Abandoning Amazon as a reader is easy (if you don’t have a Kindle), when there are so many alternative stores, subscription services, and Goodreads alternatives, a few of which I’ll describe and link here. Abandoning it as an author was, until 2025, largely unthinkable. Even authors resentful of Amazon’s market dominance or lack of ethics felt we had to publish on Amazon to have any hope of selling books, let alone a career as an author, especially an indie author. But with Amazon in 2025 adding to its disregard for its staff and contempt for the environment; abandoning DEI (which almost had me bailing), and two big changes with gen ai, my decision to pull my books from them was made. And it became time to consider what being an author who doesn’t sell books on Amazon looks like.
Brick & Mortar/ Local Alternatives
As an Aussie, when I lived in Frankston, I bought books from Robinson’s Bookstore. In inner Melbourne, I discovered Collins Bookstore, and then my new favourite indie store in the inner suburbs, Readings. Anywhere I went, I also borrowed from the local library. Anything niche I wanted that wasn’t at a local store could be ordered online from Book Depository. Yes, the giant who offered free shipping world wide, the rival Amazon bought, then closed permanently. You’ll find seven Book Depository alternatives described here.
Bookshop.org
The brick and mortar alternative I like best for UK and US readers, if you don’t have one nearby is Bookshop.org, because they share their profits with indie stores. Its a good paperback alternative to Amazon and, as of 2025, Bookshop.org sell ebooks too.
Note for Authors: distributing your paperbacks via Ingram Spark directly, or using Ingram via Draft to Digital (which I prefer, as I find the D2D dashboard and customer service more accessible), will automatically make your paperbacks available on Bookshop.org. (For more on self publishing and book distributors, see this blog).
Online Store Alternatives
Before I link big multinational stores, I’ve found my Ruarnon Trilogy ebooks (courtesy of StreeLib) in national stores in western Europe, and one (so far) in South East Asia (all linked here.) So if you’re wanting to buy local, unsure of your choices and outside America, western Europe, UK, Canada or Australia, check in with the internet/ friends/ family about bookstores owned by your country.
Itchio
Itch.io was most popular with gamers, but in 2025 is growing in popularity among readers and indie authors. They sell ebooks DRM-free, and offer authors a better profit than many alternatives (buying direct from the author is best for authors, but comes with an international taxation headache that puts off or delays quite a few us with selling direct).
Note for Readers: Itchio doesn’t have a storefront for different countries. There’s one online storefront and the author chooses a currency for the minimum price, which can be free and you can tip above it. If needed, the price is converted into the purchaser’s currency.
Note for Authors: you need to create an account and upload your books directly to sell on Itch. Setting prices in UK/ US or Euro currencies means unfavourable exchange rates for readers in the rest of the world. For example, a US $4.50 ebook cost me around $8.30 Aud. The standard Australian dollar indie book price is $6. So you might want to take exchange rates into account when setting your minimum price.
Kobo
For Australia, New Zealand, the US, Canada, much of Europe, the UK, South Africa, India, Japan, and some of the Asia-Pacific (specific countries listed here), we can buy ebooks via the Canadian company Kobo. Kobo is part owned by Rakuten, based in Japan, where they don’t call it ‘DEI’, but they say ‘we respect human rights of all and uphold individual dignity,’ and commit to ‘contribute to a sustainable future.’ (Kobo became home of my digital library in 2024, and I plan to purchase a Kobo now in 2025.)
Barnes & Noble
I assume Barnes and Noble is (if anything now even more) popular in America. I couldn’t find much about them and DEI, though they still have their Black Lives Matter statement up, which I take as a good sign.
Apple
All of the aforementioned countries for Kobo, plus more of South America, Eastern Europe, Asia and the Pacific (specific countries listed here) have access to Apple, whose commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion remains firm. (Though, honestly, I’m prejudiced against Apple. I see their release of new model iphones as the most obvious instance of promoting needless consumerism, of sending the old model to landfill and generating carbon pollution from shipping the new model not because the old is broken, but because the new is ‘the latest’).
Booktopia
It would be un-Australian of me not to also mention Booktopia, Australia’s largest online store (yes trading again as of 2025 after voluntary administration in 2024). And they own another Aussie bookstore, which seems to be more online than brick and mortar these days; Angus and Robertson.
