Tom Rowleybackstory, balhamWe met with award-winning journalist come bookshop owner Tom Rowley to discuss one of South London’s newest indie bookshops. With their first birthday under their belts, we delved into the shop’s current bestsellers, recent author events, live music nights, soon-to-be Christmas favourites, and all about Tom’s own unique bookselling backstory.I’m glad I did something like that because it’s the essence of bookselling, of retailing, just distilled in its purest form. It's one person, a table, your wares and the general public. And it was like being thrown in at the deep end and having those conversations straight away. |
James: So, you’ve had a Christmas before, you’ve tested the waters and now you’ll have your regulars returning this Christmas. Which must feel totally different this year.
Tom: Totally different, yeah. We sort of dived right into the deep end, which was mad, and bonkers, and meant that we had to learn to do everything at once. I remember there was a particular day, I think it was the Wednesday before we opened on Saturday when we had the Batchline install, and I was trying to do that on the same day as the coffee guy came and brought the coffee machine and trained me for the first time to use the machine correctly. And I went home that night and thought, ‘What the hell have I done?’
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J: I mean, you have thrown yourself into the deep end in that you're tackling not just the running of a bookshop but you’re adding all the extra elements to it as well. And that includes wine, coffee, a book club, you do live evening events, and you have an open mic night.
T: Yeah, we have live musicians.
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J: And how have you found the stock element of the shop, then?
T: It’s been interesting, yeah.
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J: Was it a passion project where you’ve always had a bit of a list, or has that list grown?
T: It’s massively grown, and it’s kind of, what’s been fun, actually, is the extent to which it’s a conversation between you and the customers. But also a conversation within the team as well. So, there’s Megan and Darby here today; there are six of us in total, which is great. I love to do it collaboratively and everyone - I didn’t design it this way, it sort of happened fortuitously - but everyone I’ve hired has quite different tastes which has worked nicely.
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J: It’s the best way to do it. It would be boring if we all read the same thing.
T: Rory is like a sci-fi nut, basically. And obsessed with all that stuff. Darby is pretty into her fantasy and contemporary lit-fic. Megan is the absolute expert on all things music and art and has quite diverse non-fiction tastes.
I was coming to it as a massive non-fiction buff. And really into reportage, and contemporary politics and society stuff. And to be honest, one of my first thoughts, when I was thinking about opening a bookshop, was could you open a bookshop that kind of inverted that classic thing of fiction first and then non-fiction, so somewhere that was heavily skewed towards non-fiction. And it's been kind of fun over the last year seeing my ideal bookshop rubbing up against Balham’s ideal bookshop and striking a balance somewhere in the middle. And yeah, I think we punch above our weight on a non-fiction point, you know. And we have a great roster of events with journalists and all that kind of stuff and a non-fiction book club, but I think, as with any bookshop, contemporary fiction is still going to be your bread and butter. |
J: And you have to read the terrain, don’t you? You’ll have customers coming in ordering, and that generally changes direction over the seasons. They’re going to be reading the industry just as much as you are, so they know what the bestsellers are, to an extent, because they’re forging that path themselves.
T: Yes, exactly.
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J: What have you found most challenging about stocking the shop?
