A Year In The Life of a Bookshop Owner
Back in July 2022, I was full of excitement and apprehension. We’d just got the keys for our new shop and were facing not only the expensive prospect of fitting it out, but the daunting challenge of running it for what we hoped would be a very long time. Although I’d worked in shops before, I’d never worked in a book shop, let alone owned and managed one and I was hoping my passion would make up for lack experience. It was a very scary time.
Fast forward to July 2023 and we’re heading to our first full year. In July we also received the amazing accolade of being named the best bookshop in the country! We had never even thought about awards or nominations, let alone winning one. Now we’ve been open a whole year! To say this year has been a whirlwind, would be a huge understatement. What it has also been, is one of the best years we’ve had. With many highs, and a few lows, we’ve adapted to the bookshop world quite well, even if I do say so myself. To share some of those highs with you, I’ve written my top ten moments of the last year. These are in no particular order, and it was incredibly difficult to pick just ten!
1) Jay Kristoff and me becoming best friends - Ok, so we’re not really best friends sadly. For those who don’t know, Jay Kristoff is one of my favourite authors. He’s an Australian who writes in the fantasy and sci-fi genres. On occasion, we’ll tag him a post on Instagram or share one of his posts to our stories. With the news of the follow up to his hugely successful Empire of the Vampire book coming out next year, Empire of the Damned, I messaged him to ask if there was a way to get signed copies for Independent bookshops. And because he’s an absolute gem, he replied and assured me he would see what he could do. So now we’re besties, with him often replying to our comments/ posts. (To be completely honest, he does this for everyone - see aforementioned gem comment). While I know that Jay Kristoff is probably just a human like all of us, there’s a connection that readers have with the person who creates worlds that we find ourselves willingly lost in; and to have him take the time to respond to us is hugely gratifying. There are other authors that will make sure they interact with their readers (Juno Dawson, Samantha Shannon, Brandon Sanderson) and all I can say to them is thank you!
2) Books Galore - As a bookshop, we are registered with the Bookseller’s Association. Every year, with Gardners wholesalers, they host a conference and trade show. When I went last year, our shop had only be open for a month and so I was in awe of the amount of booksellers there together, sharing stories, advice and their love of books. I got to meet a bookselling friend I’d only ever spoken to online (Rebecca from Night Owl Books in Scotland) and hear booksellers thoughts on books they loved over the year. The two days were filled with meetings with publishers, talking about their upcoming releases, meeting debut authors and eating cake. There was also a opportunity to get proofs of upcoming releases. The idea being that as booksellers we’ll go on and promote these in our shops. A few titles really stick in my mind and I got to meet the authors. The whole event was wonderful, and it felt very special to be part of. I honestly can’t wait to go back this year, with Dan in tow to carry the books.
3) Clubs of People - Without a doubt, our book clubs are one of my favourite things about the bookshop. I knew I wanted to create a welcoming environment, safe for people to try new books and share their experiences without judgement, and that’s exactly what we have. Whether I’ve read the book or not (more than I’d like to admit, it’s not), I love how diverse people’s experiences are of the same book and the thought processes they have whilst reading. It’s always good fun too. As you all know, I’m a huge fan of Science Fiction and Fantasy, but sadly these genres don’t often appear in the mainstream; and having a book club that reads them is actually quite hard to find. It’s wonderfully wholesome that people join and revel in reading books they enjoy with people who also love them. What I love the most is having a group of people willing to read a book about vampires and discussing, analysing and critiquing it with the same gusto academics talk about Shakespeare. I feel that there’s a perception that SSF isn’t “highbrow” enough and isn’t considered “real reading”, and it’s my unofficial mission to prove those people wrong. Reading of any kind should be encouraged, celebrated and shared and that’s what we do at our book clubs.
4) “I’m so excited” - Having people coming and going from the shop all day leads to some very interesting overheard conversations. Many people talk as if no one is listening. Guys, my shop is tiny, I hear EVERYTHING. Jokes aside, I hear a lot of conversations about how good books are, which ones are rubbish, and which ones people should read if they loved this or that. But my absolute favourite is when I over hear children and young adults getting excited about books. This one particular situation, a grandparent had brought their grandchild in, and asked for some recommendations - which I love doing - and we narrowed it down to two books, Northern Lights by Philip Pullman and Hedgewitch by Skye McKenna. This whole process was mostly between myself and the grandparent as the kid was a little shy. I left them to decide and she went with Northern Lights. As they were leaving the shop, the kid said something that made my heart sing and a sense of accomplishment fall over me . “I’m so excited to read it.”
