Perhaps Amazon should have thought twice before trying to bully this particular underdog author considering how my debut BELL HAMMERS features my grandpas taking on multiple mega corporations. They used large scale pranks and practical jokes.

Perhaps Amazon should have read how Bloody Williamson responded to the Southern Illinois Coal Company’s attempt to break the United Mine Workers of America strike. Or of the oil derrick that fell on my grandpa’s entire neighborhood, polluting the wells, the single source aquifer, and the nearby pond — and how he responded.

Considering the very themes of my debut novel — of that David verses Goliath struggle — you’d think they’d leave me to my hibernation. I won’t back down. My team won’t back down. Our readers and contributors will not back down.

Here’s what happened:

• Back in January, Amazon committed to handling pre-orders and fulfillment for the October 12, 2020 release of BELL HAMMERS.
• Many of you pre-ordered from them as opposed to other retailers then and now.
• BELL HAMMERS sold out twice.
• After learning from many of you that Amazon cancelled your generous pre-orders through the middle of September, I spent many hours on the phone this week seeking answers from them and INGRAM, my distributor.
• The answer? Amazon refused to help me resolve the pre-order cancellation because they do not hold the Kindle Direct Publishing rights for a paperback version of BELL HAMMERS, despite this being a hardcover and Kindle release only.  
• This is an attempt to grab the paperback rights for my book.
• I will not respond to Amazon’s bullying and have discovered that this has been happening frequently to other authors. It turns out multiple other authors have been having this issue as well.

And here I am, a young little David verses a mean old Goliath.

But guess what?

Just like Remmy in my novel, we have a slingshot. Here’s our one little stone. Here’s our one little sling: we’re still in a pandemic and both rural bookstore owners and black bookstore owners keep struggling because of Amazon. It’ll take two extra clicks and maybe — maybe — $4 in postage to patronize them.

I hear the United States Postal Service is struggling cause of Amazon as well. So here’s our stone, here’s our sling, let’s take down the giant:

Buy BELL HAMMERS from your local bookstore and hire the USPS to bring it to your front door.

HOW TO ORDER BELL HAMMERS:

• If you are interested in supporting your local bookstore (and the USPS) and helping to get the word out about BELL HAMMERS, please consider using Indie Bound to find the nearest bookstore and purchase from them.
•  Other ways to purchase: Barnes and Nobel, Book Depository, Walmart, Powell’s.

Then share this post using one of the buttons below.

And one little stone went into the air…

UPDATE 10/9:

This is hilarious! We sold so many that Amazon added the option to buy the hardback back to their website. But you know what? Give the money elsewhere anyways: keep going. Keep hiring your local bookstore, the USPS, and sharing this post.