T: Well, I think, in some ways, it’s not dissimilar in a weird way to my previous job as a journalist at The Economist. In that with both of them, the main constraint is space. With The Economist, the great trick they had, which was really bloody difficult as a writer but brilliant as a reader, is concision. Which they demanded with every single piece you wrote, say 500 words, 700 words. So somehow you’d be grappling with Israel and Gaza, or something, and somehow having to summarise a whole week’s developments in just a few words. Similarly, with this shop, we’ve got 700 square feet of retail space and so space is the constraint. But actually, as with being with [The Economist] for five years, and being a journalist elsewhere where I was indulged and allowed to get waffly, similarly, having a relatively small shop is great because it forces you to be bold and do that kind of
I did a tour of indie bookshops before I opened and I think one of the things I really took away from that was that the ones who were opinionated and really not afraid to say, ‘This is the book we like right now’, and ‘You should be reading it’, the ones that were bold. And the ones that, you know, there were lots and lots of brilliant ones but I think sometimes the ones that were a little bit [less bold] were the ones that wanted to have everything. And of course, you can’t. You know, 700 square feet, you just can’t have everything. And I think, particularly, your generation and my generation and younger, are so used to the idea that you can get everything straight away on your smartphone, online, that I don’t think we need to pretend that you can and in a way what you’re offering is the opposite of that. It’s opinions. So coming from the word go we’ve made sure that in the first bay, like right now it’s our team’s picks of 2023 but we always make sure it’s themed. It’s the team shouting about whatever that is. And then, likewise, picking our Books of the Month we do collaboratively. We go to the pub once a month as a team - it’s what we call Proofs and Pints - and we choose our favourite manuscripts from the next 3 months. And have sometimes quite a robust debate about which ones we get behind. |
J: Are there more pints than proofs?
T: How did you guess? It’s sometimes more like general gossip than just proofs, as well.
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J: Like any good book club!
T: Yeah, exactly. But we do talk a little about books as well. And that’s fun. I think as well you’ve got to realise that we’re running a relatively small bookshop in a [small] part of London and we’re tiny in this enormous book machine. So where we can punch a bit above our weight or be a bit unconventional… Maybe it’s really getting behind a debut which we love in its first week and raving about it and making it our own. And that’s kind of fun too.
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J: I’m aware that you started as a market stall. How was that process? Did that come naturally or was it quite difficult to start at the market and learn the ropes that way?
T: So yeah, it was one of my friend’s ideas. I quit my job in March [2022] and we opened the shop on the first of October, but obviously, that timeline was indefinite at the time that I quit. And I was just looking for premises. And my friend said, ‘You know, you’re going to go totally mad if you’re just plotting your future existence but not talking to customers’. And so yeah, it was really fun. I’d never done anything like that bar helping one of my sisters when I was like 8, run a car boot stall for the day. So I’m glad I did something like that because it’s the essence of bookselling, of retailing, just distilled in its purest form. It's one person, a table, your wares and the general public. And it was like being thrown in at the deep end and having those conversations straight away. I did it every Saturday through that summer. There’s a really cute market nearby. And also, as you’ll know, it was a great introduction to bookselling in just how physical it was. You’re lugging all these boxes around, these hardback books.
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J: Yes, it’s the weight of bookselling, it’s a bit of a shock, isn’t it?
T: Oh my god, it’s a total shock.
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J: You earn those bookselling muscles!
T: You do. So that also, in retrospect, worked well as a sort of soft launch. I already identified Balham as one of the potential locations and I think by the time I had that first weekend at the market I’d already discussed this property. And so it meant that by the time I’d signed the lease and told people about it, there was a core group of people who were like, ‘Ah, I’d pop round to see Tom’s stall at the weekend’, and who were keen on the idea of there being a bookshop [in Balham].
Which was helpful in those first few weeks of opening the door. There was a crowd that came in. |
J: And forging regular customers can be quite a difficult process, especially if you’re in a more built-up, higher footfall area with more competition on your street. Getting that core customer base must’ve been quite a relief at the start.
T: A totally relief. I didn’t know what to expect. But it’s been lovely. And to be honest, it’s felt almost like the other way around. It almost felt like I’d been adopted by a whole bunch of locals, which is just the greatest thing.
And I always wanted a bar in the shop, which I think helps create those kinds of relationships. |
J: I read somewhere that when you were a kid you wanted a shop… was it 'Pints and Pages'?
T: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah! I haven’t changed much really.
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J: Booze and books.
