CHAINED BIRDS: Now in ALL Formats on Bookshop.org!

And Every Purchase Supports Local Bookstores! 💕

❤️ Happy Valentine’s Day, Book Lovers! In celebration of indie authors and local bookstores, I have a shout-out for Bookstore.org, which announced some big publishing news last week about bringing eBooks to their platform. And I noticed that my award-winning debut, Chained Birds: A Crimemoir, was an immediate beneficiary.

Bookshop.org Has Partnered With Draft2Digital to Bring eBooks to Their Store

If you’ve been following my indie publishing journey, you know I’m all about getting Chained Birds into readers’ hands through as many channels as possible. So I’m thrilled to share that my book is now available on Bookshop.org in every format — paperback, hardcover, eBook, and audiobook — and every purchase directly supports independent bookstores. 🙌

Let me say that again for the people in the back: every purchase supports local bookstores.

Also, there’s no markup on the $9.99 eBook, which is the same price as listed in the Everything Store 😂

Last week, both Bookshop.org and Draft2Digital (D2D) announced a partnership to bring eBooks to the Bookshop.org online store. This is huge news for indie authors and readers alike. D2D has been my distribution partner for wide eBook distribution, and seeing that partnership extend to Bookshop.org — a platform built on the mission of supporting indie bookstores — feels like a perfect alignment of values.

For those unfamiliar, Bookshop.org was founded in 2020 (and really took off during Covid) to offer an alternative to the Everything Store, giving readers a way to shop online while funneling profits back to local, independent bookshops. So far, Bookshop.org has raised over $45 M for local bookstores — that’s “M” as in million 🎉

As someone who took the leap into indie publishing last summer after my “friendly divorce” from my traditional publisher, I am all in on platforms that champion independent voices — whether those voices belong to authors or booksellers.

The Hardcover Edition Bookshop.org Got Right (That Amazon Won’t Fix 😤)

If you visit Chained Birds on Bookshop.org, you’ll see a link to buy my beautiful 6 x 9 hardcover edition with dust jacket — the “Author’s Cut” version with 20+ new images — properly featured and competitively priced at $32. That’s the same price point as Amazon.

Now, if you visit Amazon … well, let’s just say it’s a mess. Amazon has mucked up my hardcover offerings. They’re still featuring my old cover from my previous publisher — a version that isn’t even supposed to be available anymore. I have tried exhaustively to get them to remove it. I’ve submitted requests. I’ve escalated cases. I’ve even involved my former publisher directly. And Amazon. Won’t. Budge. 😡

So if you want the correct hardcover edition of Chained Birds — the one I painstakingly re-launched under my own Crimemoir Press imprint — Bookshop.org has it right.

The Audiobook Deal You Didn’t Know You Needed 🎧

Here’s another reason to love Bookshop.org: they’ve got a one-click “Buy the Audiobook” button that takes you straight to a Libro FM page where my author-narrated audiobook is priced at $15.74 — or just $14.99 with a Libro FM membership.

Compare that to Amazon, where the same audiobook costs $21.83 for an individual purchase. That’s a savings of over six bucks, folks. And again, your purchase supports independent bookstores rather than … well, you know. 😏

Why This Matters: The Indie Author Ecosystem

None of this would be possible without the indie partnerships I’ve built since going independent. D2D (Draft2Digital) handles my wide eBook distribution, getting Chained Birds onto platforms beyond just Amazon’s Kindle ecosystem. And Author’s Republic distributes my audiobook widely, which is how it landed on Libro FM in the first place.

When I reclaimed my publishing rights last summer — inspired in part by what Taylor Swift taught me about fighting for creative rights — I knew the road ahead would be harder in some ways. I’d be doing everything myself. But moments like this remind me why I made that choice. I get to partner with platforms that share my values. I get to offer readers competitive pricing. And I get to support the bookstore ecosystem that nurtures all of us who love the written word. 💕

My Next True Crime Book, THE JACKLIGHTER, is Now on Kickstarter!

Take a look and “Follow” for updates to be the first to know when the campaign goes from pre-launch to live-for-backing 🫶

And for My Thriller-Writing Besties …

Carla Conti

Carla Conti is a journalist and the award-winning author of Chained Birds: A Crimemoir. Her next true crime book, The Jacklighter, is set for release in 2026. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, who supports her true crime habit.