It has always been difficult to buy niche books from independent bookstores, and since we are a niche publisher, it is highly unlikely that you will see one of our books in your local bookstore. In 12 years of running XML Press, I know of only one direct purchase from us for an independent bookstore (thanks Tattered Cover).
This is not an indictment of independent bookstores. There is no way they can keep the kinds of books we publish in stock.
However, there is now a way to purchase XML Press books that supports independent bookstores. It’s called Bookshop.org. You can read a description in this article: Thanks to Bookshop, There Is No Reason to Buy Books on Amazon Anymore.
They operate somewhat like an affiliate program, but with much more benefit for the stores. Any bookstore can open up a site for books that they recommend. When someone buys one of those books, or any other book, bookshop.org handles fulfillment and gives the bookstore a piece of the profit.
You can buy directly on the site, or you can search for a local bookstore on their site and use its bookshop page as your starting place.
We will be adding bookshop links to our book pages, and we have created an XML Press page at bookshop.org that contains purchase links for all of our books: Bookshop.org. FYI, we get a small commission on sales through this link. However, if you select a local bookstore as your starting place, they get the bulk of the commission.
UPDATE (4/20/2020): I ordered a book through this service. It took a week to arrive, and it arrived in good condition. Not as quick as Amazon Prime, and they do charge shipping, but if you want to support local bookstores, it may be worth the wait.
Fantastic! I will support just about any alternative to Amazon.