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 [...]

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 [...]

… 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 [...]

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 [...]

Person, practically shrieking from open doorway: “Do you have any jobs going for my daughter?”
Me: “If she hasn’t even got the gumption to come in and ask herself then no.”
also
“She doesn’t really like books, she prefers gaming.  And she doesn’t like leaving the house.  But I once nearly worked in Waterstone’s”
Inwardly, to self: “that doesn’t [...]

You know the traditional author event: author chats with chairperson, author reads part of their book, author takes questions from the audience, author signs books for readers?  It’s a sound format that has worked ever since authors first went out to promote their books but can feel a little samey after a while.
Last week, we [...]

As some of you may know, we also have a blog called State of Independents where we talk about booktrade type stuff that’s not as relevant to this blog.  Last night, I wrote a post about self-published books and how they are the bane of our lives…
Self Published Authors – Before You Send Me Your [...]

Alexander McCall Smith is one of our favourite local authors; he’s also a very entertaining speaker. We’re therefore very excited to be hosting the launch of The Double Comfort Safari Club, the newest book in the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series, on Wednesday 3rd March. The event is being held in Christ Church, Bruntsfield [...]

Single?  Want to meet someone lovely but are fed up with meeting blokes who just want to tell you about their dull job and brag about their New Town flat and BMW?  Or being set up with girls who want you to be interested in handbags or how they nearly sat next to Brad Pitt [...]

Over the Christmas break we did some planning re events for The Edinburgh Bookshop and since we came back to work last Tuesday we’ve been busily finalising details…
Our next event is actually this Monday evening when Ian Rankin will be joining us for the first in an occasional series called The Books That Made Me.  [...]