If you don't ask.....

Simon;

It's time to think about ordering the stock for the shop. I wonder if there's an easy way of doing this. I hope not, 'cos this is where the fun really starts for me. One of the big things about a successful independent Bookshop is getting the stock right. I say 'one of the things', because if stock were the only issue then personality, inspiration, drive, customer service, organisation and individuality (we're talking cowboy hats here) would be a waste of time and we might as well give up now. But it is massively important.
The stock we need for the shop in Wood Green is very different from, say Isla in the Barnes Bookshop or Nic Bottomley's Mr B's Emporium of Reading Delights in Bath. It's the differences that are going to make the, er, difference.....however....

All you lovely readers out there, I could do with a little help. It's clear that there should be a core stock in each section in the shop (theis is the last time i'm ever going to use the phrase 'core Stock'). That's to say, we would be embarrassed if we didn't stock 1984, or Nigel Slater, and not having the Worst Witch would be unforgivable. Our knowledge of books is pretty good, after all I started bookselling in 1984 and Tim wasn't far behind that. But we're fallible. So, if you happen to work in a bookshop and have the facility to run bestseller reports, or if you work for a publisher, and have a good list of key backlist titles i'd love to hear from you.

To all you booksellers out there
Could you send us a bestseller over the last year/18 months for the following subjects. In no particular order...
paperback fiction *
childrens 5-8 *
childrens 9-12 *
teenage fiction *
sub sections of Kids *
black interest *
crime
science fiction *
food and drink
popular psychology
general business
travel
health
mbs
biography
travel writing
graphic novels

* these are the subjects that are big for us, so if you can only send these, then great!!

To all you publishers out there.
If you feel you have a strong backlist of any of the above sections and would like to send lists/catalogues/free books then we are possibly very bribeable (who knows).

Please don't worry about us 'outing' you, as all lists will be received in total anonymity (unless you want the advertising).

Here's the address to send 'em to

Simon Key
Bookshop Bestsellers
59a, Salisbury Road
Wood Green
London
N22 6NU

These will be great for making sure we don't have too many glaring omissions, so thanks in advance.

I have bars of Cadbury's Dairy Milk Double Choc to send to any of you who send a list, so make sure I know where to send them to!

Yes, this is very very cheeky!

Many Happy Returns

Simon;
Well i'm back. Did Tim mention that i've been on holiday?

This is me and Tom (Katie's cousin)outside an amazing toy museum in Bude. I was more excited than him.

We also went a Halloween Fancy Dress Party on Saturday.

This is me with an axe in my head.

Anyway, Tim's been keeping up the pressure to keep things going, (Ben and Adam, thanks for the advice, we've arranged to see my accountant this week, who has been great in the past).
We went to see our solicitor, Norman, today. Tim had George and Harry (his kids) with him, and Norman managed to keep them amused at the same time as sorting out the paperwork for us. We do however have to get Tim's cat to sign the papers as well now, as George insisted he was part of the family.
Afterwards we parted company, with Tim and co. heading to KFC, and me heading home to catch up on e-mails, paperwork etc. I feel completely out of the loop at the moment, but there's loads to do.
We have the naming of the shop to sort out. We're all meeting up on Thursday evening to make the decision, and have invited Stephen Moore from the local paper to be part of the panel that makes the decision. Stephen's been a great support to us so far, and since he put the 'Name the Bookshop' competition in the paper, the number of entries has exceeded 450.
We're going to start work on the opening stock this week as well, which is as close to working in a bookshop as we've been since redundancy. Hurrah!
I'm also going to try and persuade the guys who are moving out of the shop to let us have the keys early. They're really keen to move out, and we obviously want to get the keys off them as soon as possible so we can tear it apart and make it a bookshop, so if their solicitor is OK with it we might be in the building sooner than we'd hoped.

Oh, The Thinks You Can Think!

Tim;

Now that there's nothing to do but wait for the solicitors to do what they do. I have gone back to thinking about all the things I should be thinking about. IT systems, the taxman, shelves, floors, paint, counter, bags, the taxman, safe, desk, accounting forms, paying suppliers, setting up accounts, the taxman, security, the taxman........ and books.

I've just had a couple of chaps come round to value my house as security against the bank loan. Harry (My youngest son (7) who I am not allowed to write about) told them we had just tidied up. "It's okay," said the nice man. "We don't base valuation on mess." Cheek. Alright, My house is generally not the tidest house in the world, but it only looked as if one bomb had hit it today. And not a very big bomb at that. Maybe only one or two megatonne.... But I digress. They left quite happy - not sure if they were laughing at me or with me. One of them was sporting a lovely new animal sticker on his laser measuring device, courtesy of Harry, who knows how to bribe.

