books – Bookbugs and Dragon Tales

Posted on February 10, 2020May 16, 2020 by dfridd — 2 Comments

Lets talk about January

… Lets talk about you and me. Lets talk about all the good things and the bad things that may be.

Leanne just said to me… “there’s been some high points in January”, “Like what?” I enquire, for the purposes of the blog. *Blank face*. I suppose the high point is that we won’t have to work too hard next January to do better. I jest, every day is a joy in the shop, we’re still finding wonderful new customers who react with glee when they discover us and we had record numbers attending some of the classes and Book Club continues to be an invigorating experience.

January in retail is dire. Everyone knows this and why wouldn’t it be? Everyone overspent in December and are now seeing the enormous expanse that is the January Pay gap ahead of them. I’ve been warning Leanne since before we opened “December will be manic and January will be hideous”. Everyone warns you of this and every bookshop I’ve spoken to this month that kindly asks “How’s your shop going?” nods sympathetically in agreement. I think the issue with us is that we certainly didn’t double our takings in December so the cushion we were hoping for wasn’t there. It’s OK though, don’t panic (Mr Mainwearing!), what we do is ride it out and get busy engaging with schools.

I guess it didn’t help me that my year began with a bit of a tour of amazing Bookshops. Upgrading their Till systems and performing stock takes with them. Starting at Sevenoaks Bookshop, I had a lovely couple of days there which I made full use of by visiting nearby Uni buddies and their children. The highlight of which was delivering and reading a shop favorite, the philosophical phenomenon “The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse” by Charlie Mackesy. They very kindly listened intently to the whole thing.

Matt & Lucie – Fellow fearless adventurers and English wine experts

Sometimes you need to spend a bit of time in a bookshop to get it’s essence. I knew Sevenoaks had a great reputation and know Fleur the owner well but being there on a Monday in January was a revelation. You start to understand what a real community bookshop offers and the value of longevity. It’s all about people. When you have a team of experienced booksellers bouncing ideas off each other for a customer recommendation and getting it right for them they will come back and Sevenoaks has had 70 years of trusting their Bookshop will get it right for them. I don’t care how good the algorithm is there’s nothing that will beat a conversation about books with someone that really understands. And the community respond with love and loyalty. Whilst I’m getting texts from Leanne about our worst day to date (we’ve since beaten it!) Sevenoaks Bookshop was heaving! You don’t match that kind of loyalty in 5 months of trading. Sevenoaks bookshop has been there decades and this was a real lesson to me NOT to panic. We are on an upward trajectory and that is all that matters.

Book ideas taken from Sevenoaks Bookshop

Next on my UK tour was a Book-ish in Crickhowell, Wales. Since being lucky enough to enjoy a Booksellers conference in Detroit with Owner Emma Corfield-Walters and persuading her to take the system I support we have become close friends. I often get asked if I’d like to stay at fellow booksellers homes when I am on my travels but for the most part I don’t feel like I want to impose but Emma is such a welcoming person I stay there every time I visit now. Her family are so lovely and it’s lovely to be able to be so far from home but still feel at home. Hotel rooms can be pretty soul destroying. Emma’s shop is something else! It’s half incredible bookshop half incredible cafe (I have cravings for their sandwiches). Emma punches above her weight, Crickhowell is not a big place. You could walk from one end to the other in 10 minutes but Book-ish is smack bang in the middle and serves a much larger area in the Brecon Beacons. Emma consistently sells out huge Author events with over 300 attendees, arranges festivals and is on the board of the BA. She is possibly the hardest working bookseller I know and deserves the plaudits she receives. Crickhowell won High Street of the year 2019 and there’s no doubt in my mind that it wouldn’t have without Emma’s drive and determination. OK, Bookseller crush gush over. But seriously, go there. The place and the surrounding area is stunning.