T: It was but I always loved it. You know, as a hack I was always on the road on my own. And I always felt it vaguely depressing being on my own in Britain because you’d go and have nice generous journalist expenses and you’d go out for dinner in this sleepy market town and it was always a table for two and you were just sat there with your newspaper feeling a bit out of place. My experience of reporting in the States was exactly the opposite in that there were always more restaurants and certainly most bars, there’d be the lovely long bar where you could just be on your own and you perch up and you end up having a conversation with not only the person behind the bar but often with other people who were just in town for the night and you’d be talking across the bar. And think that was also the first time I’d seen a bookshop have that idea as well.
I thought that it would be nice to recreate that idea. And it does sort of happen like that. You know, we have regulars who’ve been in Balham a long time who have met each other here and who end up recommending a book to each other, or who come to a music night and insist on buying a book for that person. |
J: That’s such a lovely organic way to do it and guess that’s sort of like the market stall. You facilitate conversation in that way and really that’s the hard part of bookselling which you’ve essentially hacked early. You start the conversation first, and books come second. Rather than trying to force the books first which is always a little hammy.
Especially, I mean, you have a great online presence now and it still doesn’t feel forced. It’s about coming in and having a great experience with us.
Especially, I mean, you have a great online presence now and it still doesn’t feel forced. It’s about coming in and having a great experience with us.
T: That’s good. That’s certainly what we like and what we want it to be. And I think the other benefit, which I don’t think I really considered before opening, was having this bar part of the shop and having it integrated. Because I think for a long time bookshops considered having a separate cafe, whereas having it integrated means that you don’t have that awkwardness of someone coming in just to browse and there being quiet and the person behind the counter staring at them.
You know, I devour books, and even so, there’s a part of me that, if I go into a very small independent bookshop can feel a little judged. |
J: Yeah, it can be intimidating, it’s like going into a new bar for the first time and everyone turns to look at you, you know, ‘You’re not one of us!’
T: Whereas having natural conversation and music just means that if you’re coming in to browse there’s an atmosphere here already. So I like that. It’s not always like that, I’d love it if that was the case all the time, but if we were sitting here at 11 am on a rainy Tuesday morning it would probably be less like that than it is on a bustling weekend. But we aim for that atmosphere, certainly.
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J: Let’s talk about your events a little bit. I know had an open mic poetry night on Friday.
You said you wanted non-fiction events, a non-fiction book club. Was that always the plan? I mean, presumably, that’s where ‘Backstory’ comes from. Were events always something you’d anticipated coming first or were they just a natural addition that came afterwards?
You said you wanted non-fiction events, a non-fiction book club. Was that always the plan? I mean, presumably, that’s where ‘Backstory’ comes from. Were events always something you’d anticipated coming first or were they just a natural addition that came afterwards?
T: No, they were always first. I suppose the whole bookshop thing started from me being intrigued at how well bookshops were doing, independent bookshops in particular. 30 years after Amazon had launched everyone knew there were often more efficient and dare I say it cheaper ways. And you know, you still can. So what was it? And there are all kinds of answers to that question, of course. But it occurred to me that there was one thing that physical bookshops can offer that online doesn’t, or traditional online retailing doesn’t anyway, is the backstory. It’s the opportunity to go beyond just buying those same physical books.
Now, it could be simply that you come out of it with your own story about that interaction, you’ve met someone and engaged with your community, and ‘So this was recommended to me by Megan and I’m going to read it and if I really don’t like it then I damn well might come back and tell Megan about it’… You know, so you create your own story. But obviously Backstory also in terms of events. And that was to me the most obvious way a bookshop can set itself apart. You know, Mr Bezos will happily sell you the same book but he’s not going to sit down with you and ask you questions to deepen that conversation and make it a shared cultural event in the same way as going to the theatre, you know. To me, books have always been like that. And that stereotype of a reader is someone who is maybe a little socially awkward or wants to be a bit of a recluse and disappear behind their stack of books. But to me, books are inherently social, that you’re reading something and you go, ‘My god!’, you know. And maybe that’s because I came from a journalism background and to me writing was always about imparting something I was seeing and telling everyone else about it. To me, writing is a shared thing. |
J: It’s the joy of sharing. It’s having an audience for that conversation, which can offer a new depth to that book that you couldn’t have had before.
