Amazon.com has chosen to remove all books published by Macmillan (the parent company of my publisher, Henry Holt). That means you can’t buy new copies of Fortune’s Folly via Amazon (you can still buy used copies listed by third parties) and you can’t pre-order The Magical Misadventures of Prunella Bogthistle. I’ve also heard that existing pre-orders have been deleted. Why is this happening? The CEO of Macmillan has made a statement here.

I’ve been speaking in support of buying books from good local independent bookstores for some time now, and this sort of thing is just another reason why I urge you all to consider how you use your purchasing power. Amazon (and the chain bookstores too, for that matter) have a huge amount of power and influence over what you are offered to read, what the covers look like, etc. If you don’t deliberately go out to libraries, independent bookstores, online book blogs and review magazines you are likely to miss out on vast swaths of fantastic books. So I am once again asking everyone to really consider where you buy your books, and just how much that deep discount is saving you in the long run.

You can still order my books from various other places online, including Powell’s Books (they offer a discounted price as good as Amazon’s, and an ebook too!), or you can find them on Indiebound.

Edited to add: And duh, I really ought to add a plug here for one of my favorite way to read new books. The library! A lot of states have inter-library loan programs now, so you can almost always get any book you want from somewhere. I do try to buy my own copies of books I really like (or give them as gifts) but the library is such a fantastic way to try out books you aren’t sure about, or that you don’t have the $$ to purchase.

Worldcat is a great website to search for books in libraries all around the world.