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.  [...]

Vanessa and I looked at each other one day last week and were both completely unable to form a coherent sentence: such is the world of working in retail near Christmas. (Don’t misunderstand me, we’re definitely grateful for the rush of customers, but it doesn’t make for chipperness at the end of the day.)
Therefore, have a peek at [...]

As many of you know, Maisy and Winnie came on Saturday, and were much admired by Bruntsfield children (other than a few very little ones who could only really see Maisy’s very large black nose, and had an expression of complete puzzlement mixed with mild horror). We also gave away copious numbers of balloons and goody [...]

Those of you who have been reading the blog for a while may remember our birthday party last year when we had Kipper the dog as a special guest.
Well, this year, we are playing host to Maisy the Mouse and Winnie the Witch! So if you’re in the Edinburgh area tomorrow, be sure to pop in [...]