T: Totally, and often it’s a wildly different appreciation of the same book. I find it fascinating that two people who both might have great taste in books can think the same book is great or terrible. But also, perhaps even more interestingly, that two people can pick up another book for entirely different reasons.
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J: I think what I love the most about doing events is the variety you can offer to your community. It’s bringing something to them like you would in recommending a book, but it’s bringing them something more. It’s something quite exclusive, something quite special, and it makes the joy of an evening something quite memorable. And whether it’s something that convinces them to take a book home, or in a book club, exploring deeper into that story. That’s always been the one thing that I loved about working in a bookshop more than say, working in a cinema or theatre, where you have an engagement with the audience in a very different way.
T: Yes, and you’re part of the conversation. And I suppose also the bookshops I was most familiar with did events. You know, Forum [Books, Corbridge] was my hometown bookshop and they always, ever since Helen took over, had events at the core of what they were doing.
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J: How have you found it in terms of workload? Because it can be that extra thing after a full day of work that maybe you don’t look forward to the most.
Have you still enjoyed that process? I’m sure it feels different with every event.
Have you still enjoyed that process? I’m sure it feels different with every event.
T: Totally, I’m not going to claim that there aren’t sometimes where you go, ‘Oh no, what have I bitten off here?’ you know. But I think in the main, probably where I’m really fortunate is that I went from a job where I was very used to just chatting to people. And therefore don’t consider it all that big of a deal. Which has made that psychologically for me… Yes, so, ok there’s still the logistics, have you remembered to order the bloody book? Have you read it yourself? All the things like that. But in terms of actually sitting down and talking with the author, I'm lucky it wasn’t quite so daunting.
Brilliantly, we’re now sitting here over a year on and all of the team have now hosted an event. |
J: Which is a unique thing, actually. And was that something that they volunteered for or have you volunteered them on their behalf?
T: Ha, well, I’ve volunteered them on their behalf. I guess it is unusual. I think, having spent 11 years working in really big organisations one of the utter joys of doing this has been working with 5 people who I find great company and I’m interested to hear what their thoughts are. To try and do this thing together. And yeah, ultimately, if the coffee machine breaks or there’s a problem with the alarm, I’m the person who has to sort it out. But I was very keen from the word go that the bookshop wasn't just me and that I want Backstory to be a place where - you know, I’m not usually here on Sundays - to where people walking in on a Sunday they get the best experience. And I think that comes from hiring a bunch of people who you think are great but also comes from, ultimately, if you don’t trust them and give them a say in what you’re doing, in the running of events and that kind of stuff, then how are they going to feel like it’s their bookshop as well? Anyway, that was my approach to it.
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J: Well, you know in the book world I’ve only ever worked in small teams. Outside of the book world sometimes it’s been hundreds and you don’t get to know each other. And I think having a small team means that you do buy into that small business ethos and the indie bookshop mentality. Which is a strong thing. And I think that universally across indie bookshops it’s not merely a job. Where perhaps outside of the indie world maybe it is?
How have you found relinquishing some of that responsibility, taking a hand off the reigns slightly, how has that been in your first year?
How have you found relinquishing some of that responsibility, taking a hand off the reigns slightly, how has that been in your first year?
T: Yeah, I think I could definitely do it much better. I’m having to learn everything on the job and that includes having to manage people. I’ve never managed anyone before, and in the journalism world, it’s very flat. You’re either a writer or an editor, and I was always a writer. So going from that to a tiny little place like this, it is very different.
I think that it’s a delicate balancing act and I don’t always get it quite right. It was bothering me, for instance, I noticed Megan spotted it and put it right while I’ve been talking with you, but it was bothering me that one of our shelf-talkers was dangling off. So, that kind of thing. Or pulling a Romantic Comedy face out that slipped behind… so there’s stuff like that. I basically want this to be a beautiful, relaxed space. |
J: And that comes from an attention to detail but also having quite a small space. You can see straight away the books that stick out or the shelf-takers that aren’t straight, or if you can top something up that you have overstock of. You know, you can see it straight away. Whereas if you’ve got ten rooms or three floors, it’s a far harder task to do.
