A heart-warming love letter to books and bookshops, by an amenable fellow turned antisocial old misanthrope“I was in here two years ago and you had a book by Roger Penrose. Do you know what happened to it?” Shaun Bythell – owner of the Book Shop in Wigtown, Galloway – has 100,000 books in stock, sells 20,000 a year, and has handled nearly 1m second-hand books since he bought the shop in 2001. Unsurprisingly, the Roger Penrose volume had not stuck in his mind.Before he entered the book trade at the tender age of 31, he was “amenable and friendly”. Now, after many years of fielding bizarre questions, constant haggling over prices (why is it “acceptable to try to screw the profit out of struggling small businesses” but not supermarkets?), and struggling to survive despite Amazon’s “icy grip” on bookselling, he has been forced to embrace the stereotype of the “impatient, intolerant, antisocial proprietor”. Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2019-08-24 10:58:38 UTC ]
International publishers are calling for a presidential pardon to free imprisoned Egyptian publisher and bookseller Khaled Lotfy. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-01-14 06:05:25 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Hannah Harlow, executive director of marketing of general interest books at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, has bought the Book Shop of Beverly Farms in Beverly, Mass., together with her brother. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-01-14 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
An indie bookshop which was the official bookseller of the Barnes Children’s Literature Festival has been replaced by organisers in favour of Waterstones. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-01-14 03:02:58 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Some ideas from a seasoned bookseller on events to generate business in the slow month of January. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-01-08 13:00:11 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Some suggestions of what booksellers should read this year, and what they might avoid. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-01-01 13:00:01 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The book trade is often praised for its durability (not least in these pages), forever teetering on the right side of oblivion. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-12-19 13:37:09 UTC ]
More news stories like this
‘Tis the season of realizing the limits of your spacial awareness! “Measure twice, cut once”? In this economy? Luckily, UK bookseller Waterstones has opened our eyes to a new way of rectifying our (easily preventable) gift-wrapping fuck-ups. Behold: This is a public service announcement 🎄 📚... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2019-12-16 16:31:30 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The Bookseller is to create a Rising Stars-style listing of individual booksellers to coincide with the Booksellers Association Conference in September 2020. The Bookshop Heroes special, supported by the BA and sponsored by HarperCollins, will be published to coincide with the annual conference. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-12-11 22:52:50 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Linda Cannon, co-owner of Parson Weems’ Publisher Services and a longtime bookseller and sales rep, died on December 5 following a brief illness. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-12-09 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
We talk a lot on these parts about supporting indie bookstores, but this story from The Washington Post adds an extra layer of of urgency: Patrick Darby, who worked as a bookseller at big chain stores for many years before starting his own shop, Novel Books, is in dire straits. Darby opened... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2019-12-04 20:41:36 UTC ]
More news stories like this
It’s a writerly dream come true: a cocktail based on your book, prepared by a dedicated bookseller who has pored over your pages for references to alcohol or even flavors and scents he can interpret to concoct the drink. Nick Petrulakis of Booksmith in Brookline is the literary bartender in this... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2019-12-03 09:49:31 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Guide by the late Charles L Dobbins, known as the father of modern trapping, sees off polemical defence of traditional dairiesThe Dirt Hole and Its Variations might be a serious guide to hunting and trapping foxes, coyotes, bobcats and raccoons, but the double entendre has helped it land the... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2019-11-29 11:35:58 UTC ]
More news stories like this
A bookseller counts Thanksgiving blessings and the opportunities they inspire. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-11-27 11:00:06 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Salaries need to be more clearly stated in book trade job adverts to avoid shutting people out through lack of transparency, and to help retain top talent, Katie Espiner, m.d. Orion, has said, calling on the whole trade to disclose salaries when recruiting. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-11-24 13:01:40 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The book trade has made its thoughts known in regards to which way it will likely be voting on 12th December in the coming general election, the fourth national vote in five years. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-11-21 20:08:52 UTC ]
More news stories like this
John Lewis' Christmas advert has come under fire as author and former bookseller Jen Campbell highlighted the similarities between the advert and her children’s book Franklin’s Flying Bookshop (Thames & Hudson). Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-11-18 10:24:18 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Bookseller Harry Illingworth is set to leave Goldsboro Books at the end of the year to become a full-time agent at The D H H Literary Agency. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-11-12 03:55:21 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Faced with growing numbers of customers migrating to the internet, German bookseller Hugendubel is pinning its hopes on a new store concept which it ambitiously calls the "bookshop of the future". Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-11-05 01:04:10 UTC ]
More news stories like this
From meditations on the d/Deaf experience to short stories blurring the mythic and the gothic with the everyday, from mixing the personal and political to a young woman uncover the truth about her family’s past – four outstanding writers have today been named on the shortlist for The Sunday... Continue reading at British Council global
[ British Council global | 2019-11-04 12:55:09 UTC ]
More news stories like this