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BA relaunches Shopfloor Publishers scheme
The Booksellers Association is relaunching its Shopfloor Publishers scheme to run year-round.
Following the success of previous versions of the project, which invites publishers to spend a day working in a bookshop, the initiative is now being rolled out across the year, with the first publishers being invited to work in bookshops during September.
“Offering senior publishers an invaluable opportunity to experience bookselling first-hand, the scheme aims to further increase collaboration between bookshops and publishers,” the BA said.
The association has invited members to volunteer to host senior publishers in their store for the day, and will be matching these with publishers.
Faber executive chair Stephen Page and Canongate c.e.o. Jamie Byng spent time at Main Street Trading Company in St Boswells when the scheme first launched back in 2017. It inspired a similar scheme, the DK Day initiative, with booksellers invited to DK’s head office for a look at the editorial process.
Meryl Halls, m.d. at the BA, said: “Having run our Shopfloor Publishers scheme a couple of times in the past, we’re excited to be rolling it out as a year-round offering to our member bookshops and to publishers across the book industry.
"The feedback from booksellers and publishers who have taken part in the scheme previously has been overwhelmingly positive, with the initiative leading to greater understanding on both sides, and opportunities for collaboration. We look forward to hearing from any publisher that would like to take part.”
Hazel Broadfoot, BA president and owner of Village Books in Dulwich, south-east London, said: “Following the pandemic, and the changes wrought on the industry by it, and by the current cost of living crisis, it feels like the time is right to relaunch this collaboration project, and bring booksellers and publishers together.
“For publishers, working in a bookshop for a day can be an eye-opening experience: it is a chance to appreciate what booksellers do, while witnessing consumer behaviour up close. We’ve been delighted that a number of bookshops have been reciprocally invited into publishing houses and we hope to see that happen again this time round; booksellers will be equally enlightened by seeing the inside workings of publishing.”
Publishers can discover more about the initiative by emailing maggie.kay@booksellers.org.uk.