After counting all of Emma’s books it was onwards to what is, in my view the finest pure bookshop in the world. I don’t say this lightly, I’ve been to a lot of bookshops worldwide but I know there are some amazing ones in other countries that might take the crown aesthetically. I go back to my previous comment about it being about people. Before I gush about the people, let me just say that Mr B’s Emporium of Reading Delights in Bath has got it right in every aspect. It takes your breath away. I’d not been since they renovated and expanded into next door and created a new children’s area last year. We actually took a lot more inspiration (although on a smaller budget!) from them than I realised, their moving eyes tree is genius and the Imaginarium is sublime. Back to the people. I remember visiting Mr B’s a few years ago and marvelling at one of their legendary Book Spa’s in action (such a clever, simple concept to offer in Bath). You talk to a bookseller in a Spa style environment about books, likes, dislikes etc and they then come up with a reading list for you which you can buy as part of the package. Hearing their team of expert booksellers talking books with each other in response to the spa is an education in itself. I am very aware now that I have been learning all the time in my 11 years in bookshops doing tech support but I am very much in awe of what they do and can’t wait to fully qualify as a bona-fide bookseller. I’m reliably informed you very have to earn your wings in this industry, there are no short cuts. Having the privilege of chatting to Mr B’s owner and current BA president Nic Bottomly for a whole evening while I played about on their computers and fixed a few bits is where it’s all at for me. The seminal moment being the revelation that they started on the same value loan that we did and had no savings! YES! This is exactly the news I needed to hear in such a desperate month. Watch out Mr B’s, we are coming for you. But seriously. Thank you for everything!

Other shops visited this month include John Sandoes Books in Sloan Square. Bookshop to some pretty impressive customers. After counting their 30,000 books Johnny sent me away with one of the most unusual gifts I’ve ever had… a quarter wheel of Blue cheese that a customer had brought in for an event. We like to joke in our house about which particular celebrities cheese we are eating. I’ve also been to Hungerford Bookshop, London Review Bookshop and Primrose Hill Bookshop this month, all of which I have known for my entire 11 years in the book industry. I then had the pleasure of assisting a brand new children’s bookshop in Olney open. Rose there has more energy and drive than anyone I’ve met for a long time and her experience in child welfare means Olney will be well served. She also has the coolest little Book Bus that she can take out to events and lesser served villages. Pop along to her modest premises on the main square and you’ll see “The Snug Children’s bookshop” is a gem.

So, Leanne tells me that for a bookshop blog this hasn’t been much about our shop. Sorry not sorry. When I have hung up my Bookshop travelling boots and am full time employed by Bookbugs and Dragon Tales I promise to only write about our shop but in the meantime I’m loving writing about the inspiration I find in other shops. I make sure that I come back with 1 new book to stock from every shop. People often ask us where we find such a diverse and interesting selection of titles that they don’t see elsewhere. Well… you’d have to have been to all the bookshops I have been to to see them. Of course we also discover books from other sources, supplier catalogues, publisher visits, customer recommendations, industry analytics,

newspapers, radio, Instagram and Twitter but our Bookbugs Whatsapp group (comically named “Bookbuggers”) is littered with pictures of books I’m finding that are either recommended by the booksellers I meet or just found on the shelves. Of course our problem this month is we can’t afford to buy them! January is the perfect storm. Broke customers, terrible shopping weather and December bills.

So what do you do about January as a bookseller?

You get busy with everything you’ve been promising you’d do before but not felt enough urgency to really drive it forward. You engage with Schools in a big way. We have started up a schools day trip program where classes of children come to the shop and can do one of several things with us. We have one school who come in groups of 10s, have a few stories read to them, a craft or drama activity and pick 1 book each for their Library. Choice is so important and the thought of these kids going back to their classmates and championing their book is wonderful. We have a variation on this theme for other schools. What’s lovely is when one of the children drags their parents in days later, kicks off their shoes and throws their coat down to show them around their new favorite place.

You do Harry Potter quiz nights with pop up shops
You have your 1st external Author events at a local school and feel very honoured to have been trusted with the supply of the books for that (although also very scared we’d get the numbers wrong. Fortunately the publisher has been very supportive offering Sale or Return and great discount on the entire back catalogue!). A lesson I learnt from the Americans is the importance of pre-orders for school events. Get your form designed and sent to the school early.
You dress up as a Bookbug and Dragon and parade around the city handing out flyers. Luckily Leanne and I are incredible show-offs and have no shame. What’s more surprising is when customers/friends volunteer to do this for us! I’m still working on getting my 14 year old step daughter in it. Apparently it would be frowned upon in the cool circles at her high school. Go Figure!?