Note for Authors: I distribute my ebooks (and for B&N and Booktopia my paperbacks) to all of the above stores except –Itchio– via Draft to Digital (who also distribute to Everand, listed below).
Subscription Service Alternatives
For Americans, there’s Barnes & Noble’s Nook.
For Americans, Canadians, Aussies, Brits, Kiwis and everyone who has access to Kobo, there’s Kobo Plus.
There’s also 24 Symbols, which is multi lingual.
And Everand.
Note for Authors: I distribute my books to 24 Symbols and a range of local online stores throughout Europe, Latin America and elsewhere via StreetLib.
Library Apps
My favourite place to read and make my own book available for free is my local library. Any author who doesn’t have their books in Kindle Unlimited can make their ebooks (as well as paperbacks) available to local libraries, and yes, some services or government grants will pay us per borrow, or reimburse us beyond the libraries’ initial ebook purchase (Canadian and American authors, see Indie Author Project. Australian authors, see Lending Rights Schemes). You may want to borrow ebooks directly through your local library, or check if your local lets you borrow via the two popular apps below.
Libby
The readers of Bsky made me away of Libby, an international library app.
Hoopla
Your local library may also or alternately let you borrow through Hoopla.
Note for Authors: if your books are available for library purchase via Overdrive (to whom DraftToDigital distribute), readers can borrow them via Libby. DraftToDigital also distribute directly to Hoopla.
TBR & Review Alternatives
StoryGraph
StoryGraph is independently owned and was founded by Nadia Odunayo, with a focus on readers. This article by Distractify explores the benefit of that. Yes, you can export your Goodreads data to Storygraph, so you have the same TBR, book stats etc. They also offer a short questionnaire about your reading preferences, to inform their recommendations, and a free (which I use) and a paid tier. Book Riot’s (2021) Review has more information. Or you can create an account on Storygraph’s sign up page. (And or check out my epic YA Fantasy books.)
Note For Authors: the reason I’ve linked to my books instead of author profile (above) is because they’re not linked, as the option to do that doesn’t yet exist on StoryGraph. Apparently its in their roadmap for future developments.
BookBub
Bookbub is another option for following authors, getting notified of new releases, tracking your reading, reviewing books, etc. If you add a book to your wishlist or follow an author, they notify you when that book is on sale, not just on Amazon, but also on Apple, Barnes & Noble and Kobo. You can sign up for their daily email of books on sale by genre, and again sale links are for multiple stores. I’m on there mainly to review books (which I’m quite behind on), and my profile is here.
Note for Authors: you can pay for your books to be advertised in Bookbub’s emails. They also offer a coveted feature deal, which is far from cheap, but from all reports say it gives you a sales spike the day it goes out by email. Author sign up.
Fabel
I’m hearing mixed reviews of Fabel. It’s a paid service, but I’m including it because it emphasises book clubs and interactive reading, both of which seem less of an option on StoryGraph and Bookbub. I haven’t used Fabel.
Abandoning Amazon as an Author
Why do Indie Authors Publish On Amazon?
As an Aussie who grew up in a city when indie bookstores thrive; I never had any interest in Amazon as a reader. It didn’t exist here till 2018, its foreign owned, bad for the environment and treats its staff in exploitative conditions that would NEVER be tolerated in my country. But when I was doing my homework on self publishing in 2021, before releasing Manipulator’s War in 2022; every indie author I spoke to believed you HAD to be on Amazon.
It dominates the American market and has a firm grip on the world market. It was the best way for indie authors publishing in obscurity like myself to become ‘discoverable.’ It was the site all my indie author friends most valued reviews on, so that’s where I reluctantly purchased and began reviewing their books. Then I learned if I spent less than $50 a year annually on Amazon; I couldn’t write reviews there.
I never liked it. I didn’t want to have my books there. But even Wide for the Win, authors dedicated to and supporting each other with publishing wide (beyond Amazon as well as on it) seemed to believe you had to start on Amazon, and could gradually build your readership on non-Amazon stores. So I reluctantly published my books on Amazon from 2022 to 2025.
