The Book Seller's Blog

I have Twitter to thank for my introduction to American writer Mary Robinette Kowal’s February letter writing challenge. This has a certain irony as my social media use has edged my letter writing into a smaller and smaller corner of my social interaction. Even my old pen friend in Lancashire now tends to receive more Facebook messages than proper letters. My only regular snail mail contacts are my parents and that is only because they choose not to have internet access.

Sheelagh na Gig bookshop opened in late 2006 in a village in north Tipperary, selling books, music, art, and coffee from a tiny space in Cloughjordan, just across from St. Kieran’s Church of Ireland.

Opening a bookshop in a village was not as lunatic as it sounds: Cloughjordan is the home of Ireland’s first ecovillag

Chris Mills, senior book buyer with Hughes and Hughes Dundrum reveals the booksellers' hidden torment...

Crannóg Bookshop Celebrates Winning the Bord Gáis Energy Bookshop of the Year

Christine Mills looks at the two most vital skills that a bookseller needs to survive the Christmas shopping madness

Christina Mills of Hughes & Hughes shares some social media musings

Christine Mills of Hughes & Hughes Dundrum reveals what they have in store for us this Halloween

Louisa Cameron of Raven Books in Blackrock talks about the hard work that goes into getting a book from the brain to the page. 

Christine Mills, Senior Bookseller with Hughes and Hughes joins us this week to reveal the book sellers essential sixth sense....

Kenny's book store is Ireland's biggest online book shop, stocking over half a million new and secondhand books, and with access to five million, all with free worldwide delivery. Selling books since 1940, Kenny's is a family business, and Desi Kenny will be bringing us his thoughts on books and bookshops....

Wendy at Sweny's pharmacy and bookshop explains the legacy of the store and the affiliation with James Joyce's famous Ulysses. 

In May I opened a small independent bookshop in the centre of Dublin city. “Why?” I hear you ask. “Haven't you heard, high-street book selling  is dead? E-Books and iPads, Amazon, Tesco, Piracy etc. etc. etc.” For any of us who've spent time working in the book trade, these sentiments are an all to present splinter in our collective consciousness.  I've been a full time book seller for ten years and, like us all, have had my share of those future-of-the-bookshop conversations.

Writing.ie is delighted to welcome Bob Johnson of The Gutter Bookshop to The Bookseller's Blog. Here he reveals exactly how bookshops choose stock, and what you need to do as a small publisher to get your book on the shelf.

I once went into a shoe store but before I could finish my enquiry, the young lady behind the till said, ‘they’re all out!” meaning that if I couldn’t find it myself, they didn’t have it in stock.  She lost a sale that day because I can never resist shoes and if I can’t find what I’m looking for, I inevitably find something else I fancy. With that kind of negative response I just turned on my heels and left.  There are plenty of shoe shops just dying for customers like me.

There are plenty of bookshops, too.

When you work in the book trade it’s really hard to socialise without starting every second sentence with, “I was reading this great book last week and…” The major problem is that everyone – surprise, surprise – doesn’t spend their entire waking moments thinking about writing, authors, launches, reviews, plot lines, new releases, reissues, covers, placement, top tens, back orders, and books, books, books....

Sometimes a book will spark a memory of times past or simply make you think about issues that you want to share.·

All I have to do is look at the cover of a book I’ve read and a flash of memory will take me back to where I was at the time of reading, what I was feeling and how I connected with the characters in the story.

I was near the end of John Irving’s wonderful novel, A Prayer for Eoin Meany, as I travelled to Galway on the train...