I want ALL the books and I want them NOW! OK, it’s not quite as bad as it might sound (though I remember telling people, when we moved into our current home, that I had spent about ten times as much on book cases as I did on a bed for myself). There are indeed books all over the house, as always, but about half of them are destined for rehoming. There is, I promise, a clear division between All The Books which are my own personal collection and All The Books which are stock (there isn’t a bookseller in existence who isn’t also a major bookworm. It isn’t possible) But, still, there are books-to-be-sold all over the house and yet I am continually browsing both eBay and distributors’ websites for more.
At present I am trying to acknowledge my limitations. As a mobile bookseller who is car-free, there are only so many books that can be taken to market on any one day. While I resolved some of the previously-bothersome luggage issues by purchasing a very expensive wheeled suitcase last year (15 year guarantee, they told me. They may regret this.) a more recent problem has been display space. Over the past year, with markets being in venues other than the ones we were accustomed to, we’ve often had to bring our own tables. The one I have on longterm loan from a mate is a four-footer, and by the second of last summer’s gigs I had taken to using the emptied suitcase as a lower-level display shelf. Then, prior to the Farm trip, I bought myself a six-foot trestle, thinking that it would resolve the display problem.
Nope. Still had to redeploy the suitcase. As a lovely fellow trader offered to take the new table and bring it along to the Spring Fete, I decided I could manage the little table as well. And there were still too many books to put them all out on display.
Perhaps it’s true that there will always be at least one customer who wants something I haven’t got with me, or haven’t got in stock, and therefore I should always remember that I can and do sell them what they most desire online, but perhaps you all need to help me out by coming along to the next few events and taking some, if not all, the books home with you.
You can find me at various LAMs
The BBB is restarting in July and there is another event starting in early July: the Midlands Fetish Fair. Keep an eye on my social media for more info.