I’m looking to change my reading and buying habits away from Amazon and need an alternate source for my ebooks. Where can I buy ebooks that won’t expire or have their licence revoked and will allow me to download a copy of that ebook I can store on my own system regardless of the websites status?
Calibre and DeDRM can strip Amazon’s DRM and let you save the books forever.
https://github.com/noDRM/DeDRM_tools
You need a registered Kindle, but you don’t need to actually use the Kindle to make it work. Just download the ebook from the Amazon website “for Kindle XYZ” and then import and convert the ebook in calibre.
This is unfortunately the closest answer to what the OP is asking.
To the best of my knowledge, outside of independent authors like Cory Doctorow selling drm-free from their own sites, I’m not aware of any place to shop for ebooks that are not tied to some online DRM scheme.
Humble Bundle books are another option, but it’s highly dependent upon if you want what they’re selling.
Baens library has been doing this for the past 25(?) years. They even have a free library. https://www.baen.com/catalog/category/view/s/free-library/id/2012
OP wants to avoid Amazon. This is still giving Amazon money and therefore encouraging Amazon’s greed, walled garden and dark patterns.
A better alternative would be using almost any other digital book seller. There’s plenty. And if the author chose or was forced to only sell through Amazon, then you can try library sources (like Overdrive) so the author at least gets something. And if you still can’t get what you’re looking for, then it’s time to sail the high seas.
At least make Amazon the last resort option.
On the high seas
You can borrow them forever from libgen or similar ;)
Anna’s Archive is a good option if you’re wanting to sail the high seas. Very easy to navigate, and almost all titles are available in multiple formats (I.e. PDF, epub)
They have a lot of content and a pretty nice community.
It’s a private tracker but it’s easy to join even if it’s your first.
