Have a look at this article  about The Edinburgh Bookshop in the FT’s How to Spend It  magazine!

It sounds cheesy, but we really do want to make The Edinburgh Bookshop the book lover’s bookshop. If you’ve not visited us yet, we have a Simon Callow event in August, so that’s a perfect excuse to come to Edinburgh!

We are fortunate at The Edinburgh Bookshop and The Children’s Bookshop that we have a number of local authors who enthusiastically support us. One of those is Lari Don, author of the award-winning First Aid for Fairies and other Fabled Beasts. Whilst having a chat when she was in the shop one day, she mentioned that she was writing the next in the series, and one of us (I can’t remember who!) suggested that she come and write a chapter in the shop.

Well, the time has almost arrived. Lari will be writing in our shop window on Friday, Saturday and Sunday of this week, and we’re very excited! If you are an Edinburgh local, pop in and ask her questions about her books or about being an author (even if you don’t have any children to bring!). She’s also looking for some help with some questions as: can a centaur fit in a tent?  What does a fairy pack for a camping holiday? What do selkies eat at feasts (apart from fish cakes, obviously)? Do selkies breathe underwater?  And what names can she give the two ocean powers whose battles make the storms rise out at sea?

We’re also hoping that when the final book is published, Lari will come back and read the chapter she wrote here in the shop at an event.

Customer: “I need two presents, but they can’t be books, because we’ve got too many.”

Becky’s Sarcastic Inner Monologue: We. Are. A. BOOKSHOP.

As we’ve said before, Nicola Morgan’s new book Wasted is utterly brilliant and we’re delighted that she’s visiting us as part of her blog tour to promote it.  Wasted has its very own blog but Nicola’s dropping by lots of others to talk about all manner of bookish things and – appropriately given that we have two bookshops – she’s here to talk about the relationship authors have with booksellers… over to Nicky…

Vanessa says I am allowed to be snarky. Does she not realise the risk she runs when she actually invites a crabbit old bat to be snarky?? Thing is, she then emasculates me (or whatever the feminine of that is) by saying lovely things about Wasted and telling me it will sell in shed-loads. And when a bookseller says your book has big commercial potential, how is a crabbit author then supposed to be snarky?

Meh.

And meh, frankly, is how authors usually feel when we go into bookshops. Which is what I will now be snarky about.  Vanessa has quite rightly (*bows and scrapes*) griped about bad author behaviour in bookshops. Bad author behaviour, fyi, includes things like: improving the display by putting our books face out and covering up the Harry Potters and Flower Fairy nonsense best-sellers; accosting real customers; never actually buying anything; sneering at the bookseller for not having heard of us; not believing the “oh, we sold the last copy just three minutes ago” line; and generally behaving like a prima donna.

But booksellers are very scary people, holding our career, self-esteem and earning power in their hands, so going into bookshops is usually HORRIBLE for authors, even though we love books and really want to buy lots and lots and lots.

So, I want to use my snarky card to describe what a bookshop experience feels like and why. First, we are usually drunk when we get through the door, because it takes that to make us brave enough. Either that or we’re feeling a bit sick with all the cake we just ate at Falko Konditormeister or a bit guilty about the money we’ve just spent in Coco’s of Bruntsfield to give us some much-needed feel-good factor before the inevitable slough of despond.

Then we open the door and we see All Those Books which are probably not ours. And bookseller recommendations for books that are probably not ours. And customers. And the scary bookseller, who is smiling because she thinks we’re a customer. And we know we’re not.

The next stage is a combination of Delaying Strategies and the Buttering Up Routine. These involve smiling at the bookseller and holding the door to let a customer with a large buggy in. The customer with the large buggy isn’t actually going to buy anything but she would like her sticky-mitted child to play with the books. The bookseller stops smiling.

Next, we have a clever trick, which must be practised a lot before attempting it for real: it’s called How to Identify the Shelf Where Our Book Should Be, without having to ask for the book by name. Because, if you have to ask for it your only option is then to leave the shop and come back later in thick disguise.

Having identified the shelf, and casually picked up several books by people who do NOT deserve to be there, and having established the absence of our book, there are two options. Option 1, the one I usually follow, is to pretend my phone has rung and it’s Newsnight wanting to interview me. I then leave the shop to complete the “interview”. Option 2 is to approach the bookseller, preferably when no other customers are in ear-shot, and say, “Erm, hello, I was just wondering if by any chance I could possibly interest you in getting me a glass of water because I may actually be about to faint.”

Supposing we then gasp our way through the next bit and actually mention the book and start blabbering about how it’s really quite exciting and has had lovely reviews on Amazon and that they might have seen the Guardian review / Scotsman interview blahdy blah, we then have to deal with any combination of the following responses from the bookseller:

(BTW – this would NEVER happen in Vanessa’s shops.)

