Retailers complain that contract terms cement Amazon’s dominant position.

Before last month's Super Bowl, Foggy Pine Books was one of the thousands of small, locally owned businesses floundering amid the coronavirus pandemic. Nestled in the Appalachian town of Boone, North Carolina, the bookstore had calculated that it needed to sell a minimum of 1,350 books per month to stay open. In January, it had sold 836.

Through his City Lights bookstore and publishing imprint, Lawrence Ferlinghetti changed the country. Here's what we can learn from him.

Just before the COVID-19 pandemic struck, Mika Weaver ordered more than 300 puzzles for her Ottawa bookstore. Then all non-essential businesses were shut down. "I was up at night thinking, 'How am I going to pay for all those puzzles that came in?'" said Weaver, the owner of Singing Pebble Books on Main Street.

Independent booksellers are desperate for customers to return, and not just for an online reading.

Shakespeare and Company, an iconic bookstore in Paris, is urging readers to buy a book so that it can recover from the losses it incurred due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The bookstore recently sent an email to its customers informing them that it is struggling amid the global health crisis, Associated Press first reported. France went into its second nationwide lockdown on Oct. 30.

Proprietor Nancy Bass-Wyden appeals to customers as literary landmark suffers the effects of the pandemic

Remember when you used to sneak a flashlight under the covers so you could read a book after bedtime? A bookshop in Taiwan promises you a similar experience. Wuguan Books is located in Kaohsiung's Pier-2 Art Center, a warehouse-turned-creative hub in Taiwan's second-largest city. And it is just as much an art exhibit as it is a bookshop.

If these booksellers close, COVID-19 will be listed as the cause of death, but the preexisting condition for many will be Amazon, whose packages have become ubiquitous in apartment building lobbies and on porches across the U.S.

Selling through the Amazon marketplace was "hard to give up, sort of like smoking," said Powell's CEO Emily Powell. But when Amazon prioritized essential supplies over books in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, that sealed the deal.

In a letter to Congress, the Author’s Guild, American Association of Publishers, and the American Booksellers Association warned that Amazon has become too powerful.

Books like "White Fragility" and "How to Be An Anti-Racist" have become best sellers, overwhelming independent Black-owned bookstores across the US.

Barnes & Noble has been acquired by the hedge fund Elliott Advisors for $638 million, a move that has momentarily calmed fears among publishers and agents that the largest bookstore chain in the United States might collapse after one of the most tumultuous periods in its history.

Independent bookstores, and booksellers, get a lifeline just when they need it most.

Bookshop.org is looking to generate revenue for independent book stores by moving sales, and affiliate links, away from Amazon and toward independent bookstores.

After closing up shop that day, there was fear the bookstore might have to close permanently. But overnight, something unexpected happened.

The holiday season is the busiest time of year for many retailers, including the country's 2,500 independent bookstores, which, despite Amazon's growing dominance, are flourishing.

Books have always had the ability to transport readers, whisking them away to faraway lands. Cozy up and plot your next getaway at these unique bookstores around the world.

A growing number of shoppers will be supporting their independent neighborhood bookstores on Small Business Saturday

Word on the Water, a floating bookstore on a 1920s Dutch barge, was founded in 2011 by Paddy Screech and Jon Privett. It is currently moored in Regents Canal in King’s Cross, London. * What’s…