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 make her sound a whole lot better…”

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 handled the bookselling and signing at an event which raised the bar for all other author events.  “Godmother of punk” Patti Smith has a new autobiography out, mostly about her early career and her friendship with the photographer Robert Mapplethorpe and is promoting it with a series of events where she’s read passages from the book and sung acoustic versions of a couple of her songs.  You can see part of the event at Foyle’s in London here. She also made appearances at the Oxford Literary Festival and other places but in Glasgow she played a gig at Oran Mor on the Byres Road and her publishers Bloomsbury asked if we would mind heading along the M8 to handle the booksales and signing at the event.   We thought about it for about half a second and said of course we would.

It was a dream event in terms of organisation – we didn’t have to worry about the usual ticket sales and promotion; just rock up with the books, float etc.  The people at Oran Mor are wonderful to deal with – laid back and friendly and incredibly efficient and we’d love to work with them again.

Never having been to the venue before we thought we might be selling books in some draughty corridor or whatever but in fact we were on a mezzanine at the back just by the bar with a table for Patti to sign about 50 feet away, with fellow Bruntsfield shop-keeper and friend Marie ready to keep the queue in order.  We unpacked the books and set the till up to the background of Patti’s soundcheck – as well as songs we would hear later, she sang versions of Perfect Day by Lou Reed and her rendition of REM’s Everybody Hurts made up for the well-intentioned mangling that Simon Cowell gave it after the Haiti earthquake.

After the soundcheck, Patti came over to sign stock and despite the fact that she was knackered, had been travelling for about 7 hours to get to Glasgow that day and hadn’t eaten, she was incredibly gracious and friendly and wanted to sign enough stock so that if she didn’t feel up to signing after the gig everyone who wanted one would still be able to get a signed copy of the book.  Then she disappeared off to get some supper and get ready for the gig and Andrew and I were left feeling slightly star-struck.

Her performance was incredible, accompanied by Tony Shanahan on piano and guitar, and included lots of her best known songs such as Dancing Barefoot and the show closer Because the Night (one of my all time favourites)  interspersed with readings from the books and her musings on life, death and family.  When she asked the audience for questions she was slightly taken aback by the emphatic requests that she sing Rock and Roll Nigger but despite being completely unrehearsed she threw herself into it and the show became even more memorable.

Afterwards, Patti was completely wiped out and although she signed yet more books in her dressing room she decided not to do a signing as such which was completely understandable – it would have been another two to three hours of talking and would have been beyond any of us after a day like that.  But everyone who wanted a signed copy of the book got one and we still have a few available at The Edinburgh Bookshop if anyone wants one.

It was a brilliant evening and as unlike work as anything I’ve ever done – quite apart from selling a shed-load of books, we got to see a legendary singer-songwriter give a unique performance.  She’s someone who relies on her talent to be memorable rather than succumbing to Madonna-like levels of surgery to try to look 25, wears clothes that are practical and sometimes scruffy (yet still stylish – the cut of the black frock coat she wore for the soundcheck was exquisite) and has based her career on her principles and her creativity rather than by pursuing celebrity.  Patti was charming both personally and on stage and if I can have a tenth of her cool at her age – 63 – I’ll be a happy woman indeed.

But yes, authors who do events with us in future are going to have to put some effort in to hold their own against Patti Smith.

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 Books Bear This In Mind

Ask any bookseller about self-published books and they will groan.  Depending on how many self-published books they are asked to stock they will groan and bang their heads on the table.  If they are given as many as we are they will groan, bang their heads on the table and demand a stiff drink.

Read on…

I have never had the compulsion in write in the way that I know many (oh, so many, going by the number of submissions we receive!) others do. I love reading to the extent that I usually fall asleep with a book imprint on my face and – true story – I once made my dad jump into Lake Geneva to retrieve a copy of Matilda. I even sometimes feel the need to reread sentences and paragraphs just to admire them.

However, I have always felt that writing for a living – even if one had talent – would just be so much of oneself on display, even in fiction. The thought even makes me feel a little queasy, the same kind of feeling as if I had decided to take all of my most personal belongings onto The Meadows for Edinburgh residents to poke about and judge. Intellectually, I know that writers must have boundaries and that as readers we can’t really be living in their heads, but emotionally I feel that the relationship between reader and author is at times almost possessive.

I read a blog post today by Scott Adams in which he talks about how his creative impulses were and are just that: compulsive. The best you can hope for in this life is that your delusions are benign and your compulsions have utility. I am very jealous of those who have the courage and intense hunger to create, and who also have the talent to create something that is full of beauty and humour and light.

[On the other hand, even without that intersection of talent and will, Vanessa and I were saying last week that we could do a better "write-by-numbers" chick-lit book than some of the proofs we've been given recently. One too many glasses of wine one Friday evening and we'll knock up a synopsis and an appropriate double-barrelled author name for you all to judge...]

I’m not sure I had a point I was getting to here, but feel free to ramble in the comments creatively about creativity if you so desire!

To continue this week’s Becky theme, I’ve edited and uploaded Becky’s appearance on BBC Radio Scotland’s The Book Cafe, where she chats with the host Janice Forsyth about our recent Literary Speed Dating evening.

MP3 file: download

You can find plenty of other interviews and author events over on the Fidracasts page.