Anyway their visit spurred me on to do a bit more research into the things to think about, and I chose - can you guess? - the Taxman. More specifically, how do we do Paye? There's lots of useful sounding websites, including HMs very own, but the one I found that I quite like, is Listen to taxman Now I'm not suggesting that anybody should check up on their payroll departments, and I have to say that when I tested this site on a couple of my old payslips they seemed pretty accurate (and where they weren't it was in my favour, so the less said about that the better) But it is a quite interesting and easy to use site - just in case anyone is interested. I also like the fact that when you open the site there is a default annual salary of £35929.60 sitting in the appropriate box. This proves that this site was not designed by booksellers! Where did they get that figure from? I hope it's not an average of any kind.

In other news, the lovely Jayde (ex-Wood Green part-timer, now Walthamstow) has landed the job she really wanted with a certain large publishing house. Beating off over fifty other applicants. Not surprising, she had the best support in the world (and I ain't talking about her bra) There will be much celebrating in North London. Massive well done to her and, let's face it, she's more use to us in her new job, than she would be as a part-time bookseller and spy in Waterst.... (did I say spy?.... Goodness, what could I possibly mean by that?)

Speaking of spies - (not that we have any) "The Wind Is Whistling Around Grannies Nightie." and "There's a Shortage of Sprouts in The Greenwoods."

I think you know what I mean....

Mostly Books

Tim;

Just like a lot of books, there's no new plots in life. Our blog has just been linked to from an older new-bookshop-blog. Which itself refers to an even older new-bookshop-blog. Now, Simon is the smarter blogger of the two of us, and he could probably do some clever linky type things right back at them, but he's on hol... (I forgot I said I wouldn't mention that again.)

Now, as I am sure you're all aware, I am new to this blogging type thing so I will be reading these two bookshop blogs and stealing outrageously from them. (A bit like most of my marketing ideas - nuff said)

So anyway, this (Mostly Books) is the lovely and, for me, uplifting blog from Mark and Nicki.

And this is the older new-bookshop-blog, to which they refer. (If the links don't work. I wouldn't be at all surprised)

Both started as "Let's start a bookshop right here in the barn" style blogs - a bit like ours. And both are now "We've got a bookshop and we're gonna use it" type blogs. Just like ours will be very shortly with luck..... (All things crossed, all dead trees groped. Black felines, ladders and single magpies avoided. And no mention of Macbeth.... bugger)

Seriously these guys deserve praise. They made it work, and are continuing to make it work. Long live Independence!!!

Site for Soar I's

Tim;

Simon should go on holiday more often. Site 1 - which was off - is now on again, and site 2 - which was on - is now pretty much off. But we are not totting up poultry just yet.

I spoke to the estate agent this morning, and he told me he had had six missed calls from site one's leaseholder's solicitor on Friday. He said he would call me back as soon as he had any news, and - surprise, surprise - HE DID! So, their solicitors are talking to our solicitors. Probably over a lovely round of golf.

The bank's security representative wrote me a lovely letter telling us we had to pop along to our solicitors to sign away another part of our souls, so things are moving on apace. The firm that handles the bank's security is called Glasgow Securities. Hmmm, I am wondering if my old boss, Chris Glasgow is branching out? (That's old as in ex. Not as in aged, he is a mere slip of a lad. The young whippersnapper)

I rang Simon to tell him the glad news, but he already knew. He's spoken to the estate agent himself this morning. He really knows how to kick-back and unwind, that boy.

I'm not used to writing the newsy posts. I should probably stick to the silly bugger ones, and leave the sensible ones to Simon, but he's on holiday, did I mention that? (end of running not-so-gag)

(Explanation of title; "Site" location of shop, "Soar" as in fly, or moving quickly, "I's" as in "I is on my own". I thought it was quite clever. I won't do it again, I promise)

Alone Again, Naturally

Tim;

It's Sunday, and Simon is still on holiday. There's nothing that needs doing I can't cope with. Nothing. Still, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

Did I mention that Simon is on holiday? Nevermind, I shall just sit here and think deep thoughts........

It's sad when a mother has to speak the words that condemn her own son.
But I couldn't allow them to believe that I would commit murder. They'll put him away now as I should have years ago. He was always bad, and in the end he intended to tell them I killed those girls and that man.
As if I could do anything except just sit and stare--like one of his stuffed birds. Well, they know I can't move a finger. And I won't. I'll just sit here and be quiet, just in case they do suspect me.
They're probably watching me. Well, let them. Let them see what kind of person I am.
I'm not even going to swat that fly. I hope they are watching. They'll see. They'll see, and they'll know, and they'll say...'Why, she wouldn't even harm a fly!'

I am worried that when I first thought of writing this post that the title of a Gilbert O'Sulivan song popped into my head......