T: But it’s important that the team knows that you spot those things. That you care about it. Because if you don’t or if you’re too relaxed then the whole thing’ll be relaxed.
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J: You want that love of the specific to rub off so that they take ownership. It’s so that on a Sunday you know it’s getting done.
T: Yeah, it’s exactly that. I think that I probably, and this will ring a bell with some of the other bookshop owners I’ve spoken to, some who’ve been doing it for a lot longer time, about how you manage this. I think one of the things I do find hard is that you’re in a small team of people who I really get on with and value, and admire, and it’s that line between friendliness and being friends. Sometimes it’s hard when ultimately you’re the boss, right? And I’m sure that’s the case when you’re the boss of that team or if you’re a member of that team. That’s always a difficult dynamic.
I think that can be hard when it’s very clear that everyone does really care about things, and ultimately you’re a bunch of quite sensitive people because you work in a bookshop, so being honest with you that probably is the thing that sometimes causes the most headaches or whatever. It’s nothing to do with the books themselves, it's about being in a small team and handling those personalities. But I wouldn’t want it any other way. I think it’s the fact that we do worry about that sometimes suggests that we all care about it. |
J: Yeah, of course. And you know, if you weren’t passionate about it it wouldn’t be as successful.
Ok, let’s talk about books.
Ok, let’s talk about books.
T: Yes.
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J: We’ve talked about square footage, but do you have a book count or total? Do you know how many books you have in stock?
T: You know, I actually don’t. I know that very roughly we have about 2,500 titles on the shelf. But it’s not something I track all the time. I do have an awful lot more in the shop that aren’t on the shelves, more than I did this time last year. I’ve become a bit of a hoarder. For two reasons, one of which was obvious before I first took on the shop and the other of which I discovered at the time. The first was just margins. I’ve definitely taken a view that from a margin point of view but also a relationship point of view, for events and things, dealing directly with publishers makes sense. But because of that it makes sense to order in quite large quantities when you decide what is selling well.
The team will take the piss out of me for beginning to panic when we only have 40 copies of Demon Copperhead or something, you know. Because, which kind of brings me to the second point, I just know that if you don’t order those two weeks out you’re going to have to top them up at a much lesser margin. And the thing that shocked me about running a bookshop was just how crap distribution is. And just how bad publishers are at getting their books to customers. Which I sort of naively assumed was a big part of publishing. J: Yeah, it’s their lead title of the season and they’re in no hurry to ship to you.
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T: No, they’re not! You know, it might just casually go into reprint on the 14th of December or something, and I’m conscious I’m this tiny thing in a big pond, but it’s extraordinary to me. And so that does mean that if you’re in a fortunate position with space downstairs and you may just be about okay on the cash flow point of view then the best thing is to have the extra ten here or ten there.
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J: From the booksellers I’ve spoken to, you either sit in one or the other camp. When I caught up with Golden Hare recently…
T: Which is such a lovely bookshop…
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J: Which is a gorgeous little space, and probably a similar size to yours. In terms of stock, it’s probably about the same. Jonathan was saying that they very rarely stock more than 3 or 4 copies of a title, especially in hardback. They might not have as much off-the-shop-floor space as yourselves. But then you speak to some of the big guys who maybe have a floor’s worth of overstock, and where 40 copies of Demon Copperhead is fine. But that’s certainly not my experience.
T: I mean, to be clear, that’s the exception rather than the rule. I would imagine of the 2,500 individual books we probably have singles of about 2,200 of them, or something, you know.
