Novelist Susan Hill (known primarily for literary fiction but of late, she’s been writing mysteries) wrote a letter to Macmillan UK’s Richard Charkin which he’s dutifully published on his blog, Charkblog. And if you’re an independent bookseller, well, you’ve made Hill a very unhappy camper:
‘Shop One’ had far less stock than ten years ago and ‘almost all turned face forwards’. ‘Shop Two’ was staffed by ‘a witch’ who suggests to a customer that he not buy Lynne Truss’s Talk to the Hand because it isn’t a children’s book. ‘Shop Three’ had ‘too few books randomly spread out like too few sandwiches on a big buffet table. They were mainly the latest bestsellers in expensive hardback. But there is a large W H Smith five miles away where Jamie Oliver’s Italy and friends can be bought half-price’.
Not surprisingly, bookseller reaction has been vocal and vociferous, like Christine Hanson of Bookmark in Spalding:
“Some of us have taken a long hard look at ourselves and are continuing to do so. No business, whether they are a chain or independent, can sit back and think they can sit still or not change. Differentiate or die. I would like to challenge Susan Hill to help stock my book shop for 2006, and help me to improve my sales. I’d also like to show her how we are different and how our customers take pride in their shop.”
This fight doesn’t look to end anytime soon…