I own a bookshop

Well… not a real one.  Not one with a bricks-and-mortar address.  But still, I own a bookshop online.  It’s called Nina the Reader, I hope for obvious reasons.

Unlike Amazon, Bookshop.org supports independent local bookshops.  I’ve been a customer for years, and now I get to stock my own virtual shelves with the books I’ve read and enjoyed.  I’ll make a small commission on anything sold, so I expect to move into my new mansion in a matter of months.

But seriously.

The lovely thing about owning a virtual bookshop is not having to deal with shoplifters, weirdos, or people complaining about books they bought.

When I was 16, I worked in our local branch of WHSmith over the Christmas holidays.  Over 30 years later, three customers stand out in my mind.  One: the woman who bought 17 Cliff Richard calendars (“that’s my Christmas shopping all done!” she grinned as I rang them all up).  Two: the man who bought a job-lot of ‘top shelf’ magazines and then furtively asked me for a carrier bag to put them in.  “Sorry, we’ve run out,” I lied.

And three: the man who brought a copy of Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus back for a refund, because it hadn’t helped win back the wife who’d just left him.

You also won’t get the chance to leave a review for ‘my’ shop, which is great.

It’s great for me, but it’s also great for you, because I won’t be emailing you to ask “How did I do?” every five minutes, until you finally give in and, with bloodshot eyes and shaking fingers, bang out a review.

When I first started working for myself in 2016, I supplemented my early writer’s income by doing shifts as a gamesmaster in an escape room.  What was mostly a fun job became embarrassing and cringe-worthy when, at the end of each game, I had to hand out a TripAdvisor review card with my name scribbled on it.  “If you enjoyed yourselves, I’d love it if you could leave us a review!” I’d trill, secretly wanting to slap myself.

Luckily, the reviews I did get were good ones!

Note that I didn’t say if they didn’t enjoy themselves they could leave us a review, because who wants that?  We might have had to write a grovelling reply asking them to contact us “so we can discuss your feedback in more detail.” (Why do so many hospitality businesses do that?  Stop being so needy and move on!)

So, with all ‘real-life retail’ barriers nicely removed, please feel free to buy a book from my shop.

Each book I’ve recommended comes with a little sentence from me, to say why I think it’s a good read.  But if you want to know more (whether or not you’ll be buying the book from me!) just drop me an email.  I love talking about books.

I’ve also written a few books of my own.  You’re free to ask about and/or buy those as well, if you like.