Guest Northern Highlights - The Little Ripon Bookshop

 

GUEST NORTHERN HIGHLIGHTS

The Little Ripon Bookshop

Can you start by telling us about The Little Ripon Bookshop - where you are and what you do? 

The Little Ripon Bookshop has been open for 13 years. We started small (hence the name) but have since expanded and are now The Quite Big Ripon Bookshop. Ripon is a cathedral city north of Harrogate, on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales, surrounded by glorious countryside. Our shop is a general bookshop with a strong children’s section. We run bookclubs, storytimes and author events - we aim to be a local hub for all things literary.

Congratulations on being a finalist in the British Book Awards this year for Independent Bookshop of the Year. Can you tell us what that means for a small indie bookshop? 

For the past 3 years we have been a finalist for Children’s Bookseller of the Year which has been a tremendous boost. Recognition for what we do shouldn’t be important but it always feels good to get a pat on the back. We try to make children’s bookselling fun, exciting and relevant to our young customers. I have to admit that I get as much pleasure seeing a group of teenagers coming into the shop after school to buy a copy of Heartstopper as I do from being on a shortlist.

You've been running a bookshop in Ripon for 12 years - can you tell us how you work with and support your local community? 

We can’t function without the support of our community. We are entirely dependent on our local customers – individuals and schools - and we are very aware of this. During the lockdown many indie booksellers turned to their websites and twitter to drive business and were very successful in gaining customers from across the country. I’m full of admiration for this, but I’m also aware that the reason my shop exists is to add depth to our community and I’m 100% committed to this. We use local venues for events and often give prizes for local charities. We’ve just hosted a work experience student from Ripon Grammar School for a week (she was fantastic!) and last month a local school held a staff meeting here to select new books for school. I’m due to visit Mowbray school in a couple of weeks and have invited pupils from there to visit the shop.

Why do you think its important to have a thriving and vibrant book industry in the North of England?

It’s important that the book industry reflects the country as a whole and loses its London focus. Different voices need to be heard and different faces seen. It shouldn’t be such a struggle to get the publishing industry to look up and see the creativity, enthusiasm and variety elsewhere in the country. I think it’s up to us lot in the North to make a noise, be proud of where we are and simply enjoy being Northerners! I’m part of the Bookseller’s Association Children’s Book Group, along with other northern booksellers, so I feel that we offer a different perspective.

What are your best selling children's books? 

Our bestselling books are usually the books we’ve enjoyed reading and can hand-sell or authors we’ve had events with. At the moment our bestsellers include The Hatmakers by Tamzin Merchant, One Camel Called Doug by Lu Fraser and the Mister Penguin books by Alex T Smith. The Heartstopper series by Alice Oseman is flying out following the TV adaptation. Books by Jenny Pearson, Nick East, James Nicol and Harry Heape are always popular because we’ve taken the authors into local schools.

What are your plans for the coming year?  

Ah, you think I’m a planner. I long for the day that I plan. I seem to spend my time reacting rather than planning. Perhaps someone could help me…

How do you work with local children's authors? 

I am delighted to work with local children’s authors as long as they have an understanding of the market and have a top-quality, professional product. I cannot sell every book I am offered. The book has to be excellent and be able to sit in the shop alongside hundreds of the very best children’s books. The author must have researched the market, read a lot of children’s books in their genre and know what sells. The price must be right and the author must have considered the margin that the bookseller need to make. The book needs to look wonderful and be wonderful!

Once all that has been achieved, we’re good to go! Signings, windows, events, workshops – I’m open to suggestions! We just hosted James Harris who ran a monster drawing workshop on a Saturday morning in the shop to promote his books. He was great and I’d happily do that again! We will be part of the Great North Author Tour in October – a ridiculous number of northern authors in a minibus visiting a silly number of bookshops. This is organised by Drake the Bookshop in Stockton and is ambitious, brilliant and bonkers. Happy to be a part of anything with those adjectives!

 

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Twitter @litriponbkshop