Last 30-31 May, EIBF’s Policy Advisor, Daniel Martin Brennan, spent two wonderful days learning the ropes at being a bookseller at Village Books in Dulwich, London (UK).
It was an early Tuesday morning in sunny and leafy Dulwich Village, London (UK) as I walked into Village Books, a small, quaint, colourful and award-winning independent bookshop that exists since the 1930s and is currently run by Hazel Broadfoot, bookseller and also the President of the UK and Ireland Booksellers Association (BA).
I was immediately warmly greeted by Hazel and 3 other smiley booksellers – Tracey, Harriet and Oonagh – who all agreed to guide me through their daily work in the bookshop for the following two days.
I quickly got to work: the Dulwich Festival, where Village Books ran several events, had just ended, and schools were on half-term, meaning children were all on holidays. It was supposed to be the end of a hectic period and we weren’t expecting a particularly busy weekat the bookshop... But as I soon found out, that was wishful thinking!
I spent all morning helping to gather remaining books from the Dulwich Festival and pack them to be returned to publishers. Village Books is small but mighty, storing an incredible number of books in all corners, nooks and crannies! So, collecting them all involved going up and down the stairs and getting up on a ladder to take them down from the high shelves! Unfortunately, there are no pictures of me on the ladder for your enjoyment.
These books were being sent back to Gardners, the UK’s main book distributor. As often as possible, carboard boxes and other materials are reused from previous orders. This is a conscious choice from booksellers to be as sustainable as possible. However, there are times where orders are sent in boxes that cannot be reused, which is unfortunate, as it has a knock-on effect on future returns.
After a short break, I joined Oonagh, bookseller and marketing wizard, to discuss all things newsletter and social media presence. Village Books sends out a weekly newsletter summarising new releases and bookseller recommendations – I've already signed up and recommend you do too! The bookshop is also present on all social media platforms (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok), so there’s something in there for everyone. Shortly after our chat, Hazel joined us to discuss how Village Books can make the most of Bookshop.org, for instance, by curating original reading lists.
In the afternoon, I joined Hazel for a call with a Harper Collins rep, to go through the new titles coming out in July and August 2023. I found it fascinating how Hazel could decide whether to request a copy or not, as well how many. It was a perfect demonstration of the amazing memory, skill, experience and even intuition a bookseller needs to have!
To end the day, I sat with Hazel behind the main desk to go through the day’s orders via Batchline. Looking through some information, including how many copies a book had sold in that year and how many books were left in the store, Hazel could decide whether a book needed to be restocked or not. It was a great exercise on stock management and understanding their own consumers’ behaviour.
Next thing I blinked, and we were already on Day 2! The morning was, once again, busy in the best possible way, as we continued packing books to be returned. It also brought about a new fun activity: unboxing newly delivered books that were ordered the previous day. This required scanning the new books and adding them to the system, setting aside books that were for specific customer orders and finding the right spot for them among the shelves (probably one of my favourite tasks of the ‘job’).
After that, we had a busy afternoon meeting more reps from publishing houses – first from the children’s publishing house Nosy Crow and then from Bloomsbury. As with the previous, day both reps presented their new books for July and August, and I got to see Hazel once again in action.
The day ended with me observing the fabulous booksellers doing what they do best: chatting to customers, patiently listening to them, recommending the best books and kindly taking their orders.
But before I really finish, I have to make a special mention to a highlight of my training: the constant in-and-out of the cutest four-legged friends you can imagine: Village Books is most definitely a dog sanctuary!
I left the bookshop with a handful of books, lots of new knowledge, a renewed sense of security and comfort in knowing that I work representing a unique profession and, most importantly, with a big smile on my face.
See you soon, Village Books!
