The top photo shows how the shop looked on Saturday just before Cat, Andrew and Malcolm got busy with the painbrushes and the bottom one shows how it looked this morning just before the carpet fitters arrived.  All coming on rather well as I’m sure you’ll agree.

Poor old Malcolm is fixing bookshelves in place this evening all by himself – although he’s taken the dog so he has some company – and tomorrow the electrician will be putting the last few lights up and we have to run computer cables etc to where we need them.  On Thursday we move the books, the computers, the till, the counter and all the enormous amounts of sundry stuff and I think it will be a late night getting the place looking absolutely perfect for the re-opening (9.30am on Friday – did I mention that?).  But it’s all coming on rather well don’t you think?

Here was the shop at the weekend before Malcolm, Andrew and Cat started painting and again this morning, painted and ready for the carpet-fitters.

Our builders have worked at the most amazing speed and the plasterer was due in today to get the new plasterboard that you can see in the picture plastered (as plasterers do).  Tomorrow the electrician’s back to fit plug sockets and the joiners will do the fiddly bits of finishing before starting on moving the hatch into the basement – you can see it in the picture beneath Andrew’s feet.  Bookshelves are planned to go on top of it so we have to make a new one about 5 feet away.

By the middle of the week we can start decorating then all being well the carpet-fitters will be in next Monday and then we can start getting the bookshelves in place and all the books will move on Thursday 2nd September before we re-open on the 3rd.  That’s going to be a late one I think so we’ll be calling on friends with a good command of the alphabet to come and join us or at least bring fish suppers and beer!

But it’s all coming on apace – exciting times.

Seeing the shop empty on Saturday was really hard and I actually got a bit teary – we’ve worked so hard over the last three years to turn it into a great children’s bookshop and to see it empty and forlorn was – completely irrationally – depressing.  However, by the end of the first day was ok; like seeing new beginnings and possibilities stretching ahead of us.

It’s going to be good.

]]> http://www.fidrabooks.co.uk/blog/?feed=rss2&p=843 3 http://www.fidrabooks.co.uk/blog/?p=824 http://www.fidrabooks.co.uk/blog/?p=824#comments Thu, 05 Aug 2010 10:21:28 +0000 Vanessa http://www.fidrabooks.co.uk/blog/?p=824 So.  The big move.

This has been a bit flexible – first it was going to be in the middle of August then we decided that we were ordering stock which would then be being stored for three weeks more or less as soon as it arrived and so then we decided to move early next week and then for the same reason and because we’re a bit short-staffed we decided to move the core children’s stock to The Edinburgh Bookshop tomorrow instead.  That also leaves us just over a week before the builders move in to clear out the enormous amount of junk that seems to have accumulated – bits of dump bins, proof copies, boxes, acres of bubblewrap that we’ve kept because it might come in useful and it feels too wasteful to bin it, posters, free stuff to give away, out-of-date catalogues… and to find places to store things, somewhere to work when we’re not in the shop etc, etc.

Anyway, from sometime tomorrow and defnitely from 7th August – all core children’s stock will be at The Edinburgh Bookshop at 181 Bruntsfield Place.  We’ll have as many books as possible there and will be able to arrange speedy delivery of anything we don’t have on the shelves.

Then, following 4 weeks of hard work by ourselves and our happy band of builders, sparkies, carpet fitters etc, not to mention a few of our friends and customers who have offered to come and get the shop ready for re-opening, we will be reopening the super-duper, fan-dabby-dozy, new and improved and enlarged The Edinburgh Bookshop on Friday 3rd September.  Mind you, we’ve just realised that that’s the day after our re-launch party so you might need to speak gently to us before about lunchtime or until Rocket’s bacon rolls have kicked in…

There you go – dates for your diary.

Anyway, I promised to tell you what we’re planning to do.

A month or two ago I was sitting in the office, which is on a mezzanine at the back of The Children’s Bookshop (storage and kitchen space below as not enough headroom to use it for retail space), doing the accounts and noticing (for the umpteenth time) just how many costs were duplicated by having two shop – instead of two phone lines I have four, two lots of business rates, two lots of broadband, two lots of water and electricity standing charges…. you get the picture.  And then there’s the admin time that’s duplicated – dealing with returns, checking invoices, staffing… just, you know, STUFF!

“What we need” I muttered to myself “is a bigger unit where we can combine both shops.”

