Today's post is one I've had the idea for since I started working as a temporary bookseller at my local Waterstones in November. Over three months later, it's safe to say I've learned a lot and I wanted to share some of the things I've learnt while working in a dream job for me. This is mostly going to be about me and my experience in relationship to books, rather than the demands of the job. I think this is the best way for me to talk about it. So let's get into what I've learnt about being a bookseller.
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| The kid's picture book section after I spent the day tidying it |
My "Speciality" Within Books
One day I was having a conversation with someone visiting our branch from a different branch and they asked, if I could become a specialist or senior bookseller, what area would I like to focus on. I genuinely didn't have an answer because I don't know. I thought maybe I could pass as a fantasy/sci-fi bookseller or teen/YA, but even then I would have felt out of my depth. Before I started this job, I would have said I knew a lot of titles in these sections. However, the ones I've been exposed to are the ones I see on Bookstagram. This actually leads me on nicely to my next point...
I Don't Know As Much As I Thought I Did
I realised pretty quickly that my knowledge of books was actually way smaller than I thought it was. I thought that being a part of the online book community meant my knowledge of books was good, but it's actually very limited. I only knew about the big titles, the ones I saw everywhere. It's made me want to make more of an effort to track down some smaller/less talked about books. I've been picking up books that I haven't seen online in order to expand my horizons. There's just so many books and I've only read a small fraction of what we sell. It's definitely something I want to work on expanding and has given me a new spark in my love for books.
Seeing New Books
Before working at my local Waterstones, I would have only checked out the sections I already read books from, such as new fiction, fiction, YA/Teen and fantasy. Now, I have worked all over the shop. I have seen books that I would have never imagined existed. There really is a book for everyone out there. There's probably more than I can ever imagine. We get so many requests for books off the beaten track. It really has opened my eyes to books I wouldn't have had the opportunity to learn about. For example, there are some really interesting non-fiction books out there that I'd love to read. All of this has been making my TBR very long!
There's More to Bookselling Than Meets the Eye
I don't know what I imagined booksellers did all day, but there really are a lot of different roles within the shop. My main ones do seem to be working the till or shelving. But there's also pricing our non-book related products, sorting out customer orders and cleaning. There are times when there isn't much to do, but we're often always wandering around doing something. I think my favourite things to do are to shelve books and to price items. I find it very therapeutic using the pricing gun and getting the job done, but that's probably just a me thing.
Those are just a few things that I've learned from my time as a bookseller. Yes, there are some not so great aspects about being a bookseller, but overall I love it. If you want to learn more about being a bookseller, I recently The Diary of a Bookseller by Shaun Bythell, which I enjoyed and would recommend. It had a lot of experiences in that I could relate to.