• Sorry, I haven’t heard of you but I’ll see if I can find time to read your book, maybe next year because I’ve got a huge pile to read.
• Your publisher didn’t mention it.
• The sales reps don’t really visit any more.
• It’s all done by Central Office, see.
• It’s really hard selling YA stand-alone fiction these days  – what with the recession and everything.
• I think we did have a copy but it sold. I’m not sure when we’ll be re-ordering.
• The system says we’ve got a copy. Someone must have nicked it. You should be flattered.
• You need to get your publisher to pay for it to go in a promotion – it’s the only way books sell these days.
• What did you say your name was?
• What’s it about?
• Will you do a free event?
• I’m only temporary.
• Sorry – I don’t normally work in the teenage section so I don’t really know.
• Have I heard of you?
• I think your name rings a bell. Oh no – that’s my hairdresser.
• Is it self-published?
• Thing is, there are 110,000 books published in the UK every year.
• Oh yes, a customer was asking about that the other day – looked a bit like you, actually. But older. Your mother?

Meh, frankly. Do you feel our pain? It’s a real bugger being an author sometimes.

However, Vanessa does stock Wasted, and Deathwatch, and even others of mine (except when she’s just sold the last copy) and she makes a very, very good job of selling them. But I still enjoy a little foray into  Coco’s of Bruntsfield before visiting her shop – it doesn’t do to be unprepared.

Hello, it’s Cat here, children’s specialist at The Children’s Bookshop.  Vanessa’s (unwisely?) let me loose on the blog.  Oops!

I love being a bookseller but I never expected unsolicited approaches to stock self-published books to become the bane of my life and I feel inclined to issue some suggestions based on my own experiences. Vanessa has blogged about self publishing previously here: http://www.stateofindependents.co.uk/2010/03/self-published-authors-before-you-send-me-your-book-bear-this-in-mind/

But as it has become the one aspect of my working life I look forward to the least I really do feel the need to add in my tuppenceworth. I love reading new titles and taking a chance on something that, in my gut, feels like a winner. However, you are guaranteed to put me right off if you call in on a busy Saturday and expect me to drop everything (including a queue of customers buying literally piles of books) just to race upstairs and give you back the self published copy of your book you are hoping I will sell. Stomping off in a huff when I don’t will not endear me either. You see I’m not only interested in whether you’ve written something good I can sell but also whether you have the potential to win over children at book events – a vital ingredient in the birth of a successful book. If you can’t be pleasant and patient with me then how on earth are you going to cope with a hall full of children? Top tip number one – be nice to booksellers. You may have the next Carnegie Medal winner but if you are unpleasant about it I’ll refuse it on principle.

Children’s Bookselling was only ever meant to be a stop gap job but I’ve discovered something very magical about it. I’m good at it. Really good in fact. That’s not a boast, that’s an affirmation that comes from grateful customers over the years and the money I’ve made for book shops. Finally I have a reason for my ability to speed read too! I like to sell honestly and with passion so naturally I read the stock. If I don’t enjoy a book I will tell you but I will also have researched it to find out what others think and acknowledge that tastes can be very, very different. Alas there are books that should never, ever see a bookshop shelf regardless of taste differences.

Books of course come in all shapes and sizes. Some are brilliantly written or illustrated and others not so. Some make you think the author should sack their editor and yet despite some dodgy writing, you can as a seller understand what a publishing house sees in terms of marketing when they take certain books on. With children’s books, whilst I think it is important that they read as much well written prose as possible, there’s no harm in reading the occasional badly put together story as long as there is some level of enchantment that has their imagination soaring with possibilities. A well balanced book diet never hurt anyone and good booksellers really do get the balance right. So I like to think I have an open mind when it comes to book marketing and selling. However, if even your front cover gives me the heebeegeebees then all the open minds in the world will not put your book on my shelves.

It initially surprised me as a bookseller the important, yet somewhat unappreciated part I would come to play in making the difference between a book doing well or not. So when the first author approached me to ask if I would consider stocking their book I was taken aback. Thankfully, as I worked for a chain at that point all I had to do was send them to Head Office and the decision was taken out of my hands! Then Head Office started encouraging “local buying”. This was great for the most part because of course you want to support your local community. Then word got out and the authors started descending. I now have a lot more experience in handling requests to sell books and I’m sad to say that 9.9 times out of ten, if you approach me and utter the dreaded words “self published” I will likely turn you down.

