Case studies : Bookseller: Graeme

Graeme graduated with a BA (Hons) in Scottish Cultural Studies from the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI). He then completed an MLitt in Literature of the Highlands and Islands with UHI. He now works as manager of the The Old Bookshelf , an independent, used bookshop in Campbeltown, Argyll...

While studying for my BA in Scottish Cultural Studies at UHI, I became a regular customer of my local, used bookshop, striking up a rapport with the proprietor. Given that it was, at that time, a one-person business, I offered to cover if the proprietor had to be away for any reason. Two weeks later, I found myself with a job.

My degrees have been very relevant to my work, since they were both slanted towards literature. Both also broadened my reading, my understanding of different genres, and gave me the ability and confidence to talk about books with the most highly educated of customers.

My working day is always varied and can consist of any or all of the following:

• looking up and locating online orders and processing relevant paperwork;
• dealing with customer orders in the shop;
• distributing incoming stock;
• performing book searches (I have become skilled in tracking down rare and hard-to-find books);
• selecting and pricing shop purchases;
• entering stock in the shop database, listing stock online and deleting stock sold to prevent double-orders;
• serving and assisting customers;
• taking orders face-to-face or on the telephone;
• indulging in the never-ending task of ensuring that shelves are consistently tidy and alphabetised where possible.

Personally, I find the best aspects of my job to be the variety it offers and the responsibility of management. Most decisions regarding the running of the shop rest with me. I derive enormous satisfaction from recommending the right book to the right customer, seeing them happy with their purchase, and even having them report back weeks later.

Some customers recommend books to me, which is marvellous, since, bizarrely, it is very difficult to have the time to keep abreast of all the books that are available or being published.

The bookselling world has changed radically, even in the short time that I have been involved with it. Traditional bookshops have come under assault from non-booksellers selling books (and driving prices down to unmanageably low levels) online sellers offering large databases of books at discounted rates, and technology in the shape of e-readers.

A degree is not essential for work in the bookselling world, but it certainly helps, though it by no means guarantees better wages. In fact, if money is your prime objective, then bookselling is not a good choice.

A good bookseller must always be ready to talk about books, no matter how they're feeling, or they risk customers deserting their shop in droves. Being a reader is not sufficient for a successful career in small-scale bookselling: the bookseller must have an affinity with books. Even the most ardent reader might not have this, but it is the most important single factor in the job.