My Tipping Points for Leaving
As I said in the introduction, I was tempted to pull my books when Amazon abandoned DEI back in January. But with Meta updating their hate speech policy to exclude many forms of hate speech and abandoning fact checking around the same time, January had me busy connecting with travel friends and family on alternative platforms, before deleting my Facebook and Insta accounts.
I then dedicated myself to redesigning Manipulator’s War’s cover with art from my retired cover artist, and overcoming major paperback formatting issues for Ruarnon Trilogy, to release paperbacks via Draft to Digital and on Amazon. Within weeks of all three paperbacks being live on stores in May, I became aware of more Amazon bombshells.
Gen Ai Book Summaries- Author Copyright Violation?
I saw a post about how Amazon are introducing ai summaries of Kindle books. And those summaries include plot and character development. The book blurbs authors submit do not have all of that information. It could only be obtained by feeding an author’s book into generative ai. Which no author gave Amazon consent to do. Multiple authors began emailing Amazon about this, and I learned of it via this post by Skyla Cameron, summarising her email chain conversation with Amazon. After over a month of emails were exchanged; they failed to disclose whether they were storing and using the book data we did not consent to be fed to gen ai to train their gen ai.
Skyla and I both concluded from the Amazon customer service person saying, ‘I cannot say’ that Amazon are indeed training their gen ai on authors book files (uploaded for the purpose of selling them), without author consent. I was ready to pull my books then.
Ai to ‘Narrate’ Audible Books
Within days I saw another social media post about Amazon’s plans to make 100 ai ‘narrators’ available to narrate audio books. Stealing from authors on one hand and trying to put voice actors out of a job with the next? Decision to pull my books made!
Then Amazon announced they were cutting author royalties by 10% as of the first of June, and I laughed at them for confirming I’d made the right choice so swiftly.
I Don’t Want To Share Profits With Zon
The other thing the May gen ai revelations brought home to me was something that didn’t sit well with me in April. I participated in a big indie author books sale then (the Naratess Sale), and I sold three books on Amazon. That meant I made them $3 and me $3. I resented that. It’s the tinniest of profits, absolutely nothing to a billionaire. But I couldn’t be happy about those three book sales (there are months where I sell no books at all), because I resented Bezos getting anything.
And that realisation made me not want to promote my books, to avoid Amazon profiting from them. At which point it was obvious the decision I would be happiest with is removing my books from Amazon, then promoting bookstores I like, who treat authors (and in the latter’s case; book stores as well as customers) well, like Itchio and Bookshop.org. So those are the kind of stores my Ruarnon Trilogy books page now promotes. Meanwhile, I’ve been tracking down local stores in other countries too, and listing them on this stores by country page.
So Where Are My Books?
Thanks to Draft to Digital, when I pulled my books off Kindle, they were already on Barnes & Noble, Apple, Kobo, Booktopia and a few lesser known stores. Thanks to Streetlib, they are also on local country onlinne stores, like bucher.de in Germany, Bol in Netherlands etc. I uploaded Ruarnon Trilogy epub files/ ebooks to Itchio, and DriveThru Fiction directly, to give myself more reach and readers more options. And my paperbacks and ebooks are available to libraries via Draft to Digital as well. (All of my these links are on my books page.)
And I may, perhaps later this year, set up direct sales on my website, if looking into it in more detail shows its worth the time and author earnings to sell directly from my website AND on Itchio. Why Draft to Digital, and Itchio, and DriveThru Fiction and possibly also direct sales? For one of the same reasons I’ve never been exclusive to Amazon; I hate putting all my eggs in one basket. Twitter has shown how volatile that can be. (Yes, I had my largest social media following there before moving to Blue Sky).
What Does Being on Author not on Amazon Look Like?
I’d already refused back in January to utilise the two most popular ways for authors to make readers aware our books exist: paying Bezos to advertise them on Amazon, or Zuck to advertise them on Facebook. I’d also tried Bookbub ads in 2024, and found my graphic design skills (for my trilogy at least) were NOT cut out for getting Bookbub link clinks, let alone sales. And those are the three most likely paid ads to successfully advertise your book and build your readership…
Itchio Bundles
Having participated in an Itchio Bundle for Pride Month, which gathered 23+ books by 23 authors with aromantic main characters, I see the power of Itch book bundles to put underrepresented characters into the hands of readers who crave them. With every author promoting the same bundle on their social media; our reach is greater. And with book bundle profits split evenly between participating authors; we all earn something.
