We love win/win. Reading is like that; so is supporting local independent bookstores of which we have two in Charleston and more in the region. While COVID 2020 is trying to wreck the economy, here comes Bookshop.org. With that brilliant site, you can order pretty much any book and designate your bookseller. The book is sent to you via USPS (we love them too) Media Mail, usually with a sweet discount, and your bookseller gets a nice “bump”.
Example, a trusted book buddy recommended The Witch Elm, recently out in paperback, by Tana French, available for $14.29 from Amazon. I went to the Bookshop.org page, entered Witch Elm in the search box, picked a King Street bookstore, (both Blue Bicycle Books and Buxton Books have Bookshop.org pages), and by the end of the week was reading this highly praised can’t-put-it-down novel. Blue Bicycle Books made $5.10 on my purchase, not a huge impact on their operating cost but a much larger margin than if they had offered an Amazon link. I paid just $1.35 more for the book but feel really good about my local independent bookstore purchase. Imagine if we all bought our books that way.
Now about Audible. I have 277 titles in my Audible Library and have loved listening in the car, in line at the DMV, in the middle of the night when I don't want to light up a blue screen. When Amazon bought Audible in 2008 it gave them the capital to do some really great promotions and productions. It's online but it's not free. Here's where Charleston County Public Library comes to the rescue with a huge inventory of audiobooks. All you need is a library card and their Libby App. Done!