You Return Books. One of the great things about the book industry is that there is a system of returning books you’ve found don’t move from your shelves. Generally only 5% of what you’ve bought from a wholesaler (depending on your negotiation skills) but in a tough month that can pay off some substantial invoices or just gives you a chance to try some new titles. In my position as Bookseller systems trainer I’m something of a wiz at this and have taken great pleasure in imparting my knowledge of this to Leanne. I swear she’s never happier than with a scanner in her hand filling boxes of books to go back. Some booksellers see this as a failing on their behalf, the one that didn’t sell, but Leanne is brutal!
You re-finance, re-evaluate, juggle savings and find you have guardian angels. There have been moments in the shop this month that have had us crying with joy and filled us with belief in what we are doing. We have never been stronger.

A quick word about today. The closest we have had to a dreaded snow day. Storm [whatever stupid name they decided to call this bit of wind] hit and everyone else stayed home. Tiles were flying off roofs, car alarms were going off and our A board decided it much preferred the view from John Lewis. Leanne and I came in because it’s what we do. We quickly realised it was going to be a stinker, in retrospect we probably shouldn’t have bothered leaving the house. Until 1.27pm we had had 1 paying customer and 1 online customer, to my own personal amusement (because I am 5) they both bought the same book, making the day even windier with “Does it Fart”. Finished the day on £24, £5 of which was a loyalty card redemption. Do you know what though? We had a lovely day together, dancing with each other, reading, laughing, cleaning stock rooms and writing blogs. It doesn’t matter. The week in general was better than any in January and our events have been better attended than ever. Craft social kicked off Friday evening with 12 customers! We apologised to our “Bookseller” Sally that running Craft sessions in an evening wasn’t in the job description, she laughed in our faces and said “Are you kidding? This is the best job ever!”. Meanwhile Poppy, our other permanent Bookseller has been off making waves in the poetry world with her performance at Norwich Arts centre that blew our minds. We are so lucky to have them.

We know we have great things coming up, Leanne actually took email orders today for 4 No Outsider book packs and 30 scripts so if you count those we had a great day. Big picture, don’t ever get focused on the quiet bits, evaluate and use your time where it can make things better. We have 2000 Loyalty card customers which may only be 1% of Norwich but that means we’re doing pretty well. It also means 99% of Norwich could still find us and we can grow into the hearts and minds of the community, which is where we always wanted to be.

If you’ve made it this far then you deserve a Badge and a sticker the next time you are in the shop. You could have read a book in this time. I recommend “Leonard and Hungry Paul” Fantastic book from our grown up section. Best book I’ve read in the last year. I’m a little star struck that the author and publisher have been tweeting me today. These things never get old.

nb. The day after writing the above… Hit our target by lunchtime! 10 in for bounce and Rhyme and lots of lovely customers. Boom! Back in the game!

Posted on January 28, 2020January 28, 2020 by dfridd — Leave a comment

Poppy Post

Leanne and Dan have asked me to write a blog a few times now and my usual response is to wrinkle my nose and sassily roll my eyes like a teenager who has been asked to tidy their room. This is not because I wouldn’t love to write one, but I didn’t feel confident to do so for two reasons. The first is that I am dyslexic, so any sort of written task fills me with dread. The second reason is that I simply can not find the words to express how much this bookshop has impacted my life. However today I found myself asking if I could finally write my blog. With a heartful of love and excitement and a little dash of fear, here I am. So here it goes, please excuse my spelling mistakes and bad grammar.

I will start by telling you how I got the job as a bookseller at Bookbugs and Dragon Tales.

One day on my way back from one of my many jobs (a newly graduated Actor trying to make ends meet) I messaged my Ex drama tutor, fellow actor, friend and honorary theatre Mum, Leanne, to see if she needed any help with her BOOKSHOP!!!!! Having extremely long arms and Leanne standing at a very respectable 4ft 11”, she needed my help taking down some shelves which of course I was happy to. After the initial catch up and excitement for her new life as a bookshop owner Leanne began talking about needing to employ staff. Ironically I had read the advert incorrectly, I explained that it would be a dream to work her for my ‘mum’ but I couldn’t commit to 6 days a week to which Leanne explained I was a fool and it was a job share and I would be working three days. What followed was a lot of hugs, tears of joy and high-pitched squealing. (We are both actors, so it was a very dramatic moment). I was going to be working in mum’s bookshop!!!!

Opening day came and I immediately knew I had made the best decision.