One really interesting thing, I do find fascinating, I tend to find that on any given Saturday it’ll be something crazy like maybe 60-70% of books you sell that day will be the 1% of your overall stock. It’s just that they’ll change over time, what those 5 or 10 books are. But whatever those 5 or 10 books are you can be sure you're going to sell 10 of them or 20 of them or whatever. |
J: And your books of the month are always accumulative anyway, you’re not going to sell 10 copies of that book necessarily in one day but you might sell 50 plus over the month.
T: It’s exactly that, yes. So I suppose I just find it less of a headache to know that on those big ones, where I’d be willing to place a bet we’d sell 8 or more copies, we won’t have 8 copies in stock.
Similarly, with events I suppose one of the reasons why I’m able to have one event a week and not go completely mad is because we have the space downstairs and we’ll typically have our event stock kicking around maybe 2-3 weeks before the event. And clearly, you don’t need that, but it just makes you a bit more relaxed when you’ve got it. |
J: Yeah, and obviously not having an audience is a big deal but not having any books is actually worse
T: Yeah, that’s right.
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J: You’d always rather show that you’re putting the effort in, and you need to maintain these relationships with publishers, [it] doesn’t matter if you’re a huge shop or a small shop you need to show the author that you’ve done everything you can.
T: But that’s an interesting one. With the backlist in particular, and what counts as core stock and what counts as something that sold well back in February, does that become core stock? I’ve found that fascinating. I’d love to hear from you how you balanced that.
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J: I think we went in thinking, ‘Can we have a carbon copy of Forum Books at the coast?’ Can that work?
T: Which is a logical starting point, right?
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J: Right, so we had a core stock. Helen had her years of experience going into that. But actually, Lockdown helped us appreciate that an appetite for books at the coast was there and there was an audience of readers ordering books during the pandemic getting shipped out to the coast. We knew that it’s not just a case that you open a bookshop and they will come, but rather you need to open a bookshop where you know there’s space for it and an appetite for it. So that really did help feed into that decision, I’m sure.
But in terms of stock, those first couple of months were just wild. All of our stock was fair game. We opened with about 4000 books which for a medium-sized shop was quite thin. It was primarily face-outs. We didn’t have an awful lot of overstock at all. Over time that grew to a little over 9000 books. At Christmas that could stretch to about 12,000 books.
But in terms of stock, those first couple of months were just wild. All of our stock was fair game. We opened with about 4000 books which for a medium-sized shop was quite thin. It was primarily face-outs. We didn’t have an awful lot of overstock at all. Over time that grew to a little over 9000 books. At Christmas that could stretch to about 12,000 books.
T: Was that difference between 9 and 12,000 books overstock or just cramming more titles in?
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J: Erm, a bit of both. I think we tried to keep as few multiples as possible on the shelves. It mostly came in those singles which were a huge portion of our stock. It was always fairly difficult to juggle and became a daily thing. And I know that some shops might think, certainly with returns, that it’s a one-day-a-week kind of job. But our restocks became a daily issue. So core stock was quite interesting those first few months. We didn't want to be that coastal-themed bookshop. You know, how many books on lighthouses can you have? But people were gravitating towards the beach thing, certainly in the kids section. But then, really, it came down to our staff recommendations. And they over time became our new core stock. Those books you bring to the area, rather than the area telling you what you need.
I’m interested in how you found the tailoring of your stock towards your tastes or your teams' tastes, compared to what people come in off the street looking for.
I’m interested in how you found the tailoring of your stock towards your tastes or your teams' tastes, compared to what people come in off the street looking for.
T: I think, obviously it’s a mix of both. I think what I found interesting is the extent to which those things aren’t static. I mean, even a year in I think our regulars’ tastes are evolving a little bit as you nudge it a little this way or that way. But I think also our tastes as booksellers. Certainly, my tastes have broadened hugely. I mean, there was a time in my early twenties when I was reading non-fiction stuff which was inevitably work-related or a John le Carre or that kind of escapism thriller that I could read in a day. So if you looked at my shelves I’d probably have his entire back catalogue and lots of very similar spy fiction. And so I always liked contemporary lit-fic. I think that means a little something different to everyone. It’s such a broad category. I think one thing I have definitely done over the year was read a far broader range of books and far more.
