Love your bookshop day

A couple of months later this year, Australia’s Love your bookshop day is tomorrow, 3rd October. It’s an annual celebration of the way bookshops offer not only books as physical products but bring communities together, celebrate a love of reading, offer carefully curated lists, support novelists and contribute to literary discussions.

My local bookshop, Readings, has kept us going this year with a wide range of children’s fiction, young adult, adult fiction and adult non-fiction. For many of us, reading has offered us escapism during this tough time.

Many bookshops in Victoria are offering a contactless click and collect service or you can order online.

As well as supporting bookshops, buying books supports writers. Did you know that writers usually only receive 10% of the price of the book? There are so many people involved in publishing a book: there’s the writer, structural editor, copyeditor, publisher, typesetter, interior designer, cover designer, proofreader, marketing team, sales team, public relations specialist, printer and the bookshop team.

So many people who contribute their talents to the book all need a slice of the pie.

So by buying a book, you’re supporting a whole industry including a writer who usually has a day job or supplements their writing with teaching, mentoring or grants because writing a book can sometimes only bring in a tiny amount. Often debut writers will have a print run of 3,000 books – so if you consider a book worth $24.95, that’s $7,485 for years of work, presuming that all 3,000 books are sold.

If you want to read a book by your favourite writer or if you want your local bookshop to continue their wonderful offerings, please support writers and your local bookshops.