2025 -? Itch Bundles of Underrepresented Characters
I’m already planning a Nonbinary Books Bundle, with nonbinary main characters for Nonbinary Awareness Week, July 14th to 20th (Ruarnon of Ruarnon Trilogy being nonbinary.) I’ll also do an Asexual Spectrum Bundle for Asexual Awareness Week, and ADHD Rep Bundle for ADHD Awareness Month in October. (Yes, Ruarnon ticks both of these identities as well, while the second main character of Ruarnon Trilogy, Linh, is aro-ace and her best friend Troy is diagnosed ADHD, but not the only ADHDer.)
Whether these bundles will be a thing year in year out I’m not sure. But for this year at least, they’re a good way to meet and connect with more indie authors who share my marginalised identities. And a good way for us to help each other put our books into the hands of more readers, and give more people insight into what life with any one of those identities and more can be like. (They’re also an effective way to collectively market the first book in everyone’s series full stop).
I’ll definitely do an Autistic Book Bundle (or join someone else’s) during Autism Awareness Month (April) next year, with Rarkin, MC of my new Sythe Series being autistic. And perhaps consider broader themes and bundles, like Queer Normative SFF, or SFF Full Of Hope, both of which Ruarnon Trilogy very much ticks. (Technically Sythe Series does too, though its somewhat darker).
In Person Author Events
Having got long covid a mere six months after releasing my debut novel, and not successfully balanced my work life with ongoing chronic illness (fibromyalgia) until this year, I’m FINALLY ready to contemplate attending in person events. If I time them right, I should have the energy to participate and enjoy them physically and socially.
With the complete Ruarnon Trilogy in paperback, and book one of Sythe Series likely to be out in August/ September 2025, I’m hoping to attend some local Sunday markets with my books. To start casual, local and small scale. I’ve applied for a booth at Australia Book Fair (the first ever) in Melbourne in 2026, and hope to attend Supa Nova in 2026 as well. Being a sociable person with a background in retail, and currently a teacher, I think I’ll enjoy meeting people at in person author events.
Online Book Promotion?
Ok, maybe I’ll set aside some time to write some more post-length blurbs for book 1 of Ruarnon Trilogy, make a few more graphics and start posting them at least once a month. Or fortnightly? Like many authors, I don’t like self promotion. And perhaps its my autism that insists that social media should be social, and is so reluctant to post about my book with a link to it, like a straight up ad, on social media. But I definitely need to do more than my super sporadic and rare posts of previous years.
There’s author chats and daily writer prompts where I’ll also talk about my characters, world building etc (more details on both in my Bsky Newby Guide). And there are questions I’d like to ask other writers in my posts, and discuss, which would also involve me sharing more about my book.
There are paid ads in newsletters for readers that I could try (again), like Book Barbarian (which is for fantasy). And I could consult paid promotion indie author gurus like David Gaughran (who have ideas about marketing beyond Amazon) recommend.
Yes, this post hasn’t just been me sharing links I hope will help readers and authors alike, or aiming to be informative. Its also me setting goals and trying to keep myself accountable. If you’re a fellow indie author trying to do the same, I’d love to hear your ideas/ plans on book marketing in these crazy times. You can find me on Blue Sky, Mastodon or send me an email via my contact page and check out my Writer/ Author Discord on there too. Best of luck!
While you’re here, if anyone likes portal, epic, YA fantasy led by queer and neurodiverse characters… maybe take a look at my Ruarnon Trilogy?
Further Reading
Becoming an Indie Author 1; Editing, Covers & Book Distributors
Becoming an Indie Author 2; Book Launch
Indie Author Marketing and Time Management
Wide for the Win
An online author group dedicated to publishing and promoting books outside Amazon. (Originated on Facebook and is now thankfully on a different platform; Circle. Don’t worry, not the Tom Hank’s personality cult that duped Emma’s Watson’s character Circle ????)
More Author Platform & Marketing Resources (on my Writer Resources Page)