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J: That access to proofs really helps.
T: Oh, god, yeah. And I mean, you’re reading two or three books a week and really spanning the genres. So yeah, I’ll still be getting a proof of This is Europe by Ben Judah or something in Feb or whenever it was for publication in the summer and I think this is really up my street and I’m going to read this next. And then, of course, I’m going to put it face out and put a note above it saying that it’s 500 pages but you really must read it. It’s some of the best journo being done right now, it tells you all about Europe but through the wonderful pen portraits of these ordinary people and it is amazing.
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J: That’s always such a beautifully organic process when it works. And in the book world that’s the dream. You get sent a proof, read it, love it, order it and then sell the hell out of it. You can’t ask for better.
T: No, but then again there are other books which I’ve loved just as much but in different ways this year. Maybe, Tom Lake by Ann Patchett, which I probably wouldn’t have gone near as a general reader, might not have been on my radar. But equally, I really loved that, I thought it was just the most beautiful book. And I’ve raved about that to readers as well. So I don’t think it is that I’m coming with my - and I mean, obviously, to some extent, I will be - but I don't think I’m coming with a preconceived notion of what ‘good literature’ is or whatever and kind of imparting it to the people of Balham, I think it’s much more of a conversation.
So I think we’re on this more exciting journey together where I don’t know where we’ll end up but I’m pretty sure that me as a reader at 40 will be very different to me as a reader at 30. |
J: And you hope that your tastes change. You need them to, otherwise you’re going to run out of le Carre books. There’s only ever so many times you can read a classic. And it keeps the spark alive. I’m sure the business is only going to improve for reading more diversely.
T: Definitely, and I think that it’s interesting seeing trends come and go. Obviously, I’m right at the start of that journey but I do think it’s fascinating. I feel that I’ve read broadly but also that I’ve read probably 10 of the same kind of novel and another 10 of a slightly different kind of novel this year. And I think it's wild the extent to which one book gets published and another 7 more get commissioned in a similar style. But I think, probably, as you do it for longer you end up slightly more sceptical of whatever the new trend is.
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J: But also, you’re on the front line. If anyone is going to feel that ripple effect it’s going to be yourselves and if you don’t notice it in real time then you’re going to see it in your sales.
T: Yes, definitely. I think the thing that makes me pleased, or a couple of things that make me pleased: one is when you spot one of those trends early or when you feel like you’ve caught a book, and actually, a) you’ve got the sales to justify that, and b) you really rate this book as well.
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J: Do you have an example of that?
T: Well, In Memoriam [by Alice Winn]. My colleague Amy read that book first as a proof and would not shut up about it. To the extent that I actually thought I have to read it just to humour her, back in April. And I loved it. And now we’ve all read it and have loved it. And so from May we’ve been really shouting about it, making it our Book of the Month in June and have sold dozens and dozens and dozens of it. And then we decided by mid-October that we’d make it our Book of the Year. The book that we’ve all really loved here. And what was lovely about that I think was that it wasn’t us sitting down and making a commercial decision to make it the book we were going to sell the most, but it was the book which we all genuinely loved. And we all have very different tastes, as I said. And I won’t deny being slightly peeved when I see that Waterstones now has it as their novel of the year, but I think that that’s a vindication, that we were shouting about it. So there’s that.
But then, conversely, I also love it when you see on the Batchline reordering system that it shows you what percentages of other indie shops are selling. So I also love it when I see that we’re selling loads of copies of a book that basically no one or very few shops are selling. You see it stocked in maybe 3% of other shops, or whatever. So actually that’s also an indication that we’re doing something right. |
There’s a book by an American journalist David Finkel who is kind of a little niche in America but definitely niche here, and I’ve been hand-selling it to everyone. Or there’s a book called The Cost of These Dreams by an American writer called Wright Thompson, who I think is just the most extraordinary writer and it’s an incredible book about sport. I think it’s the perfect book to give to your dad or uncle or whatever for Christmas because it’s about sport but it’s also very well written. But I suspect that we’re probably in the top 1% of the UK sales for that book. And I think that all very good indie bookshop have their own maybe 5 or 10 versions of that.
