Writing and Reading in a Small Town

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folclor

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This is kind of an offshoot of my thoughts when I was reading through the anecdotal evidence on bookstores.

As I stated there: The closest bookstore to me is 5 hours away because I live in a very small farming town in Northern Alberta. I know I'm not the only small town author out there. How do y'all cope with not having access to bookstores or libraries? In my case there is a library in town, but due to my disabilities I can't make it there without help and I wouldn't have help to make it there, though we live an hour from a community that not only has no library but no services at all. Not even cell service, and very spotty internet. So there are communities with fewer resources of that sort in this day and age.

But do you buy books and have them shipped to you? Do you have a library you visit? Have you started anything as far as book sharing in your community? Do you have any advice on what other people in this situation can do?

I tend to buy books off of Amazon. But I have to wait to get them because most of the ebooks aren't available in Canada. I've thought about seeing if I could start book sharing, but I don't know anyone interested in that (though my pool is ridiculously small). Since I don't know what to do, though, I also don't have any advice.
 

Jaymz Connelly

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I don't live in a small town, but I might as well because I avoid going to physical stores as much as possible for health reasons. For whatever it's worth, I mostly buy my books from Book Depository (they sell everything from kids books and manga to lifestyle and research and everything in between). The prices are very reasonable and they offer free shipping. I usually get my order about ten days after ordering. I've occasionally been redirected to abebooks through the book depository site, but that's only happened once or twice. I generally don't buy ebooks anymore because I share reading taste with my son and he prefers physical books. We're going to need more bookcases soon. :)
 

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I don't live in a small town, but I can't drive at all.

I grew up in rural N.H. so I am pretty familiar with the issues around not having ready access to books.

I use several libraries that offer Overdrive ebook lending. I know that libraries in Edmonton and Calgary support Overdrive.

There are also lots of places that you can exchange books through the mail. LibraryThing, a book cataloging site, includes "swap" status on the pages of books that someone wants; see this page. You would then go to the site in question and see how they manage book swaps.

This is a chart about some of the book swapping/exchanging sites.

The Alberta Library has a books loan service throughout Alberta. I know Canada has services for book delivery for disabled people; have you checked to see if it's available to you?

I also buy from Thrift Books, who sell used books (thriftbooks.com).

A Kindle may actually make economic sense, for you, especially one using Amazon's WhisperSync; I don't know.
 

RobertLCollins

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Do check with your local library, by phone or email, and see if they can help you. I know there are small-town libraries in Kansas that embrace Overdrive and similar efforts to help patrons who might not be able to get to the library when it's open. Often such libraries are open limited hours a few days a week, and they deal with an older population than in larger communities. As far as e-readers go, I believe the Kobo sells better in Canada than the Kindle. You might explore the Kobo site and compare it with Amazon if you haven't already.

Good luck, and let us know what you find out!
 

angeliz2k

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I didn't have it quite as bad as you--the nearest bookstore was only about 45 minutes away when I was growing up. Now I live in a place rife with bookstores (suburban DC).

We went to the library instead. We went there loads, and it was a very nice library, and only about 15 minutes away. I never felt I lacked for resources because of that, and I never got into the habit of buying books because of that. I now make liberal use of my local library here, and I hope you might be able to make use of that as well.

Oh, and if I did want to buy a book when I was younger, I ordered it online. Amazon existed by that time, and I bought few enough books that I didn't mind paying shipping from time to time.

I also buy or borrow a lot of e-books these days, mostly because I don't have space in my apartment for lots of physical books.
 

blacbird

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I tend to buy books off of Amazon. But I have to wait to get them because most of the ebooks aren't available in Canada.

Seriously? Not available in Canada? Is this a copyright issue (Canadian copyright laws differ from those in place in the U.S., but are less restrictive regarding length of copyright term, I believe)? I find it hard to think that Jeff Bezos wouldn't want to have his services and products as widely available as inhumanly possible.

caw
 

WeaselFire

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As I stated there: The closest bookstore to me is 5 hours away because I live in a very small farming town in Northern Alberta.

Nope. The closest bookstore is right in front of you. Library too.

Or simply move. Unless Canada has passed a law banning that lately. :)

Jeff
 

Albedo

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Seriously? Not available in Canada? Is this a copyright issue (Canadian copyright laws differ from those in place in the U.S., but are less restrictive regarding length of copyright term, I believe)? I find it hard to think that Jeff Bezos wouldn't want to have his services and products as widely available as inhumanly possible.

caw
Hah, you'd think so, right? Unfortunately, selling things is less important to Bezos than paying as little tax as possible, and that's why my country is no longer allowed to buy things from Amazon.com. Wouldn't be surprised if Amazon decided to ban Canada from buying e-books for a similar reason.

monopolies are great!
 

folclor

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Nope. The closest bookstore is right in front of you. Library too.

