The Bookshop Challenge begins very soon. There will be photos, and interviews. There will be high drama (how long before I get lost?) and there will be suspense (will the camera on my phone work?).
Even though I have planned every day of the event I still don’t know if I will manage to visit 150 bookshops in 20 working days. The challenge is made harder because I agreed to visit only one shop if the bookseller is part of chain. In the case of Waterstones for instance I’ll visit the one in Cambridge but not the other 282 branches in other cities. Their dominance means many cities have a Waterstones but little else. I wonder if there’s a need for a vibrant Campaign for Real Bookshops, similar to to the Campaign for Real Ale? Books are My Bag promotes independent bookshops, but it’s certainly not a pressure group. People support it by using their bags with large orange words saying, “Books are my bag”. This makes no sense to me. It’s a bag, yet it says “Books are my bag” which is wrong. Your bag is your bag, a book is not your bag. But as your bag has words on it does that make it a book? If so the plot needs some serious rework. Am I missing something? Maybe it should say ‘Booksellers are my bag”? If you’re promoting booksellers or anything else literary, shouldn’t your message be really good and clear? This is the problem I have with this campaign.
I shall spend many days in London, which is brimming with specialist bookshops. I shall venture into: a bookshop on a boat, transport bookshops, gay bookshops, political bookshops, cartoon bookshops, and at least one erotic bookshop. I’ll be curious to know if that shop has a section on diesel locomotives.
If I find enough unlisted secondhand bookshops on my tours I may reach my target. At the moment have no idea if I will, or how this particular story will end.
Even though I have planned every day of the event I still don’t know if I will manage to visit 150 bookshops in 20 working days. The challenge is made harder because I agreed to visit only one shop if the bookseller is part of chain. In the case of Waterstones for instance I’ll visit the one in Cambridge but not the other 282 branches in other cities. Their dominance means many cities have a Waterstones but little else. I wonder if there’s a need for a vibrant Campaign for Real Bookshops, similar to to the Campaign for Real Ale? Books are My Bag promotes independent bookshops, but it’s certainly not a pressure group. People support it by using their bags with large orange words saying, “Books are my bag”. This makes no sense to me. It’s a bag, yet it says “Books are my bag” which is wrong. Your bag is your bag, a book is not your bag. But as your bag has words on it does that make it a book? If so the plot needs some serious rework. Am I missing something? Maybe it should say ‘Booksellers are my bag”? If you’re promoting booksellers or anything else literary, shouldn’t your message be really good and clear? This is the problem I have with this campaign.
If I find enough unlisted secondhand bookshops on my tours I may reach my target. At the moment have no idea if I will, or how this particular story will end.
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