Now comes the part where I struggle to describe how lucky I am. I will be soppy and say that it has changed my life, now that may sound dramatic but here are my reasons. It is very rare as a freelance artist that you find a part time ‘bread and butter’ job where your boss actively encourages you to take the day off for auditions. It is even rarer that that boss is like your second mum. More than the practicality of it, it is the energy that this shop has that has enriched my life and I see daily how it enriches the lives of others. BUT, the biggest thing is… I AM READING!!!! This is a big deal for me, it is something I have always struggled with, at the age of 21 I was told I had a reading age of a 10-year-old. This would make sense as the last books I can remember enjoying were Michael Morpurgo’s Kensuke’s Kingdom and Phillip Pullman’s The Firework Makers Daughter, both of which I always recommend to children struggling to enjoy reading. When I started working at Bookbugs and Dragon Tales it was the source of a lot of friendly banter that I, ME, Poppy, worked in a bookshop.

Leanne made it her mission to help me find my confidence in reading, a mission that she has accomplished. The book that started it all off was her recommendation of The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. I devoured this book, at my own pace and I never thought a book would have such an impact on me. I sat on my sofa weeping through the last chapter. Bereft that I had finished it I came into work and got a new book straight away. I chose The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins. I chose this because I love thrillers and I hoped that it would help to increase the momentum of my book reading. Which it totally did. I am now coming to the end of Never Greener by Ruth Jones and I am looking forward to moving onto Normal People by Sally Rooney. THIS, is why I finally wanted to write my blog, I have found a hunger for reading. I am chuckling at myself now writing this because I still cannot believe I have been consistently reading for 5 months!

Among the novels that I have enjoyed, I have also been reading numerous poetry books, collections and pamphlets. I am also a poet but have never had the confidence to do anything with it, but reading energised me and encouragement from everyone at Bookbugs and Dragon Tales has meant that I attended workshops and I am now writing more and performing my poetry.

I have learnt that reading can be enjoyable even after years of it being scary. I will be running a creative writing workshop in February Half term for 7+ years. This is accessible to those who have a dyslexic superpower like me. Everyone is welcome, whether you find writing easy, hard, scary or wonderful. We will be using drama and game play as a way to create story with the aim to take the pressure off being ‘good at writing’ and instead celebrate your imagination and creativity.

In conclusion, what a joy, I am so lucky and forever grateful to Leanne and Dan for giving me the most wonderful job and putting up with all my sass towards reading and writing.

Editors note:

Pops is very humble and finds it difficult to promote herself which, as a self employed Theatre practitioner, isn’t great. If any of what you have read here makes you want to know more, please follow her on Twitter or attend Toast at Norwich Arts Centre where she performs regularly. She also provides creative writing, spoken word poetry and drama workshops to local schools as Grape Arts Theatre Company and you can see a short poem of hers here

Posted on November 29, 2019November 29, 2019 by Sally — Leave a comment

Sally’s Bookshop Blog

“It must be great to work in a bookshop” is what most people say in response to discovering that’s what I “do”. To be completely frank with you… it’s the absolute best and I love it. Bookshops are lovely places to be anyway but throw in the magic of Bookbugs and Dragon Tales and I can’t believe this is actually my job. I am so lucky.

Now bear with me, I’m about to get a little bit sentimental. Remember Christmas morning as a child? The anticipation before diving head-first into the long-anticipated gifts and goodies? Remember unveiling those gifts and the leap of joy in your stomach at the revelation of the wonder inside? Every morning we get to relive that feeling a little with our daily delivery of books. Especially this time of year. Some exquisitely illustrated, some poignant and resonating, some rich with nostalgia, the list is endless. Booking new stock into the shop takes longer than it probably should as we all stand around cooing at books like New Babies.

When a person asks you your favourite anything it’s such a difficult question to answer. Books especially, I find. There’s the books that Mum or Dad used to read snuggled up on chilly nights, or the novel you were reading when you were on the most incredible journey. Then there’s the books that help you through the tough times, finding peace and solace in the pages. Working in a bookshop my favourites change pretty much daily.

Picture books are brilliant. I LOVE new picture book deliveries and feel a real emotional connection with them. Probably because of the lovely hours spent reading them with my own children. We’ve just emerged from the picture book phase and entered the wondrous realms of the chapter book. The adventures are exciting and filled with considerably more peril than the picture books which means we CAN’T PUT THE BOOK DOWN and bedtime is elongated somewhat. But it’s worth it.