Or simply move. Unless Canada has passed a law banning that lately. :)

Jeff
I mean, sure, if I have the money and room for it. But we're on one income and, no, can't get to library, can't move because we don't have the money to. Thanks, though.
Are you looking at Amazon Canada
https://www.amazon.ca/?tag=

Have you checked Kobo, which does gangbuster business in Canada:

https://www.kobo.com/
Yep, amazon.ca. Don't know much about Kobo, but I actually don't like ereaders.
Yeah, I have literally never, not even once, seen an e-book flagged as "not available in Canada."

Using amazon.ca
TUfsNlL.png
 

neandermagnon

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Dunno about Canada but I have difficulty buying ebooks from the USA in the UK. Lots of ebooks are only available in the USA for whatever reason. You can only get them as ebooks in the UK if they've been officially put on sale in the UK. I really don't know why you can't buy ebooks from other countries, seeing as you can order physical books from the other countries and pay to have them shipped.
 
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veinglory

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A lot of ebooks, especially from older trade books, are geographically restricted because the publisher does not have worldwide digital rights.
 

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Are you aware of Project guggenheim and Librivox? They are both for books that are no longer in copyright, but may include texts or novels that are useful to you. Librivox are free audio books. Speaking as someone with a sometimes flaky internet connection, they cope fairly well with interupted downloads (or my Linux computer does, one of the two) and will pick up again when the link goes and comes. May help you a bit.
With a 5 hour drive to the nearest library doubt there are volunteers driving books out that far (my local library looks for volunteers to fetch books for people with limited mobility but I think the furthest out they do is about half an hour.) However, writing to the library to explain and ask for help just might get you something - is there a regular long distance bus service that passes within say half an hour of where you are that you could meet to hand over and receive books? A truck stop where parcels could be exchanged?
 
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Ebay has some good deals. I prefer kindle because I have trouble admitting I need reading glasses or bifocals.
 

mpack

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I have run across a number of ebooks not available in Canada, but every title in your screenshot above shows available to me on Amazon.ca. (I'm in BC.)
 

Treehouseman

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Yes, just put the titles in manually on amazon.ca and DO NOT click from an outside link, Author link or wishlist because they will default to showing you the American edition through the .ca storefront.

So all you'll see are the US editions which you cannot buy.

The Amazon app doesn't work outside of the US as well.

If you feel really keen, get a VPN for your device and pretend you are in the US...
 

folclor

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Are you aware of Project guggenheim and Librivox? They are both for books that are no longer in copyright, but may include texts or novels that are useful to you. Librivox are free audio books. Speaking as someone with a sometimes flaky internet connection, they cope fairly well with interupted downloads (or my Linux computer does, one of the two) and will pick up again when the link goes and comes. May help you a bit.
With a 5 hour drive to the nearest library doubt there are volunteers driving books out that far (my local library looks for volunteers to fetch books for people with limited mobility but I think the furthest out they do is about half an hour.) However, writing to the library to explain and ask for help just might get you something - is there a regular long distance bus service that passes within say half an hour of where you are that you could meet to hand over and receive books? A truck stop where parcels could be exchanged?
I was not previously! Sounds pretty cool, though I admit I've never tried audio books before.

I have run across a number of ebooks not available in Canada, but every title in your screenshot above shows available to me on Amazon.ca. (I'm in BC.)
Really? Weird... Cause I've even tried logging out, downloading a new browser, and going to it through there and it still says not available =/ I may be doing something wrong, then.

Yes, just put the titles in manually on amazon.ca and DO NOT click from an outside link, Author link or wishlist because they will default to showing you the American edition through the .ca storefront.

So all you'll see are the US editions which you cannot buy.

The Amazon app doesn't work outside of the US as well.

If you feel really keen, get a VPN for your device and pretend you are in the US...
My account can be used on .com because I do have a US card (but that's for paying student loans, not for buying books). But, again, every time I go to a book on .ca it says that the "Kindle version is not available for your country/region." As mpack says they get ebooks just fine, I'm wondering if it's something to do with my set up that's preventing me from accessing it. Not sure what it would be, but it might be something to do with that (having a different country listed as default address or something silly like that).
 
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