Goodreads Doesn't Have It, Data Migration: How to Resist Amazon and Why
I AM AWARE THIS BOOK SAYS TO NOT REVIEW ON GOODREADS. Yet I am doing it anyway. Why? Where in other parts of the book they succeeded in giving positive alternatives, I am not seeing that for a review website. Without a functional alternative with at least competitive impact on the internet, it's similar essentially to saying "shut up and stop reviewing". That's a no.
I also want to note it patently states at the end they are centrist/moderates like that's a good thing. That's also a no. There is no such thing as a centrist. That has been established. If they're intelligent enough to understand their bottom lines and that selling their book at prices competitive to Amazon would be like handing a customer $5 and screwing the publisher, their cats, and themselves for carrying that book, then they have the intelligence to do their research and read the HUNDREDS of books and content about why there is no such thing as a moderate centrist.
Second, this is lazy. They just point to other people's journalism. I get it. It's a zine. However, the irony should not be lost on anyone that they say this zine shouldn't just be easily distributed, it should be sold at a low cost price. It is literally COMPLETELY other people's writing that they organized, yet, they say the "author" deserves to be paid. I would be fine if they said the "organizer" or "manager of information" deserves to be paid. They do. But literally most of the quality of content here is on the blood, sweat and tears of other journalists who were likely under fire of being literally murdered for writing what they did. That said, I gave this more than one star because it is helpful to have all this information in one place.
Third, they have to understand that Amazon does what it does because they buy from publishers at higher than list price sometimes so they can monopolize the supply that will actually have the demand entirely fulfilled when they sell it at the lowest price they can get away with. The PUBLISHER is the one who says, "Yeah, f*** indie bookstores, I want as many of these sold as possible." PLEASE realize that. That's great for authors who aren't working with screwy publishers, don't get me wrong. But the problem is that hasn't led to more quality content because authors get more sales. In fact, it's led to an influx of completely trash content because it's a quick buck with high supply and high negative impact. That always spells trash content. But if things were more socially responsible, there may not be as much money for authors, but there would be benefits for employees, safety for housing sectors, and other things like that. And those kinds of communities are the kinds that FEEL SAFE AND STABLE ENOUGH TO GENERATE QUALITY CONTENT.
Think of Bezos as an f boy. He'll do it to you if you let him. It's on you for going with the f boy. If you want to be treated like the princess (or prince, or non-binary space noble) you are, you have to demand that you be treated that way and wait it out. Do you feel good about your brown box at your door when your hotline blings? Or do you feel better about the book club, the excellent tweets, the thoughtful analysis of your local librarians and indie bookstore people? DO NOT buy from indie bookstores SIMPLY because they are local. That can lead to nationalism. Buy from them because the TIME AND INVESTMENT in their LOCAL SPACE actually feels better to you. If it doesn't, don't do it.
I'll be frank. Sometimes I think an f boy is ok. My cats are hungry? Yeah, I need the cat food f boy for that. Sorry, whole grain apple puree place that I can't afford. But when I truly have been better served elsewhere locally? Hell yeah I want to vote with my dollars and send them the message that I want to answer their invested, localized energy. Because THEY DESERVE IT. Not just because they're local. There are local f boys too. Nationalists who screw their small town economies.
I think this was a really lazy collection of other people's work masquerading as something they really put together.
What I will give them extra points for is the access to the piece on Amazon sucking up to and working with police, especially for surveillance footage, including but not limited to illegal surveillance using Amazon delivery trucks and Amazon robots and selling those and making that footage accessible all over the world to be viewed unregulatedly by people who really have no idea what they're seeing being halfway across the world, yet full of their own ideas about the matter. That was invaluable to me. But again, that wasn't their writing. It wasn't their line of fire as a journalist following the story for years and years and staking their career on the risk to keep them safe being cancelled out by the profit of their story...a disgusting calculus that shouldn't exist for journalists. Rather they just pointed to the moon.
That's not to say this isn't endangering. It can be. But it's nothing like what an investigative journalist goes through. That said, they deserve compensation for pointing to the moon in relevant ways; more relevant than a free google search and that's definitely worth something.
As I watch video on Ukraine and economies that gave into envy and narcissistic rage and failed to meet demand leading to collapse that murdered not only local economies but thousands of people with them, I say this is a very lazy understanding of the balancing point between TRUE excellence and preservation of local ecology. What must be noted is ecologies are not preservable for their own sake. Some ecologies are full of pathogens killing their own natives. Those ecologies should not be preserved. Ecologies should be preserved because they're actually worthy, they're actually good. And that goes for local bookstores.
I'll be joining at Elliot Bay Bookstore for a discussion of this book. I buy from Elliot Bay Bookstore because they're damn good. I am voting with my dollars, and my true feeling was that they were worth the relative inconvenience compared to what was more conveniently out there. As long as we send real positive feedback to where investment in place has TRULY happened in a way that feels great to our health and nervous systems, things will go well. But this book is a tad condescending in creating unnuanced, unexamined rules about buying local just because it's local. Trust me, among any local nationalist community, there are plenty wannabe Amazon f boys waiting to happen.
It's OUR agency. YES means YES and NO means NO. That goes for publishers, buyers, readers, libraries, everyone. And sometimes Amazon gets a true yes. Sometimes it gets a true no. We should favor those true local yeses extra, in an equity way where they need extra protective padding like a baby needs extra blankets for a time until it's ready to take on the grown ups being one itself. But until then, rules with explanations aren't always good when the explanations actually could use a little work. It's only a rule worth following when the explanation is pretty solid. Unfortunately this one isn't.
Great zine, appreciate the organization of material, but that's all it really is.