Book published at Amazon

My book Evidence for Hope is published through Amazon self-publishing. It can be found on the Amazon.com main site, but also co.uk, de, fr, es, it, nl, pl, se, jp, ca and au. This means that the book is available mainly in the Global West, and not in the Global South, with some exceptions. The Kindle edition of Evidence for Hope can be ordered at Amazon.in (India), but not the paperback. But usually publishers do not provide world coverage either, unless one publishes an absolute bestseller. It is another example of the skewed world we inhabit, where everything can be found in abundance in the Global West, and the Global South in general needs to improvise or use such services as AmazonGlobal (for an additional price) to deliver the book in countries where Amazon is not present. New websites, such as the South African and Brazilian ones, are not yet fully connected to the paperback self-publishing machinery.

As the reader can see in the endorsements of the book, I have supporting statements from good friends and colleagues in India, Botswana, Brazil, Argentina, the Netherlands, USA, New Zealand and South Africa. From all over the world serious scientists, evaluators, historians and practitioners recommend the book and recognize it as addressing global problems. Yet a majority of countries in the world are outside of the distribution scope, currently.

One may say that this is my fault – why should I publish through Amazon? It is a company with social blemishes on its consciousness: not in favour of unions, often accused of underpaying and bullying their staff, and on top often accused of being a ruthless capitalist organisation that fights to become monopolist on world markets for online shopping. That may be, but similar accusations are brought nowadays at almost any of the enterprises of the super-rich. Publishing elsewhere will not solve the problem of monopolistic giants. And Amazon self-publishing is one of the best services anywhere, and it delivers freedom to writers. I applied for agents and publishers first, and all of them kindly informed me that my book did not fit into their “current portfolio”.

If you are interested in the book, its Kindle and Paperback versions can be ordered at Amazon (com, co.uk, de, fr, es, it, nl, pl, se, jp, ca and au). Just type in Evidence for Hope and it will be in the first list of possibilities. Or look for Rob D. van den Berg and find books that I have been involved in and Evidence for Hope!