In 2009, two bookshops a week were closing in the UK and the days of physical books seemed numbered. Now, indie stores are booming. What explains the turnaround – and can it be sustained?When Sarah Mullen was asked to set up a children’s book festival in a leafy suburb of Birmingham in 2012, she couldn’t find an independent bookseller to run the bookstall. “So we all rolled up our sleeves and did it ourselves,” she says. Pregnant with her third child, she had recently given up her job as a solicitor to work for the Bournville Village Trust. Mullen’s task was to set up the Bournville BookFest, which ran for 10 years before being brought to a halt by the Covid pandemic. But far from accepting defeat, she rolled up her sleeves once again and “pivoted the whole thing into a bookshop”. Two years on, the Bookshop on the Green is thriving – a living rebuttal to the once widely held idea that the digital era meant certain death for the neighbourhood bookstore.When I visit early on a Friday morning, a turquoise vintage Smith Corona typewriter holds centre stage in the Bookshop on the Green. Beside it stands Bradley Taylor, a poet whose job is to write poems on demand for anyone who asks. He has composed a lot of Batman and football poems for the children who pile in on Saturdays, he says, before sitting down to tap one out for me about the joy of bookshops. In the multitasking tradition of small retailers, Taylor also works in the shop. He made his cosplay debut last month as the... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2023-07-27 09:00:32 UTC ]
A committee made up of booksellers and non-managerial staff at Bookshop Santa Cruz in Santa Cruz, Calif., has sent a letter to store owner Casey Coonerty Protti asking her to voluntarily recognize their joining with the Communication Workers of America Local 9423. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-12-11 05:00:00 UTC ]
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It is a truth universally acknowledged . . . that Northanger Abbey is less quotable than Pride and Prejudice. Nevertheless, Northanger Abbey is the latest of Austen’s six novels to be adapted into an illustrated children’s book for the Awesomely Austen: Illustrated and Retold series. The text of... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-12-01 17:54:13 UTC ]
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Nigel Jones, formerly of Ottakar's and the Totnes Bookshop, and his wife Claire Jones, a former W H Smith children's buyer, are to open their own independent bookshop in Totnes, two weeks before Christmas. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-30 12:29:44 UTC ]
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Publishers Nosy Crow and Pan Macmillan have been named winners of the FutureBooks Awards: Best of Lockdown, after the week-long virtual conference which culminated in the awards ceremony. The pair won alongside Bath-based bookshop Mr B’s Emporium, the Cheltenham Literature Festival, and academic... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-20 02:37:06 UTC ]
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An even busier Bologna Children's Book Fair than in the past will feature a new parallel general-publishing conference, 'BolognaBookPlus.' The post Bologna Children’s Book Fair Joins London Book Fair in Moving to June appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2020-11-18 13:58:55 UTC ]
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Achins Book Shop and Coffee Shop, thought to be the UK's most remote book retailer, has been sold to new owners six years after appearing on the market. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-18 05:13:31 UTC ]
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As many on this side of the pond may not know, Manchester United and England footballer Marcus Rashford is currently all that stands between the United Kingdom and compete moral ruination. In a year where a particularly grotesque grotesquerie of Brexiteer Tories consolidated power,... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-11-17 19:04:34 UTC ]
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New retail website Bookshop.org has been hailed as a “game-changer” by Booksellers Association m.d. Meryl Halls while its founder has said more features are on the way. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-17 09:40:54 UTC ]
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Graphic novel publisher SelfMadeHero is launching a social media campaign calling for artists to support bookshops with a drawing of their favourite store. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-17 06:10:11 UTC ]
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Kamala Harris-related books have seen a sharp increase in popularity post-Biden/Harris presidential win. On Sunday, a whopping four books on Amazon’s Top 10 bestsellers list were either about or penned by the vice president-elect. The books in question: Harris’s memoir The Truths We Hold: An... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-11-10 17:37:24 UTC ]
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Bath bookshop Toppings & Company is to move to a listed Georgian building, and will begin expansion building works next year. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-08 18:39:07 UTC ]
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As I wrote back in March, the enforced closing of bookshop doors is a terrible story for the editor of The Bookseller to report: it’s a gut-punch, and if you were on social media last Saturday at around 6.30 p.m.—when the Prime Minister announced the decision to shut non-essential retail in... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-05 23:57:12 UTC ]
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A new annual initiative celebrating the best of bookselling in the UK and Ireland sees 29 Bookshop Heroes hailed for their efforts in reaching readers with books—and beyond. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-05 23:21:06 UTC ]
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Some of our inaugural Bookshop Heroes — the best individual booksellers in the UK and Ireland — share the skills that are key to running a bookshop. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-05 16:20:56 UTC ]
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Author Holly Bourne has launched a campaign to support bookshops during lockdown, involving more than 300 writers so far. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-05 06:38:02 UTC ]
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Fairlight Books is ordering a second print run of its c.e.o. Louise Boland's travelogue, Bookshop Tours of Britain. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-03 02:57:21 UTC ]
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New online retailer Bookshop.org secured sales of around £65,000 in its first day, making £16,000 for indies. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-02 12:21:42 UTC ]
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Indie bookshop owners and managers are gearing up for a second lockdown with optimism, though some are divided over the viability of click and collect services. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-02 12:15:49 UTC ]
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A reader visited the Story Museum in Oxford, England to learn how the space modified its "interactive" exhibits for COVID-19 compliance. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2020-10-28 10:36:00 UTC ]
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One of my most vivid childhood memories took place in an English bookshop in Causeway Bay, a short minibus ride from my family home in Hong Kong. I was a voracious reader growing up, eyes constantly trained on any printed text available, even during dinnertime and when brushing my teeth. Intent... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2020-10-22 11:00:06 UTC ]
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