Life without Amazon? Barefoot Books is the David that cut ties to Goliath
Massachusetts-based publisher Barefoot Books had previously cut ties with Barnes & Noble and Borders.
Massachusetts-based publisher Barefoot Books had previously cut ties with Barnes & Noble and Borders.
The lion and the mouse, the underdog and the bully, David and Goliath. However you frame it, it鈥檚 big news when a publisher decides to cut ties with Amazon.聽
Barefoot Books, a small children鈥檚 publishing house in Cambridge, Mass., announced this week that it has decided to stop selling its books on Amazon.
鈥淭he challenges we have faced doing business with Amazon over the years are similar to those we experienced selling to the big box retail chains,鈥� Barefoot Books鈥� co-founder and CEO Nancy Traversy said in a news release. 鈥淧ersonal relationships with buyers are rare, particularly when you鈥檙e a small publisher. Our books become commodities that are usually heavily discounted and Amazon often starts selling them before we have even received our advance copies from the printer.鈥�
Since its founding in 1993, Barefoot Books has published more than 500 multicultural children鈥檚 books to 鈥渉elp children on their journey to become happy, engaged members of the global community鈥� and to 鈥渃reate a worldwide network of story-lovers who believe in the importance of imagination in children鈥檚 lives.鈥�
This isn鈥檛 the first time Barefoot Books has walked away from a large distributing partner. In 2006, it stopped selling books to Barnes and Noble and Borders, citing its commitment to its core values, among which is providing 鈥渁n authentic alternative to the commercialization of childhood.鈥�
If they鈥檝e cut ties with Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and the now-defunct Borders, where is Barefoot selling its books?
As Publishers Weekly writes, the children鈥檚 publisher will 鈥渇ocus on selling direct through its bookstore/studios in Concord, Mass., and Oxford, England, and its boutique in FAO Schwarz in New York City.鈥� It will also offer its books on its website, and expand its 鈥淎mbassador鈥� network of home-based sellers.
It鈥檚 a bold move, to say the least, and one that has us wondering: Might this be the beginning of an exodus from Amazon?
In fact, it鈥檚 unlikely many publishers will follow suit, but it鈥檚 sure to give other publishers ideas of an existence without Amazon.
Husna Haq is a Monitor correspondent.