**TL;DR** - Amazon's power over the bookselling industry is dangerous. Instead, we should support independent booksellers using sites such as Bookshop.org. Amazon is a danger to the bookselling and publishing industry. Impressively, Jeff Bezos began selling books online in 1994 with a recycled door for a desk. Although this humble setting may encourage people to use Amazon’s book services, we should not. The Covid-19 pandemic proves just how powerful the company is as industry panic set in when book orders were cut at the start of lockdowns to focus on essential items. Amazon’s dominance as a bookseller and its ability to publish original content has caused it to swiftly turn from the industry’s biggest customer to their biggest competitor. Under the Amazon ‘umbrella’ is the many well-known products such as Amazon Web Services, Echo smart, Alexa and most prominently, the Kindle. Through the creation of the Kindle, along with the expansion of BookSurge, Audible and AbeBooks, Bezos surged the e-book market. However, people should not succumb to these products because the complete control of pricing causes an anti-competitive market (there is currently a law suit being filed against Amazon for such reason by Hagens Berman law firm). Instead, we should buy our books through other means. Bookshop.org launched in January 2020 to try to counter Bezos’s $1.3trillion digital conglomerate. The site offers independent bookstores an improved online commerce hub and more importantly, a chance to survive Amazon’s takeover. Bookshop.org should be our go-to as it helps so many bookstores get through the tenuous times caused by being forced to close due to pandemic lockdowns. Why wouldn’t you want profits to go into supporting the expansion of the site instead of into Bezos’s pocket? The monopolistic position of Amazon means it can afford to be aggressive in dictating terms and controlling the market, but customers have the power to stop that toxic environment for the industry that we love. We shouldn’t drop our ethics because we are lazy to explore other options. And we shouldn’t choose Amazon because we are too impatient to wait for realistic shipping times. We should use Bookshop.org and other independent online platforms. Once bookstores are reopened we should re-enter reality instead of sitting behind a screen to make our purchases. Although a Kindle may be more efficient, people lose the customer experience of entering a shop and buying a book after much deliberation and even sometimes conversation. The act of buying a book should not be reduced to one click. Content is always increasing but what people are actually reading is so narrow due to digital marketing. When lockdown is over, we should restore the days of taking the bookshop worker’s recommendation and avoid the mind-numbing experience of buying from Amazon. In 2019, Amazon delivered 3.5billion parcels (one for every other human being on the planet), don’t let that be a book for you. Milliot, Jim (2008). ‘PW’s Person of the Year 2008: Amazon’s Jeff Bezos’, The Economist. Available at: https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/people/article/4784-pw-s-person-of-the-year-amazon-s-jeff-bezos.html The Editors (2020). ‘Where is Amazon’s Jeff Bezos headed next’, The Economist. Available at: https://www.economist.com/business/2020/10/29/where-is-amazons-jeff-bezos-headed-next The Editors (2020). ‘The pandemic has shown that Amazon is essential – but vulnerable’, The Economist. Available at: https://www.economist.com/leaders/2020/06/18/the-pandemic-has-shown-that-amazon-is-essential-but-vulnerable The Editors (2021). ‘Can Amazon’s next boss fill Jeff Bezos’s supersized boots?’, The Economist. Available at: https://www.economist.com/business/2021/02/03/can-amazons-next-boss-fill-jeff-bezoss-supersized-boots Milliot, Jim (2021). ‘Authors Guild Asks DoJ to Stop PRH Purchase of S&S’, Publishers Weekly. Available at: https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/industry-deals/article/85446-authors-guild-asks-doj-to-stop-prh-purchase-of-s-s.html Albanese, Andrew (2021). ‘Bracing for Another E-book Price-Fixing Case’, Publishers Weekly. Available at: https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/85391-bracing-for-another-e-book-price-fixing-case.html Milliot, Jim (2020). ‘2020 in the Book Biz Was a Year Unlike Any Other’, Publishers Weekly. Available at: https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/85218-2020-in-the-book-biz-was-a-year-unlike-any-other.html

**TLDR: I dislike Amazon as much as anyone, but I would have missed out on a lot of my favourite reads if not for its cheap and speedy offerings** There's certainly a case to be made for supporting book stores over Amazon, especially independent ones that need our help more than ever right now. But I often find that when it comes down to it, the independent stores either don't have the book im looking for, or if it does it can often cost almost double as much as from Amazon. And for someone whose desire to read a specific book has to be jumped on immediately or else I'll want to read something else, that is a massive thing for me. Some of my favourite books such as All Quiet on the Western Front, and The Sun Also Rises, i was able to get much cheaper and second hand off of Amazon than i would have elsewhere. And i think if it comes down to giving some business to amazon versus not reading a book and maybe missing out on something that impacts and influences me, i would rather give a little business to amazon occasionally.

TL;DR - Buying books from Amazon helps amateurs writers. Currently, the situation for small business is quite bad, and I agree that we should help and support them, but I think Amazon is a great tool for writers. If you don't have any editorial to publish your book, you can do it for free on Amazon, something that is really positive for amateurs writer that want to publish their first book and don't have the economic power to do it. On the other hand, I think Amazon is great to promote your book because there's millions of option which you can search for reviews and a great tool to look for new books.

TLDR: It should be a responsibility of the more wealthy consumer to purchase small-scale items, such as books, from independent retailers rather than large corporations such as Amazon. I appreciate that many smaller book stores seldom stock a large variety of books that may be in demand by consumers, however if someone has a household income above a certain threshold, it should be made necessary for them to fill a quota of purchases from businesses that operate independently. It only takes a look at the near-deserted high streets and retail parks to appreciate the importance of consumer responsibility to shop within their means. Ultimately, the current direction we are going in is going to lead us to a pool of unemployment that governments will need to pay out for, while high-earning consumers are saving their money in hilariously low-interest saving accounts, and for what, another holiday or new car? There is no question that the UK government should be standing up for the spirit of capitalism, a monopoly situation with everybody buying low-quality goods as low prices isn't what Mrs Thatcher embodied when she came to power in the 1970s. I am all for individual interests, and would consider myself on the right of British politics, but ultimately it is down to consumers looking at their bank balances and giving amazon a really long second thought. While it may be difficult sometimes to find That book that you want, What I'd say to that is to try another independent store, or encourage them to expand their stock by giving them a chance and buying an alternative, they can't be expected to succeed if they receive zero support from an able but unwilling consumer pool.