Listening to the people
Alright. So I've listened to the comments, deleted some of them. If I delete your comment it's only cos I want to be stringent about it. Also it's amazing how much readers are saying the same thing. What we need is an open forum and it will come soon on the website. I'm impressed anyone can decipher my unwriterly scrawl.
Yesterday another old Irish guy comes into my shop. He's from Bournemouth and apparently the name of his shop fell down and he's never bothered replacing it. During the day he sits in the Brazilian café next door while the sign in the window of his shop lets you know where to reach him. "I made my money long ago," says he to me, "If I didn't own the damn building I would have been out long ago." Pulling out another book from the shelf he literally shouts at me. "This was remaindered thirty years ago, WH Smith had a bin full of them for threepence each." He shoves the film tie-in Raymond Chandler back on the shelf. "Bought loads of them an still have them." We started talking about the state of bookselling &c &c. It's a conversation that always follows the same lines and doen't do much to deviate but it's always a fresh topic that all booksellers like to harp on. "It's sad when you can see in The Bookseller that you can buy a shop with all its stock," and this is the shocking bit, "for cost."
It's true. If you wanted to buy a bookshop and had enough cash to do it, there's no stopping you. In fact now is the time, my friends, to take advantage in a business-like manner of other people's misery. Buy the goddamned bookshop you've always wanted with your friends. Learn from the business model of such shops as Shakespeare&Co and the folksdown at the lovely, though for me still unseen, Atlantis Books and start trading. Trade online and trade hand to hand. Door to door if you need to. Convince people to read Ezra Pound just because you love the idea that life slips by like a field mouse/ not shaking the grass, and because you need to meet the rent this month. You will learn so much from yourself it'll be surprising. Give it a while and you'll have been elevated by your craft, humbled by the fact that you will never 'make money' from the trade and will have read such diffferent genres, books of all kinds, learned to tell a book by its cover, the year by the paper. All automatically becoming intrinsic. That's the great thing about bookselling. All you'll ever need to know about what you're doing is right there in the copy you're holding in your hands. Hardback, paperback, dustjacket and without, broadsheet, poster, artwork. Then you'll get around to the cynicism that lets face it, you have to deal with in any trade though none schools you quite as thoroughly as the book trade. You'll believe that the only bookshop is one without anyone in it (for various reasons). That the majority of the book-reading public are idiots led by the fresh-slaughter scent of mass-production-fed marketing. Can you believe that The Reluctant Fundamentalist been promoted on poster with the words"the Man Booker nominee that everyone is talking about." or that "no one can go without reading. And it's working!!! since the ad came out people are buying that book over others! Lambs, if you'll excuse my french. The only thing that stands between the vat of disinformation is you. The bookseller. 'Nuff said.
Hell, if you want help setting up an independent book venture just give me a shout and I can put you in touch with like-minded people.
In my last post I said the book trade was in recession. The Boss is in financial difficulties. He fired and rehired me in the same phone conversation yesterday. Today I hit the streets looking for another job. No one will be immune to my charm. Bookshop owners will fall at my feet and beg me to come work for them. My extensive list of contacts will cohesively gel into a beautiful greased up mechanism that will enable to choose my pick of whom-so-ever I please. Pray for me.
And finally the plug. I hope y'all get some good reading tips from the text of this blog but in case they've all been too subtle and/or you don't have time to be chasing these things up here's a quick tip:
Last in the Emitron series and produced by the outrageously talented boys at Borbonesa, indie publishers, indie booksellers, bibliofanatics. It's enough to make you sick with envy and jealousy. Did I mention they were beautiful too? Yep, all Swedish blondes who'll welcome you with open breasts should you ever make the pilgrimage down to Brighton to see them. Just mention you bought Emitron 4 and you'll be in like Flynn. It's 3.5 UK pounds so that means it's within grasp of everyone. It's a beautifully intricate little designed booklet that contains all the sum of knowledge in the universe which veers somewhere close to the direction of art. As much a collector's piece and artwork as much as a book buy two, one to read,& one to keep in the original packaging. You would be an idiot to have them sell all of the numbered first editions without you having one for yourself. I got mine in the post yesterday so I'm good. You heard it here first.
