One of New Hampshire’s three Toadstool Bookshop outlets. They’re located in Peterborough, Keene, and Milford. If you’re in the neighborhood, be sure to visit the one in Keene, and then grab a beer and a burger (and gigantic onion rings) at Elm City Brewery, located in the same large ex-factory as NH’s best bookstore. With ebooks, there’s concern for the survival of even this fittest of independent booksellers.

“PLEASE THINK TWICE BEFORE YOU BUY A KINDLE

We are very grateful to all of those of you who have said you would like to support us by purchasing your e-books through us. This will become extremely important to us as more and more people begin using e-readers. We ask that you please bear in mind that only certain types of readers are compatible with our website. Fortunately, most of the common ones are. These include the iPad, Nook, Sony, and Kobo. However, the Kindle is not compatible.

Amazon has chosen to force Kindle users o make their e-book purchases only through their website.

Please think twice before getting one for yourself or for a gift. The future of independent bookstores such as our depends upon every sale, the physical book and the e-book. None will exist without the support of loyal book buyers such as yourself. Thank you so much for thinking about us, and be assured our love remains [for] the real book, there for your browsing in a real bookstore.

(Kindle Fire update: With Amazon’s new Kindle Fire tablet, it is possible to sideload an Android app that make it possible to purchase and read ebooks from the website of independent booksellers such as ours. But you do have to do this outside the Amazon App store. This will not work with the original Kindles. B&N’s new tablet Nook also requires a sideloaded app.”

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Some other thoughts about Amazon and its relationship to independent booksellers:

Slate: Don’t Support Your Local Bookseller

Harvard Business Review: Amazon Should Partner with Independent Booksellers

Huffington Post / Poetry Foundation: Independent Booksellers: How to Compete with Amazon

and the most comprehensive and thoughtful view, written for The Nation: The Amazon Effect