Two types of authors generally approach me for help. The first have a publishing house behind them but realise that to get word out faster and more effectively they have to do some leg work. Developing relationships with booksellers, schools and communities can make a vast difference to a books success. I like when authors realise this. The second type of author is the self published author. There are two things I do straight away. I check the book font. If it’s published in Comic Sans I don’t want it. No discussions. It has to be the most unpleasant font known to man. Secondly, I’ll ask why the author is self published. It tells me a lot about where our relationship is likely to go. If you answer, “I’m scared of rejection” then you’re in the wrong career. Recycle your book and move on. Another response is “I got tired of rejection letters.” So do many writers but at what point do you give up and accept you’ve not written the next best seller? The response I dread the most is “I just wrote it for – insert family members here- and everyone said I should sell it” *deep sigh*.

So here goes. My top tips for writers considering self publishing:

1. Don’t self publish!
2. Printers who dabble in “publishing” generally don’t understand good design, they’re just happy to take your money. Having designed for three years, and consequently worked with printers I know this. I really do.
3. You may appreciate your friend/family member illustrating your book but if they don’t understand white space and using pictures to promote context then hire a trained illustrator. Please.
4. Print your book in a standard picture book or paperback size. We have to try and promote your weirdly shaped book on our bookshelves. I know one author who should be published and there is interest from publishing houses but for his insistence on the size of his books.
5. Don’t use clip art. Ever.
6. Never, ever, ever, ever use Comic Sans font. It should be renamed Fugly Font.
7. Don’t just call in or write and tell us you’ve written a book and can we stock it. Give us a copy to consider.
8. Never think you have the next bestseller because your family and friends tell you so. They love you and therefore have the best intentions but best intentions don’t make your book a work of art or a stroke of genius. Ask some booksellers and publishers what they think before you go spending money on printing.
9. Don’t tell the journalist who is writing a local interest piece on you that I’m stocking your book when I’ve said no.
10. Feel the fear and do it any way. Send your manuscript off. If it’s meant to be published it will be. Ask for feedback if you get rejection letters and work through any suggestions you get. Successful writers create their books for readers not for themselves.
11. Be nice to booksellers. We are the unsung heroes of the book world and our contribution to making or breaking a book should never be underestimated.

A while ago, a very nice Swedish journalist came in and asked whether she could take a picture of the first Jill book for a magazine she works for. I said yes, and then promptly forgot all about it; the other day her article arrived in the post. We have absolutely no idea what it says, but the pictures look lovely, and the online translator I used (whilst obviously a bit…wrong: “everything inside, breathing sense of books and quality” – huh?) seems to suggest that the article is complimentary… Any Swedish speakers out there, feel free to come forward!

Email from Library Manager:

“We’re refurbishing our library and wondered if you could tell us how to divide up the books and what to call the sections”

Admittedly, I’m feeling fairly snarky today but even so …

On the one hand, fine but on the other: you’re a library manager – surely you should know this stuff?  Or be able to visit some of your local bookshops in the south-east of England?  Or maybe I should be charging a consultancy fee?

Sections we’re thinking of including next time we have a reorganise include “Diggers and Trucks”, “Vampires and The Like”, “Books for Very-Advanced-For-Their-Age Children” and “Orphans and Sundry Other Depressing Plots”.  Any other suggestions?

… and we think it’s rather fabulous.  We’re already handselling Wasted by Nicola Morgan to customers and looking forward to hearing some feedback soon but Cat and I love it and think it deserves to do very well*.  Although she also runs the excellent Help, I Need a Publisher blog to share no-nonsense advice about building a career as a writer, to help raise awareness of Wasted, Nicola has set up a dedicated blog with all sorts of articles coming soon about the characters, chance, luck and the writing of the book and it’s a very good read so do pop along.  Nicky’s also going on a blog tour and on the 25th May she will be here to talk about authors and their sometimes fraught relationship with booksellers.  Hmm.  I won’t be editing anything out of it so I hope she’ll be kind…

* although as it’s stand-alone title rather than part of a series, I do worry that Walker Books, whilst generally lovely, won’t put quite as much effort into promoting Wasted as they could.  Seriously, I’ve ploughed my way through most of this year’s Carnegie list and Wasted deserves to be up there next year.  And I’m not just saying that because otherwise Nicky will come round and stamp on my feet with her terrifyingly pointy-heeled boots.  As most people know, I don’t say nice things because I should or to curry favour.

Customer (whilst buying Nicola Morgan’s newest title): “I’m so glad you’re here; it’s because of your recommendations that my daughter now reads books rather than just watches the telly.”

What a lovely way to start a Monday.

In The Bookseller this week there’s a piece about Rossiter Books, a new independent bookseller just opened in Ross-on-Wye in Herefordshire.  It looks lovely and next time I’m visiting my family in Worcester I’ll make a point of visiting.  If you live in that area do go and support them – us indies need people to use us or lose us!