Bookwitch

What to do with all those proofs? This time it’s not my problem, but the bookshop’s. They are drowning in proofs, and however keen they are on books, there’s only 24 hours in the day. Their solution has been to start a young reviewers book club. Two groups of twenty children each, aged 8-13 meet once a month, over handmade biscuits and smoothies.

They tell each other about what they’ve read, hear news on events, and choose new proofs to take home and read. They fill in a reviewer’s form and hand in. The most interesting reviews can be read on the shop’s website, and when the books are published they write “shelf talkers” to put with the book in the shop. And the books sell. Buyers seem to take a great deal of notice, and some books sell surprisingly well because a local young reader has recommended it.

What I find most encouraging is that they see right through hype. It doesn’t matter if the publishers are tying themselves into knots, coming up with ever weirder sales ideas for their new books. If it’s a rubbish book, the children say so.

A tip for publishers; if you really want your proofs to be read, send them in a readable format. In the end, if time’s short, and it always is, you pick a book that looks like a book. If it’s loose bits of paper kept together by a rubber band, you’d have to be very keen to tackle it.

As a special treat, the children get invited to author events, either exclusively for them, or are given priority. There’s a waiting list for the club.