Yesterday another old Irish guy comes into my shop. He's from Bournemouth and apparently the name of his shop fell down and he's never bothered replacing it. During the day he sits in the Brazilian café next door while the sign in the window of his shop lets you know where to reach him. "I made my money long ago," says he to me, "If I didn't own the damn building I would have been out long ago." Pulling out another book from the shelf he literally shouts at me. "This was remaindered thirty years ago, WH Smith had a bin full of them for threepence each." He shoves the film tie-in Raymond Chandler back on the shelf. "Bought loads of them an still have them." We started talking about the state of bookselling &c &c. It's a conversation that always follows the same lines and doen't do much to deviate but it's always a fresh topic that all booksellers like to harp on. "It's sad when you can see in The Bookseller that you can buy a shop with all its stock," and this is the shocking bit, "for cost."
It's true. If you wanted to buy a bookshop and had enough cash to do it, there's no stopping you. In fact now is the time, my friends, to take advantage in a business-like manner of other people's misery. Buy the goddamned bookshop you've always wanted with your friends. Learn from the business model of such shops as Shakespeare&Co and the folksdown at the lovely, though for me still unseen, Atlantis Books and start trading. Trade online and trade hand to hand. Door to door if you need to. Convince people to read Ezra Pound just because you love the idea that life slips by like a field mouse/ not shaking the grass, and because you need to meet the rent this month. You will learn so much from yourself it'll be surprising. Give it a while and you'll have been elevated by your craft, humbled by the fact that you will never 'make money' from the trade and will have read such diffferent genres, books of all kinds, learned to tell a book by its cover, the year by the paper. All automatically becoming intrinsic. That's the great thing about bookselling. All you'll ever need to know about what you're doing is right there in the copy you're holding in your hands. Hardback, paperback, dustjacket and without, broadsheet, poster, artwork. Then you'll get around to the cynicism that lets face it, you have to deal with in any trade though none schools you quite as thoroughly as the book trade. You'll believe that the only bookshop is one without anyone in it (for various reasons). That the majority of the book-reading public are idiots led by the fresh-slaughter scent of mass-production-fed marketing. Can you believe that The Reluctant Fundamentalist been promoted on poster with the words"the Man Booker nominee that everyone is talking about." or that "no one can go without reading. And it's working!!! since the ad came out people are buying that book over others! Lambs, if you'll excuse my french. The only thing that stands between the vat of disinformation is you. The bookseller. 'Nuff said.
Hell, if you want help setting up an independent book venture just give me a shout and I can put you in touch with like-minded people.
In my last post I said the book trade was in recession. The Boss is in financial difficulties. He fired and rehired me in the same phone conversation yesterday. Today I hit the streets looking for another job. No one will be immune to my charm. Bookshop owners will fall at my feet and beg me to come work for them. My extensive list of contacts will cohesively gel into a beautiful greased up mechanism that will enable to choose my pick of whom-so-ever I please. Pray for me.
And finally the plug. I hope y'all get some good reading tips from the text of this blog but in case they've all been too subtle and/or you don't have time to be chasing these things up here's a quick tip:
Last in the Emitron series and produced by the outrageously talented boys at Borbonesa, indie publishers, indie booksellers, bibliofanatics. It's enough to make you sick with envy and jealousy. Did I mention they were beautiful too? Yep, all Swedish blondes who'll welcome you with open breasts should you ever make the pilgrimage down to Brighton to see them. Just mention you bought Emitron 4 and you'll be in like Flynn. It's 3.5 UK pounds so that means it's within grasp of everyone. It's a beautifully intricate little designed booklet that contains all the sum of knowledge in the universe which veers somewhere close to the direction of art. As much a collector's piece and artwork as much as a book buy two, one to read,& one to keep in the original packaging. You would be an idiot to have them sell all of the numbered first editions without you having one for yourself. I got mine in the post yesterday so I'm good. You heard it here first.
and on the topic of mass-production marketing - i only just learned that one so-unbelievable-it-had-to-be-true publicity stunt is the paying of dummy readers to sit in public reading and actively drawing attention to certain books.
speechless for a moment, i was. (Comment this)