I’ve been a bookseller for the last half-decade, and I love the work. Being surrounded by very sharp and well-read booksellers is fantastic, as is having customers who love books, although it changes drastically depending on what type of bookshop you work at, which is to say working at a franchise has, at times, worn down my soul. But I work at a very good independent bookshop now, which is dream-like. There’s a whole lot more time hand-bookselling, which is to say getting a book a customer hasn’t heard of (but that you know they’ll love) into their hands, and a whole lot less time directing people to the latest Liane Moriarty, or convincing them there’s something better out there for them other than Jordan Peterson, or assuring people you’re not actually a newsagent and etc. No shade to Ms Moriarty, of course. It is also obviously good practice for a writer to be surrounded by the latest books and to know what is coming out. 

Then there is the other side to knowing about the latest book and what is coming out. In that there is a pressure (even if this is entirely internal pressure) to be  on top of all new releases, which has its downsides for a writer. In the past, I’ve felt obligated to read every new release, especially every new Australian literary release. Of course there are good books coming out all the time, but there are also a lot of mediocre books coming out, and dredging through 200 pages of the dullest book I’ve ever read in my life is not doing me, my writing, or the author (who may very well have written a book that resonates with a reader who I have subsequently warned off), any favours. Sometimes, being a bookseller does mean that following your intuition, or your own niche interests in books, gets bulldozed by the latest shiny new release. As I get older I’m learning to be more discerning, and while having a good idea about contemporary books is important to the job, I only finish the ones I like. Instead I’ve been trying to deepen my knowledge in specific fields of interest. There are so many fantastic books that weren’t written this year, or even this decade, or century, and becoming a better writer (and reader) means you have to seek out good literature outside your present moment and environment.

And there is the other, other thing – bookselling, is, like a lot of work, usually casual, and so infrequent. This works in some ways for a writer in that you have plenty of time to write and read. It also means that you don’t have much of a guaranteed consistent income. It means that in-between working at a bookshop and writing, you might get one day a week, or fortnight, as a verifiable ‘weekend’. It means that you’re working all the time, while barely earning enough to get by. This is often what it means to be a writer or an artist living in Australia. But I love bookselling, and I can’t imagine a future where I don’t do it in some capacity.