Overheard at Backstory #1

Scurrilous dispatches from the shopfloor

I MAY BE A RECOVERING hack but I’m still an incorrigible nosey parker. And now I’ve recruited the whole Backstory team to my cause.

So here’s the first in an occasional series of overheards, morsels, strange-but-true statistics and generally juicy titbits from the shopfloor and book world.

If you enjoy it, please forward the newsletter to a friend. If they then go on to subscribe to this Substack, let me know and I’ll send you both a surprise treat.

WELL, WE DO SAY DOGS ARE WELCOME: “I would just like to double check that this macchiato is decaf,” says a customer one recent Saturday morning.

We check.

“And can I have a spoon?”

A teaspoon is handed over with the minimum of ceremony. We are poised with some sugar, because why else would anyone want a…

The customer tips the coffee onto the spoon and then into the mouth of his waiting dog. A whippet, to be precise.

The customer catches us staring. “Can you imagine if this wasn’t decaf?”

No, sir, we can’t.

HEATHROW’S NEW BOSS? We nominate the team at Gardners, the book industry wholesalers. Denise, Savannah and I had a day-trip to their vast warehouse in Eastbourne this week. Apparently it is one of only two sites in the town to have their own back-up energy supply that could run the place; the other is the hospital. When the apocalypse comes, at least you’ll have something to read.

FLIRTING DISASTER #1: Schmoozing a publisher recently at London Book Fair, I committed the most embarrassing unintentional flirting. The editor asked which bookshop I was from and so of course I said Backstory. “Oh, my wife loves your newsletter.” Quick as a flash, I said: “Your wife has excellent taste.” Fortunately, we both started giggling at exactly the same time. (Reader, I gave him my email address.)

FASHION DEPT #1:

A woman enters the shop in a fabulous pink coat with a faux fur colour.

“I love your coat.”

“Thanks,

She peers over her sunglasses

- I sold my wedding dress for it.”

She leaves.

WORKING HARD OR HARDLY WORKING? A (very rude) friend texted me after last week’s newsletter, attaching a screenshot of the sentence “running a bookshop is a refreshing balance of brain and brawn”.

“Gasping for breath,” she wrote. “Hope you have a couple of builders who subscribe and are wondering where the brawn is — those high shelves?” Well, it’s all relative: I invited her to try moving 20 boxes of books on a Christmas shift. Anyway, she bought the book.

A SUBSCRIBER WRITES: We ask people lucky enough to be given our book subscriptions to give us a brief profile of themselves as well as the sort of books they like. This one reliably cracks me up, whenever I pick out his next book: “I work in a semi-legal profession.” The mind boggles.

YOU GUYS LOVE ANNE TYLER: But we love her more. In its first week of publication, Backstory accounted for 2% of all UK sales of her latest (fabulous) book, Three Days in June. Shout out to Savannah and the fabulous Petals of Balham.

SIGNED, SEALED AND UNDELIVERED: I was so busy fawning over Sophie Elmhirst, author of Maurice and Maralyn, at a recent event that I mislaid the copy she inscribed for me. Despite scouring every copy of the book we stock the next day (no mean feat as the team will attest), I couldn’t find it. I expect it will turn up in a charity shop in a few years and someone will wonder who this Tom was who was so obsessed with a book about a couple of misfit sailors.

SNACK TIME: I don’t work Sundays, but it’s good to hear that the Sunday team are Stakhanovites in my absence. They report that on a recent Sunday afternoon, “a few customers roped us in to ranking our top five crisps.” Obviously highly reluctant to leave their posts — note the “roped” — the team nonetheless joined in. “The conversation continued to draw in more and more people, including several customers who simply shouted out their favourite on their way out of the shop.” The clear favourite? Monster Munch pickled onion. They need a raise, don’t they?

DOWN WITH THE KIDS: Denise has been trying — and failing — to get her kids to take an interest in the bookshop for more than two years now. But she reports a breakthrough. After discovering that one of our regulars is the voice of Fletcher Kane on Fortnite, they are now showing off to their friends that their mum knows Fletcher.

MUMS ARE THE BEST: Bring your Mum with you to Backstory between now and the end of Mother’s Day (a week on Sunday, 30th March) and we’ll give her a free coffee or small glass of wine (whichever she prefers) when you buy any two books.

TIKTOK MADE ME BUY IT (if by “it” you mean Blackwell’s): Back at London Book Fair, to an “in conversation” between David Shelley, the UK and US boss of the publishing colossus Hachette, and James Daunt, the very nice chap who either owns or runs just about every bookshop you’ve ever heard of, from Daunt (of course) to Waterstones, Blackwell’s, Foyles, Hatchards and Barnes and Noble in the States.

Pointing out the (massive) impact of TikTok on book sales, they were asked if they had the app themselves. Shelley claimed to enjoy nothing more than winding down with a good reel. But Daunt, whose bookshops are plastered with “TIKTOK MADE ME BUY IT” posters, made the audience giggle with a crisp “No”. (Backstory is on TikTok but somewhat dormant. Should we do more?)

FASHION DEPT #2: Props to debut author Rupert Dastur, who not only made the wise decision to host the launch party for his gently affecting novel Cloudless at Backstory, but also commissioned a jacket for the occasion in the exact shade of blue used on the cover. Call it a book jacket.

A STAR IS BORN: At our latest open-mic poetry night, a 17-year-old read his work to a crowd for the first time ever. After originally having his name drawn first, he renegotiated to kick off the second half. The crowd clapped and cheered and were wonderfully supportive. He read three poems, including pastiches of work currently on the school syllabus. Watch this space.

WE LISTEN TO OUR CUSTOMERS (HONEST): We often order books to stock in the shop — or just to read ourselves — based on the books customers order for themselves. Denise has taken How Steeple Sinderby Wanderers Won The FA Cup by JL Carr with her for the weekend. Following a recent customer order, I got a copy of How Not To Hate Your Husband After Kids for the shop. In Balham, she can’t be the only one.

FLIRTING DISASTER #2: Someone 100% said to a past date, “Oh hello, do you come here often? Haha.” She did not recognize him...

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Hope you enjoyed. I’d love any feedback on this (or any aspect of Backstory). Just comment on the post or hit reply on the email and it comes straight to my inbox.

Want more Backstory?

• We’ve put together a selection of books to give on Mother’s Day. Pop into the shop or browse the collection on the website. As a little treat, we’ll give anyone who buys a book from the collection a free copy of issue 3 of our magazine. Just add issue 3 to your basket and choose any book(s) from the collection, then use the code MOTHERSUPERIOR at checkout. In the shop, just tell us you saw the newsletter.

• Look out for these bullet points in the newsletter next week. We have some very exciting May events to unveil. In the meantime, browse our upcoming events

• Request a book to pick up in the shop (we can usually get a book for the next day)

• If you’re further afield, order a book from our website with free UK delivery

Happy reading,

Tom