) July 15, 2019
Today would be a great day to shop local & independent, borrow a book from the library, stream from a different service, and oh yeah, not cross a picket line.
— Sarah Weinman (@sarahw) July 15, 2019
It's Amazon prime day. Their workers are on strike. Don't cross the digital picket line!
Don't buy from them today or tomorrow! That includes Whole Foods and Book Depository.
Stay off
Twitch
Goodreads
Prime
Kindle— Justine Larbalestier (@JustineLavaworm) July 15, 2019
it’s amazon prime day so we should find an indie bookstore and just order stuff from them today
— Shea Serrano (@SheaSerrano) July 15, 2019
It's #PrimeDayAmazon & you know what that means…
SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL INDIE BOOKSTORE 📚
SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL INDIE BOOKSTORE 📚
SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL INDIE BOOKSTORE 📚
SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL INDIE BOOKSTORE 📚
SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL INDIE BOOKSTORE 📚
SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL INDIE BOOKSTORE 📚— Sophie Vershbow (@svershbow) July 15, 2019
Good morning and happy #PrimeDay! Today is prime time to support your local independent bookstore instead of an online retailer that does nothing for you and your community. #ShopLocal pic.twitter.com/rRlOC0plbQ
— East City Bookshop (@eastcitybooks) July 15, 2019
What's this, we're hearing? This company, the one that cozies up with ICE, an organization independent bookstores have committed nearly $100k to resist, has its own special day? Weird. https://t.co/ht8ILnu3Fh
— East Bay Booksellers (@EB_Booksellers) July 15, 2019
🗣️ Not-so-gentle reminder thread:
When you use us (& other indie bookstores) to browse & make a list of titles to purchase on Amazon, say “I’ll just order it on Amazon," or otherwise express that you're using our store as a resource for shopping on Amazon, it devastates us,— Malaprop's Bookstore/Cafe (@Malaprops) July 12, 2019
happy #PrimeDay, shop local, don’t cross picket lines pic.twitter.com/zOUIaLV6lh
— Raven Book Store (@ravenbookstore) July 15, 2019