Rant

I’m an author who also works in a bookshop. When my first novel was published last year, knowing how much of a difference it makes when I love a book we’re stocking and in spite of huge nervousness, I took a copy in to 20 independent bookshops, so that they might have a chance to read it. The response varied enormously. Some bookshops were very interested, asked me questions and said lovely things about the cover. Others acted as if I’d just suggested we all take our clothes off and have a cuddle. I say this, to provide context; I know it can be awkward, even a little demeaning to go into a bookshop when you’re a writer, but here’s a tip: if you’ve had or are about to have a book published and you’re doing the rounds of independent bookshops, don’t be rude to the sales staff (especially when they’ve just been allowed to write a blog). Begin with a breezy introduction, perhaps something like ‘I’ve written a book about what my cat gets up to at night while I’m asleep - would you be interested in having a look at it to sell in your shop?‘ not ‘I wrote this and I want to sell it though your shop’. Much as it may seem like it - you are not doing an independent bookshop a favour by allowing them to sell your work.

Then, when the person behind the till asks to see a copy of your book, or asks if you can leave a copy for them to look at, don’t say either a) only if you buy it first b) I don’t have any, I just thought I’d see if you were interested first. Because the immediate reactions is likely to be; interested in what? In you? NO. No I’m not interested in you - I don’t know you, and just because you’ve written enough words to fill a vaguely book-sized, book-shaped thing does not mean it is automatically good enough to sell. Are you seriously suggesting I take up space in the shop, steal food from my boss’s mouth, just because you have written something, and now as 'a writer' need no longer conform to the humdrum conventions of polite social interaction? Hold on while I throw away these copies of Alice Munro to make room.

I wonder where people get such confidence in their own genius. I did an open evening a while ago, holding 20 minute one-to-one sessions with people who had sent their work on ahead. Most of them were open and interested in having a conversation about their writing - telling me what they’d set out to do, listening to what I thought worked and didn’t work. But there was the odd writer who clearly found the very idea of me commenting on any aspect of their work preposterous. Now I’m not claiming to be the greatest editor of my generation but I couldn’t help thinking it wouldn’t matter who I was – there was no way they were going to accept any sort of comment that wasn’t 'I love this bit most.'  I know this because every time I started to speak, often before I’d finished they would say, ‘yeah but because you haven’t read the rest of the book, you don’t know what happens later on…’ or ‘but that’s what it was like you weren’t there…’, or ‘but it gets really good on page 21’.

I know it’s hard not to do it - I remember starting my MA course and how terrifying the workshops were, how exposed I felt, having strangers reading and commenting on my work. I’m lucky that I’ve now been through two courses where receiving criticism was part of the teaching, so I feel quite zen, most of the time, about people suggesting changes to my work. It has to be the right person - I’m not so keen on the times people drop into the bookshop to tell me where I went wrong with After the Fire - but there are people I trust and I’m always happy to add to that group.

The bottom line is that working in the bookshop, I see the way people pick up books, flick through the opening pages, waiting to be grabbed. If they’re not, they put it down and pick another one up. That’s why, although you have to stay true to what you want to write, and although it can be really hard when something you really enjoy about your work isn’t right, deciding to ignore everyone else and pursue a course of lone visionary genius is, more often than not, bonkers. And if editors in mainstream publishing aren’t able to grasp your talent, and you choose to publish and market your book yourself, make sure you say please and thank you.

I'd love to hear from any of you out there who are members of writing groups on what you find so useful. If you disagree with writing groups, let me know why.