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J: Oh, yeah definitely. And I think that’s the strength of each shop. That it’s not just their tastes but it’s their selling power. It’s a good sign of your relationship with your customers and how willing they are to take a risk.
T: And it is trust, right? I mean, it’s a considerable investment to sit down and read a 400-page book or whatever. And it’s not a small amount of money. So yeah, it is lovely to know that you have that trust.
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J: Yeah, it’s a sign of a healthy indie, to build that trust but also be able to take a bit of a gamble yourself and say, ‘I’m not sure about this one but let's try it out, let’s put it on the shelf and see what happens.’ Because you’ve got the space and the flexibility but also the faith in your team.
T: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. There’s just so many examples of that. And I suppose that comes back to what you were saying about really pushing the responsibility sometimes. Because there are books that I have read and not loved myself that the other members of the team adore, or vice versa. I get them being so excited about a book, and you know that they’re passionate about it, and they’re going to talk to readers with a similar taste to them. And you do, you get 10 of those or 20 of those. And I love seeing those selling as well. It’s proof to me that it’s not just a case that I know that I can hand-sell a book but that’s when you see that the team really can.
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J: And that’s when it’s a well-oiled machine and the reliance of that when you’re not here. Because you can’t be here all the time.
T: No, and even when you are here. I love being on the shop floor and I wish I could be on the shop floor more but there are important sometimes quite boring things that ultimately only you can do, or maybe you and a couple of other people on the team. And so even if I could be the person upstars all the time there will be parts of the business that you end up neglecting.
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J: So just to finish us up then, what are your bestselling Christmas predictions?
T: Oh god.
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J: Because we’re in the thick of it now.
T: We are very much in the thick of it. We’re surrounded by customers which is very nice to see.
Last year was much easier to predict than this year. Last year was about one or two which pulled away from the pack. I remember about this time last year, coming up and down those stairs over and over again with Taste by Stanley Tucci and Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan, and I just couldn’t order enough of those two books. What’s been interesting this Christmas is that I haven't found that. I mean, our sales are up, which is great, but it’s much more diffuse. There’s not one Christmas book which has pulled away from the pack. One very heartening thing is that one of our bestsellers is In Memoriam. It’s been out in hardback since March, so you wouldn’t necessarily expect we’d still be selling large quantities of it but we are, which is great. I think food and drink in general is doing very well. Interestingly, the reissue of that gorgeous Diana Henry book, Roast Figs, Sugar Snow, we’ve sold lots of that. The Wager by David Grann, I suspect that come the final week before Christmas everyone will discover a man in their lives who they can’t find something for who simply must have that book. Obviously, Rory Stewart, and Dolly Alderton, you know, are probably for different reasons quite within our core demographic’s interests. |
J: And then you’ll have your perennial bestsellers which must do well this time of year anyway.
T: Exactly that. So, I wouldn’t say there’s one in particular, which in a way is quite nice.
What’s been happening is when people have been coming in, browsing, looking at the gift guides, and all while I’ve been talking to you, they’re coming out with a pile of 5 or 6 things. Which are not all the same. |
J: A sign of a healthy industry, do you think?
T: Well, hopefully, yes. But it is interesting. It probably is fair to say that, and you could tell me more than I would know, but I sense that this September has been underwhelming compared to normal Septembers. A few gems, but it’s been quite a quiet year in terms of huge books.
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J: Yeah, that Super Thursday wasn’t quite so super.
T: Yes, it was slightly soggy Thursday. But from our point of view, we’ve two and a half thousand books to sell, and that’s fine. There’s something for everyone. But I suspect it’s probably not what the publishers want.
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J: Well, ultimately, you have a shop full of happy customers on a Sunday in December.
T: What more could you want?
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