5) Our first review - Back in September, I was feeling a little overwhelmed. We’d had a few customers in and we didn’t have what they were after. This always disappoints me, despite knowing there’s no way I can stock everything. Jayde (not yet an employee) was reading in a chair and in walks a new customer. He noticed the range of SFF we stock and was very enthusiastic. It was perfect timing, I felt like I’d done something right. Following a very excited conversation about this book and that, the customer left with a few new reads and a promise to come back. But he then hit the golden standard for customers everywhere. Not only did he love the shop, the book selections and engage in friendly banter with myself and Jayde, he wrote a glowing (and funny) review on google, our very first one! I was ecstatic, it really felt like our customers were starting to understand what we were trying to do. A year on, I’m feeling much more settled and as word spreads we have SFF lovers seeking us out.
6) The People - You lot! It’s quite easy to get bogged down in negativity, but if you’re looking for a way to re-establish your faith in humans, open a shop (as long as its not a book shop!) Every day I see and speak to so many wonderful people and as time goes on, these people become friends. Writing this blog post has reminded me of so many instances where I’ve connected others. Some of these are fleeting moments, but being part of the community means that I get to see so many of you on a regular basis. You’re all so supportive and interested in the shop, in Willow and if you’re not lucky enough to see him that often, Dan. Its because of you all that we won the Muddy Stilettos award, you took the time to vote for us, you support us with a kind word, a quick chat, or ordering books. It’s because of you that I love coming in every day, it’s because of you that we’ve had a wonderful first year.
7) The Imaginarium on Tour - One of the things that is incredibly important to us is making reading accessible. For many people coming into a bookshop isn’t always possible. So we try and take the books to others. We’ve only managed to do this on a few occasions, but always look out for the opportunity. One memorable event was at The Vibrant Forest Brewery at Christmas. As a new bookshop, it was really fun watching the excitement on people’s faces as we told them about the new shop in Lymington. However, what made this memorable was nothing to do with books, but rather the magic of Christmas. Santa was there meeting and greeting children by a fire engine and I’m in the queue for a hot drink. It started to snow. It was the rubbish kind of snow worthy of pity that we get here in the south, but it was still nice to see. I’m people watching when I hear a shout. “Santa!”, I look over and see a child, maybe 4 years old, run up to Santa and give him the biggest hug. It was a moment filled with awe and magic that we don’t often get to see and if it weren’t for the shop, I never would have.
8) World Book Day - I remember one of the first World Book Days. I was about five or six and we had a voucher to pick our own book and my school took my class to the shop to choose. It’s my first memory of a bookshop, I’d rarely been to one before. I loved the feeling of choosing my own book that I got to keep all for myself. Growing up with brothers and sisters, we shared our books. That feeling of excitement, of that book being my very own, is something I knew I wanted to pass on to other children. Sadly books are not a staple in many houses, and to us at The Imaginarium, it’s important that children get the option. That’s why in March (when world book day is) we had a local school bring in some children and I went out to a few local schools to read a story, and deliver all the books for the children. Dressed up as a pirate (because you HAVE to!) it was wonderful to see the excitement on the children’s faces and to teach them about what a bookshop is. We gave away 600 books over the course of the world book day campaign. For some of these children, it might be the only book that they get for themselves.
9) Author Events - Over our year, we’ve held a few events with authors. These are always great fun and I love building a connection between authors and readers, allowing readers to ask questions about what it’s like to write a book, kill off characters and get a sneak peak into the publishing world. We’ve held a whole range of events, from book launches to raising money for charity and poetry evenings. Hosting events where we can connect readers and authors is one of our missions for the shop, and I love that we get to support new and debuting authors, and help more established authors find new readers and fans. Whats even more gratifying is that after an event, we have people come to the shop and say how much they enjoyed it - and for one memorable event, someone coming in and buying the whole back catalogue of an authors books.
10) Geeking Out - Despite being enthusiastic about books all the time, there’s the occasional customer who comes in who I can really geek out with. Generally this is someone who’s read similar books to me and loved them and is looking for a recommendation of what to read next. I always try to find out what people like to read before I make a recommendation, and so there’s always plenty of opportunity to get (over) excited about what we’ve read. We discuss aspects we liked and bits we didn’t, characters we hated (Tamlin), and those badass ones we loved. These interactions always make me feel like I’ve chosen the right path, because I love talking about the brilliant stories I’ve read and helping people find something equally as enjoyable and immersive for their next read. It might only be ten minutes worth of conversation, but its a wonderful connection that you get with with another reader, something I think only books are able to help create.
Not all of these experiences are limited to owning a bookshop, but they definitely happened because of The Imaginarium. When I talked about owning my own bookshop, it was full of abstract ideas about interacting with customers, talking about excellent books and sharing some joy. A year on, those abstract thoughts are very much real. It might be cliche to say, but the only reason we’re here is because of you, our customers. The level of loyalty, support and friendships we’ve received has been incredible. Thank you for helping me to live my dream.