It’s time to try and choose some favourites I suppose. It might be a long list, but I’ll keep the waffle to a minimum. Did you ever read Shirley Hughes? The time I spent getting lost in her exquisite illustrations as a child, imagining myself building grass-houses and tumbling down hills when reading “Out and About.” And “Dogger!” Such a simple story, the pit of sadness when he’s lost, and the absolute joy when he’s found and reunited with his owner (sorry for spoilers if you haven’t read Dogger). Shirley Hughes’ books are such a childhood classic; gentle, imaginative and beautiful. They give me a feeling that I can only describe as ‘going to Grandmas House’ brimming with warmth and hugs.

I fell head over heels for a picture book that came in last week. “Dreams of Freedom” written in association with Amnesty international. An exploration of human rights; the right to have the freedom to feel safe, to have ideas, to have freedom from fear. Using powerful words from inspirational people and placing them alongside stunning artworks from illustrators including Alexis Deacon, Oliver Jeffers and Jackie Morris. Such an incredible book with an important message. And ALL the royalties from the sale of the book will be donated to Amnesty International. I’m a little bit too attached. I want to hide it in a cupboard and not sell it and keep it forever. In fact, I think I will.

There are SO many books, one I must mention; “The Heart in the Bottle” by Oliver Jeffers. I’d not discovered this little book until I started my bookselling career. This small but special book is a bit of a lump-in-the-throat-maker, looking at a child’s loss of a special person. The child protects her heart from the pain of grief by placing it in a bottle, and she grows up. She meets another little girl, who is captivated in the magic that envelops childhood, and its only then she is able to take her heart out of the bottle (Tear down the cheek, fuzzy little glow in the heart).

I suppose I could just tell you, quickly, about “Does it Fart?” by Nick Caruso, Dani Rabaiotti and Axel Griffiths. Any books about poo, farts, bums etc are popular, but this book in particular is one of our bestsellers. I mean, who doesn’t want to know if a Whale farts? Read this (children’s) book and you will always be armed with interesting, but possibly not entirely appropriate dinner-party conversation.

Chapter books! Love LOVE chapter books at the moment. The legendary Roald Dahl, what an absolute joy to re-visit his books with the kids. Then there’s Harry Potter; after a couple of years we’ve finally finished ALL the Harry Potter books and our son loved them to pieces. His favourite author, however, is absolutely David Walliams. We have some books and some on audio; the belly laughs that boy produces when listening to David Walliams are just phenomenal and completely contagious. Me and my son who’s eight are reading the “Wizards of Once” trilogy by Cressida Cowell at the moment. We’re on the last book. Its super exciting. A magical world of wizards and warriors, a voyage of self-discovery and courage and a battle against petrifying witches who were thought to be extinct. These books are so well written and exciting with brilliantly thought out characters, each one with a superbly distinct personality. A little confession, there have been a couple of occasions where I might have carried on reading after my son fell asleep. Sometimes you just don’t want to wait till the next bedtime before finding out if the witches are defeated in battle for goodness sake.

Ugh, I just love books. And my job. And now all the CHRISTMAS books are here, the windows are beautiful and festive. The EDP have included us in their “Favourite Christmas Shop Window in Norwich” poll. If you haven’t seen them yet, pop down and have a look. They are stunning and you won’t help but get a few festive butterflies in the tummy. And how amazing to be noticed and included on the list anyway! In a way I feel like we’ve already won (but please do vote for us because we would really like to win in real life).

Very excited about the next few weeks, craft fairs, elf workshops, clay sculpting to name a few of the things going on. Plus, our regular sessions. If you want to do something super lovely with the little ones, we do Bedtime Stories on the first Thursday of the month. It’s the cutest thing, snuggling up all cosy in the bookshop drinking hot chocolate in our jammies and listening to stories. And next Thursday it will all be Christmassy stories. I just cannot wait, never mind the children, it’s me who’s the most excited.

Looking through our selection of Christmas books at home, I decided that they’re a bit babyish and I just HAD to replace them with some lovely, new, age appropriate Christmas books. I love having a selection in a basket under the Christmas tree to read every night. It feels like because we only read these books at Christmas, they’re a tradition in their own right and the kids look forward to seeing them every year. I hope they approve of the selection I’ve got this year (pictures below) which are currently secreted on top of the wardrobe in my bedroom. Can’t wait to get them down in the run-up to Christmas and snuggle with my little people to read them with the Christmas lights on. Such precious moments.

Signing off for now, I might ask nicely if I can do a follow up about Adult and Young adult fiction as I feel like I’ve waffled enough. So, thank you for reading, and come see us soon!