Bookworms are us
From Alexandra Lee
Sir: Not all booksellers are party to the racketeering that Chris Lewis describes ('Cooking the books', 20 October). We have a 'Staff Recommends' section at Ottakar's in Hastings, in which each member of staff selects one or two of their favourite titles, either recently published or classics. Reviews are posted beside them. We get no special deal from publishers to do this, just the usual discount from the wholesaler. Staff here are encouraged to borrow books and read as many in the shop as possible; we all get a discount if we buy. We are all widely read (I'm a philosophy graduate and about average in the shop), and most of all wildly enthusiastic about books, reading and trying to pass on that enthusiasm to customers. We are not, as Lewis seems to suggest, mindless bar-code scanners. Pity the same cannot be said for all bookstores.
Yes, we have offers, although we do not get the incredible deals that W.H. Smith have, but we usually match their prices, sometimes making little or no profit. The good thing about discounting on best-sellers (admittedly sometimes junk-reads) is that it keeps the customers coming in, so that we can afford — unlike WHS — to stock shelves of quality titles.
Unfortunately, some publishers are overwhelmed by the power of WHS. I know of one publisher who this summer changed the title of a book (reviewed in The Spectator two weeks ago) by a well-known author, because the buyer at WHS did not understand it. Lewis paints a sad and dirty picture of the industry, but he should remember that there are some brilliant cameos left.
Alexandra Lee
Hastings, East Sussex
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