It's Sunday, and Simon is on holiday. Have I already said that?

Friday Night.

Simon;

I'm off on holiday tomorrow. Me and Katie are off to Bideford for a few days. We're taking our bikes (we're not cycling from London to Devon, we'll let the train take the strain), and spending a few days in a cottage with family. I've got my mobile and hopefully Katie's brother has taken his laptop, but it'll be quite nice to take a break from it all. Tim's going to be flying solo in the meantime, and with 2 possible shops anything could happen, so hopefully I won't have to come back early!

Me and Tim are off to the pub this evening to meet a couple of old Wood Green colleagues, so i'd better pack now.

I thought i'd stick a few tunes on here to get me in the mood for some beer.


They stole my moves.


This isn't the Strokes, in case you were wondering


Terry Hall is, as the young people say 'well nang'.

So Many Names

Tim;

And none of them rude.

After a slow start the entries for the 'Name Our Bookshop' competition have started pouring in. They are - it has to be said - a mixed bunch. Some people have obviously put more thought in than others, and some people have put in way too much thought. The Suggestion 'Mind the Gap' has confused the hell out of me - It's not a bad idea (There are NO bad ideas). I just don't understand the connection.

So, how to choose? Well, I've typed all the suggestions into a spreadsheet, with columns for 'Yes', 'No' and 'Maybe' and we will filter through them until we end up with the one. (Anyone who knows me will know that I solve all of my problems by writing spreadsheets. 'What's for dinner...?' 'Where shall we go on holiday...?' 'Do these shoes match this outfit...?' - 'Hang on. I'll just fire up excel and check.')

The other test I am using is the 'phone test. ('Good Morning XXX Bookshop how can I help?' (Obviously we won't be calling ourselves XXX, we're not that kind of Bookshop... although...)) This produces some interesting sentences... 'Good Morning 'We Sell Books'....' - Well what did you expect? 'Good Morning 'The Word is Out'...' What word, why haven't I heard?

Anyhoo, I'm off to collect some more entries, as we can't trust the post at the moment So I'll just say a quick thanks to everybody who has entered and remind you that there's still time to get those last minute entries in.

You can tell i'm at home 'cos here's another post...

As our Lets Open a Bookshop quest is going through a quiet time at the moment, I thought I might draw your attention to a few people that keep me inspired.

Firstly there's the Fidra Blog which is a remarkable blog by a wonderfully passionate lady called Vanessa who is just weeks away from opening her own Bookshop (I usually write Bookshop with a capital because I hold them in such high esteem). I am so excited for her and slightly jealous of her. Not only that, but she's a publisher as well and remarkably upbeat ALL THE TIME. Please lend your support to her.

Then there's Hereward Corbett, who if you've worked in Waterstone's for a time will know as ex-regional manager, ex manager of Ottakars in Cheltenham, who has also jumped ship and is starting his own bookshop in Tetbury, Gloucester. You can go to his (very) new blog HERE , which should frighten the life out of him, as he's only done 2 entries (write him a message of support and encourage him to write more on the blog!)

There's also Jaffe and Neale an Independent in Chipping Norton. Both Polly Jaffe and Patrick Neale worked at Waterstone's and I was lucky enough to have worked with Polly back in the early 90's. I can remember how amazingly bubbly and positive she was, and it seems that their fantastic attitude and emphasis on customer service has served them well, as they won Independent Bookshop of the Year.

It probably doesn't need a mention, but Crockatt and Powell, somewhere between Waterloo and Lambeth is another relatively new Independent Bookshop, which has found it's market and works fantastically well. They were ex-Waterstone's employees as well...

I've seen success in the Barnes Bookshop and the Kew Bookshop, both run by Isla Dawes and Mark Brighton. Isla's given me lots of great advice, and having visited her Bookshop in Barnes, I was really impressed how she had set up the shop to meet the exact needs of her customers.

These Independent Bookshops deserve support and praise, and as I said, are a real inspiration to me. They're the kind of places that help define an area (or will do in time), and I hope that one day very soon we can follow in their footsteps.

As Mark Farley would probably say 'I salute you'

Name That Bookshop!

Simon

right, back to reality.

We've had a load of entries for this. Just to remind you we wanted the local residents to choose the name of our shop,so we ran a competition and sent out entry forms to all the schools in the area, and also the local paper ran an article. Anyway, the closing date was last Monday, but because of the postal strike we're extending the closing date to 27th. Tim and I have been phoning the 70 schools in haringey to arrange to pick up entries/see if they have any entry forms/remind them.
I've just spoken to Tim and he has just had 3 large envelopes with loads of entries in, so that's rather good.

Haringey is a large borough so I hope not too many schools want us to pick 'em up, or else my 30 mile bike ride recently might be usurped!