And then it struck me (yeah, yeah, you saw this ages ago – I can be a bit slow on the uptake at times), that I was actually sitting in a bigger unit.  Or at least I was, assuming we did some building work such as taking the mezzanine out and moving the hatch into the basement.  So we all did measuring and pacing out and then Malcolm did more precise calculations and we counted how many bookcases we have now and how many we could fit in and found that the difference was small and so we fiddled around with the layout and discovered that, with some building work, we can fit the stock of both shops into what is now The Children’s Bookshop.

Opening The Edinburgh Bookshop in its own space was a good idea as it meant that it could establish its own identity, and we could find out whether the south side of Edinburgh (although increasingly it seems that our customers come from a much wider area) could and would support an independent bookshop.  And both shops are doing fine individually but rationalising is a good move and protects us to as great a degree as possible from further problems in the wider economy as well as giving me that precious day off each week – I’m already really looking forward to that!

So, from the beginning of September, Bruntsfield will just have the one bookshop but it will be bigger and brighter and have just as good a range of stock as the two shops do now.  The staff will be the same and as always we’ll be trying to provide the highest standards of customer service, we’ll be hunting out the most interesting books and we’ll still be running really interesting events – it will just all be in one place.

This weekend we start the endless process of emptying one shop, moving stock, trips to the tip, trips to our storage facility, setting up a temporary office at home, organising builders, electricians, carpet fitters and decorators, returning old stock, ordering new titles for the reopening, merging the websites… and of course, with our usual amazing planing, all of this is happening at the same time as Malcolm and I are planning to put our own house up for sale!  It’s a good job that the book festival starts in a week or so – we’ll be able to flop in Charlotte Square with someting fortifying after a long day of organising and hefting boxes.

Tomorrow, I’ll be back with details of timescales etc….

So, if I had a message it would be ’shop local’.  In most cases, your local butcher, baker, fishmonger are just as good value as Tescobury’s.  Okay, so the butcher up the street might not be able to sell you a chicken for £3, but is that poor little ill-treated, unhealthy, water-injected bird really what you want to be eating?

And your local bookshop offers you so much more than Amazon or big chains even if we can’t compete with the cheap-chicken merchants – we can find you the novel that can change your life or the perfect present…  I’ve written about that more here – a blog post which I’m told caused some people to get a bit teary, which was a bit of a surprise.  Okay, I’m not going to be able to flog you Dan Brown or Katie Price’s latest output as cheap as Tesco or Amazon but that’s partly because we don’t bother stocking them – we don’t have room for all the books we love so why bother stocking tripe?

But if you want your high street to have a future that includes businesses other than huge conglomerates, that keeps jobs and investment and profits in your community then that’s in your own hands.  Because voting in the election for the party you think might keep the country afloat is only part of it.  We have another (sadly neglected at the moment) blog where we write about the trade side of bookselling and you can read about the latest shop local campaign being imported from the USA by the Booksellers Association here.

Anyway, this is an interim post – a mere digression – tomorrow I’ll be back with details of our changes and developments.

So, in September 2009, The Edinburgh Bookshop opened just up the road from The Children’s Bookshop and after a slow-but-steady start – well, we did have a builders’ portakabin parked outside it for the first two months and a particularly unsightly team of builders therein – we had a cracking Christmas and we’ve had a steady and growing 2010.  We have three thriving book groups, we were shortlisted for Independent Bookshop of the Year and are building a good reputation with publishers as people who can put a good event together.

However, we’ve had a stressful few months with admin issues at Companies House, Edinburgh City Council jacking up our business rates so that we now spend £8.5k (well someone’s got to pay for the trams) on rates for the two shops (and we pay extra for water and rubbish collection – it isn’t like the council tax), and being a tenant is much more stressful than owning the property (roof falls in?  Our problem.  Basement floods?  Our problem too.  Buildings insurance?  Yep, that’s down to us).  And however much the new government tells us that they want to support small businesses (and my new Lib Dem MP certainly seems like a decent chap), the cuts in public spending etc mean that we suspect that this recession might get worse again before it gets better.

So, what to do to enable us to continue to build a thriving business whilst at the same time protecting us from potential downsides?  And organising ourselves so that Malcolm and I might even get the odd day off (although what do people do with days off?  Will I need to take up a hobby or something?  Or do housework?  Perish the thought!) or have time to work on some of the other projects we have on the go.  Well, it seems the answer was staring us in the face all along…

Pop back tomorrow and all will be revealed about the forthcoming changes at The Children’s Bookshop and The Edinburgh 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.

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.

“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?