… love them, and hold on”.* These were the words projected onto the vast bulk of the castle rock on Valentine’s Day as part of the Carry a Poem project happening in the city this month and they have a power and truth for all of us to remember and abide by.  And here’s the official press photograph with the lines projected onto the backs of Becky and her partner John.

and here’s the poem projected onto the actual rock as it appeared on Valentine’s Day.  Although possibly without the men in high vis vests in front of it…

* Douglas Dunn

I’m sorry there’s been a bit of radio silence on the blog lately, but we have a good excuse: the cold virus appears to have taken up almost permanent residence at Fidra HQ, and none of us have been feeling tip-top. Vanessa and I were coughing in stereo last week – never good when customers recoil in horror when you begin to speak! We’re seriously considering wiping the picture flats with anti-bacterial gel to prevent further infection…

On a more cheerful note: the City of Literature campaign this year is the delightful Carry a Poem. They have produced a free book filled with some much-beloved poems, and they’re inviting people to tell them about how they carry their favourite poem. It’s been really popular initiative: we’ve even had some people come into bookshops to tell us their story, which is lovely (if a little unexpected!). Excitingly, love poetry is going to be projected on Castle Rock this weekend, which is the only time an outside organisation has been allowed to do so.

I’m going to jump on the bandwagon at this point: tell me your favourite poem and why. If we get some good stories, then I will randomly select someone and send them a copy of Carry a Poem plus a few of the Carry a Poem poetry cards. (Granted, not much of an incentive if you live in Edinburgh and can get it for free, but more fun if you aren’t a resident!)

I’ll start…

I find it almost impossible to pick a favourite, but if forced, I would probably go with Hope is the Thing with Feathers, by Emily Dickinson. I love the way her poetry often seems so stream of consciousness - a burst of emotion on the page – and yet fits together in perfectly-tesselating agreement. I enjoy a lot of her darker poems, but Hope is the Thing with Feathers catches (for me) that feeling of the determined something inside that flickers even when you feel low.

So, give me yours!

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 3^rd March. The event is being held in Christ Church, Bruntsfield (a beautiful church opposite The Children’s Bookshop) at 7.30pm. Tickets are £5 which gives £5 off the book and are selling fast so get yours now to avoid disappointment. To book your tickets drop into The Edinburgh Bookshop. If you’re unable to get into the shop, you can phone and book over the phone and we will post your tickets out to you. The number to call is 0131 229 9207.

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 on a plane?  Wouldn’t it be nice to meet someone and talk about books?  Then you’d really know whether you had anything in common before you went on that first date and on that date, if conversation dried up a little, you’d know that you could talk about books a bit more, wouldn’t you?  If only someone would organise something that meant you could meet that sort of person…

Well, wish no more single people of Edinburgh because The Edinburgh Bookshop is riding to the rescue with the city’s – and quite possibly Scotland’s – first literary speed dating evening.  Instead of trying to chat in nightclubs or resorting to on-line dating agencies, why not come along to the incredibly stylish The One Below at The Rutland Hotel and see what happens? We’ve got the whole bar to ourselves for the evening so there’s room for lots of people.

You’ll meet lots of people and have 2 or 3 minutes to talk to each of them about your favourite book or books and at the end of the evening you can tick the names of the people you’d like to know better.  The following day Becky and I will get the lists together and people who ticked each other will be emailed with each other’s contact details.

Why not come along?  Tickets are £5 including a drink on arrival.  At worst you get to spend an evening talking about books (never a hardship) and you might even find everlasting love?

Email love@edinburghbookshop.com for more info.

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.  We’re all familiar with standard author gigs where they chat to the chairperson for a bit, read part of their new book and then take questions from the audience before busily signing and those are great, but for authors who don’t have a hot-off-the-press new book out or who are local and therefore familiar faces at those sort of events we wanted to try something new and Ian kindly agreed to be our guinea pig privileged inaugural guest.  We’ll be talking about the books he loved as a child, what he read growing up in Fife, how studying literature at university widened his reading further and the authors who’ve influenced his own writing.  Obviously we’ll also be talking about his work now that Rebus has been pensioned off and his latest book The Complaints and he’ll be signing after the event. 

Having told you all about that, the event is sold out, especially since I was on BBC Radio Scotland on Monday talking about our upcoming programme but at least you know the format for the future and hopefully for those of you who are now wishing you’d booked tickets, it will encourage you to head over to The Edinburgh Bookshop’s website and join our mailing list so that you’re one of the first to know about events. And if you’re an author reading this who’d like to come and talk to us about their inspirations do drop me an email.

There are some great events for which tickets are still available.  On 4th February Ruth Thomas, author Things to Make and Mend will be joining us to talk about Super Girl, her new collection of short stories.  We all love this book and Ruth is a witty and interesting speaker so it’s well worth coming along – tickets are available from the bookshop but do hurry as it’s being held in the shop itself and so space is limited.  Tickets are £5 with £5 off the cost of the book.

And event for which we have masses of space is the launch of Alexander McCall Smith’s new Lady Detectives book The Double Comfort Safari Club on 3rd March.  This is being held in Christ Church, the beautiful church opposite The Children’s Bookshop and so we have space for hundreds – given the popularity of the books I imagine we’ll fill it too!  Sandy is charming and amusing and his events are always great fun so do come if it’s at all possible.  Again, tickets available from The Edinburgh Bookshop.  Tickets are £5 and this is refundable in the form of a discount if you buy the book.  If you can’t get to the shop you can always call and book over the phone and we’ll post them out to you – 0131 229 9207. 

There a couple of other author events still to be finalised which we’ll be telling you about soon.  And, once we’ve checked out the venue, we have a very special event for Valentine’s Day to tell you about.  You’ll have to wait until next week to hear the details but it you pop along to the Fidra podcasts page and listen to BBC Scotland’s Book Cafe programme would be able to hear me talking to Stuart Kelly of Scotland on Sunday and poet and novelist John Burnside about our plans for the next couple of months and you’ll be forewarned as to what we’re planning…