Will browsing be allowed, or will we have to judge a book by its cover? With Waterstones and some indie shops set to open on 15 June, Alison Flood finds out what the plan isMelissa Davies had planned to fulfil a lifelong dream and open her independent bookshop, Pigeon Books, in Southsea, at the beginning of April. Those plans were put on hold by the coronavirus pandemic, but with a relaxation of lockdown rules from next week, bookshops will be able to open to customers – for the first time in over two months. Davies and her husband are now preparing for a very different sort of opening. “We had to quickly rethink our entire business plan and how we could operate, and now we’re gearing up to open our doors for the first time under really different circumstances,” she says. The tiny Pigeon Books will ask its browsing customers to use hand sanitiser, or wear gloves, before and after touching books, and will restrict the number of customers in the shop to two at a time.“We’re excited about opening but also worried about how we’re going to make it work and how we can keep ourselves and our customers safe,” Davies says. She continues to work full time in customer service, and to write (her first poetry collection, Pineapples in the Pool, was published by Unbound in 2018). “We’ll be opening with reduced hours for a few weeks to see how things go. We’re so nervous about it though. Who opens a bookshop in a pandemic?” Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2020-06-12 06:00:14 UTC ]
Booksellers have generally reacted enthusiastically to news that the US indie-focused retail site Bookshop.org is launching in the UK this November, although some remain cautious. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-09-13 19:17:12 UTC ]
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The shortlist for the first Sceptre Bookshop Award shortlist has been revealed, featuring independent retailers across the UK. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-09-09 22:30:21 UTC ]
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Seven months into the novel coronavirus pandemic in the U.S., ad buyers are still entering the market with uncertainty. Spending on traditional offline media is expected to be slashed by almost a third, although this could be offset by the continued rise in digital media investment by... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2020-09-02 14:20:11 UTC ]
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The London Review Bookshop has partnered with the MUBI streaming service for the broadcast of eight films to be accompanied by fortnightly conversations with writers. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-09-01 17:23:15 UTC ]
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Ross Bradshaw responds to an editorial on the boom in publishing We were interested to read that “Bookshops in big city centres … are wary of taking risks” (Editorial, 23 August), and that this autumn’s harvest includes books by Ant and Dec, Jilly Cooper and Arsène Wenger, which have the... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2020-08-26 16:44:13 UTC ]
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Many publishers are enjoying record sales – but not all. We must take care that those with the biggest names and deepest pockets are not the only beneficiariesAs the weather turns and the days shorten, as trees bend low with fruit and blackberries darken the hedges, bookshops are bracing for a... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2020-08-23 17:25:02 UTC ]
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After seeing advertising in the travel category disappear, publishers including Insider, BuzzFeed and Condé Nast Traveler are seeing signs of life. The post ”Pivot” has been the word’: How travel publishers are navigating the coronavirus pandemic appeared first on Digiday. Continue reading at Digiday
[ Digiday | 2020-08-20 04:01:00 UTC ]
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E-commerce firm Monwell has launched the Mail Bookshop with Associated Newspapers, the publisher of the Daily Mail and the Mail on Sunday. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-08-19 17:01:04 UTC ]
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For years, Penny Muse Abernathy—the Knight Chair in Journalism and Digital Media Economics at the UNC Hussman School of Journalism—has been studying the disintegration of journalism’s traditional business model, mapping losses of physical newsrooms across the United States. The current financial... Continue reading at Columbia Journalism Review
[ Columbia Journalism Review | 2020-08-19 12:57:27 UTC ]
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More than half of Tate's London bookshop staff are facing redundancy, with several roles in its books team and publishing operation also at risk, The Bookseller has learned. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-08-16 14:07:35 UTC ]
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Seeing unexpected pairings of readers and books quickly dispels the idea of who reads what• Time to reset: more brilliant ideas to remake the worldI have a party trick. If you name three books you like and two you hate, I can write you a reading list of 10 books you will love.I’ve gained this... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2020-08-15 10:00:40 UTC ]
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Hodder Faith, in partnership with mini-chain St Andrew’s Bookshop, will launch a national church book club this autumn, to be known as The Big Church Read. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-08-12 13:00:50 UTC ]
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Bookshop has helped many independents weather the pandemic, but some booksellers say the ABA is not being transparent about its financial relationship with the online retailer and worry that Bookshop poses new competition. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-08-12 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Interviews Richard van Leeuwen is a senior lecturer in Islamic studies at the University of Amsterdam. This year, he won the 2020 Sheikh Zayed Book Award in the Arabic Culture in Other Languages category for his book The Thousand and One Nights and... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2020-08-10 20:32:46 UTC ]
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The Zoom call was going well. I liked the technology on show, and I felt bookshops could definitely benefit from using it. It provided a way of alerting the bookshop - ahead of a visit - when someone with a disability (or who needed additional help) would be arriving at the shop. Staff would be... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-08-09 12:28:32 UTC ]
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Print edition of London paper will remain but focus will shift to digital and mobile platformsCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageThe Evening Standard is to cut 115 jobs, a third of its staff, as the London freesheet seeks a dramatic reduction in costs to survive the... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2020-08-07 10:58:35 UTC ]
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Margaret Atwood is to narrate the audiobook her new poetry collection, Dearly, which publishes simultaneously with the print edition on 10th November. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-08-04 22:25:53 UTC ]
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Waterstones has announced the permanent closure of its bookshop in the Centre MK Shopping Centre, Milton Keynes, over “excessive” rent demanded from its landlord. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-08-04 18:17:36 UTC ]
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Lana Del Rey is releasing her forthcoming poetry collection, Violet Bent Backwards Over The Grass, on Tuesday, July 28 in digital form. In case you prefer your celebrity poetry spoken aloud, though, she has also recorded an audio version of the book, which will be released on vinyl, CD,... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-07-24 16:04:22 UTC ]
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Figures for last year show sales of £6.3bn, up 20% on 2015, but the Publishers Association says sector needs government support to weather coronavirusBook sales in the UK hit record levels in 2019, driven by a surge in audiobook and nonfiction titles, according to new figures released as... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2020-07-21 23:01:08 UTC ]
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