Nosy Crow Takeover LIVE!

Nosy Crow have taken over Mostly Books!We'll be live-blogging all day from the shop...

With great trepidation we handed over the keys first thing this morning...

...and then it was straight on to some till training...

...one young customers offering to be a test subject, and not at all staged for a photo shoot, oh no...

So far we have had tiara-making workshops:

The authors all bought CAKE!

...and the whole shop may have one or two signs that Nosy Crow have indeed taken over...

...just the odd understated poster here and there...

...and one or two copies of their books. The authors have written their own recommend wrappers for a few displays...

UPDATE 14.02:

There have already been some one-to-one author interviews and mini-meets in the courtyard garden...

There is still time to come along and meet an author, be served at the till and ask for special recommendations. Come along!

Alternatively the authors themselves - Paul Harrison, Fleur Hitchcock and Helen Peters - have taken over the Mostly Books Twitter feed - why not tweet them a question or post a question on the blog?

UPDATE 3.45pm:

Not a busting lot for the regular bookshop staff to do today:

(the irony being of course that we were trying to pose for this photo since 9.30am this morning but it's been too busy!)

Update 5.55pm

Tired but happy. Everyone's off home...

3 4 Friday - Nosy Crow, Salley Vickers and Jane Hissey - #IBW2013

This week we have had a special kind of magic in the bookshop, thanks to #IBW2013 - Independent Booksellers Week. Thanks to unprecedented support from authors, publishers and - particularly - our customers, we've felt able to put on an ambitious programme of events for July, and we hope that you feel able to come and take part.

The shop has been transformed - we thought you might like to see the results!

Tomorrow (Saturday 6th July) is something we've never done before - an author take-over of the shop. 

Three children's authors (Paula Harrison, Fleur Hitchcock and Helen Peters) and the publisher Nosy Crow are taking over the shop, serving at the till, recommending their favourite books - and talking to customers young an old about writing, getting published and what it's like to be an author.

The shop is developing a distinctive 'Nosy Crow' feel to it, but - honestly - we have no idea how this is going to pan out. But we'd love you to come along at some point during the day and find out with us!

On Thursday 11th July, we have realised a long-held dream of luring Salley Vickers to Abingdon for a very special evening at Abingdon's Guildhall.

The author of 'Miss Garnet's Angel' will be in conversation with Mark Thornton and the audience, answering questions about her writing life and talking about her latest book 'The Cleaner of Chartres'. A word-of-mouth sensation, a bookgroup favourite and an author as well-known for her beautifully observed books as well as being an engaging and delightful speaker: we hope you can help us give Salley a special welcome to our town.

Finally, on Tuesday, July 23 we are inviting young children to bring their teddy bears to meet Jane Hissey and the original 'Old Bear' at a ‘Teddy Bear's Picnic’ in our courtyard garden. Jane is best known for her series of children's books ‘Old Bear and Friends’ which became the basis for a BAFTA award winning television series ‘Old Bear Stories’.

So, bring along a cushion, a blanket, and some picnic items. We’ll provide some cake! And your favourite bear is also invited – Jane will be judging a 'best loved bear' contest and reading from her delightful books...

There's still time to produce something wonderful for our community window - here's how it's looking after a week of creative contributions from friends and customers:

Thanks again to the publishers and authors who have made all this happen. Why not come along and take part?

3 4 Friday special - Independent Booksellers Week

On the Mostly Books blog, we often tell you about exciting things happening here in Abingdon. Today's post is no exception - but it's a bit bigger than that. That's because next week is Independent Booksellers Week – the week when bookshops across the country work hard to give everyone a reason to call into an independent bookshop.

Inspired by Record Store Day, it's an initiative supported by publishers, authors - and allows us to showcase some of the special magic that happens inside indie bookshops every day throughout the year.

So, here are some of the reasons why we think you should make a special trip to Mostly Books in the next seven days:

Saturday 29 June - why not make a contribution to our Independent Booksellers Week window? We’ll be asking every customer who comes in if they want to leave a message, draw us a picture – or even make a paper doll of themselves as part of a national Guinness World Record attempt to make the longest ever chain of paper dolls. To celebrate Julia Donaldson’s latest book ‘The Paper Dolls’ all the paper dolls we make will eventually be sent to the publisher to join with all the other paper dolls from all the other bookshops across the UK.

Try a book for £2.99 - we’ve a selection of great reads for just £2.99. Try a new author, a new title – or even a whole new genre. Too tempting to miss, with authors such as David Mitchell among the fab selection...

Written Word Prints - exclusively available to indie bookshops for IBW.  Just 200 signed limited edition prints of five handwritten works by five leading indie authors are available EXCLUSIVELY through independent bookshops during IBW this year. Publishers have asked five authors to hand write a section of their work or poem and have reproduced these as A4 sized frame-able prints. If you would like one of these for your wall or as a gift we have a very limited selection of Yann Martel , Robert, Mark Forsyth, Ruth Ozeki and Simon Armitage.

The Bookshop Strikes Back - for those of you who already know author Ann Patchett’s story, you are going to be as thrilled as we are to hear about the IBW Collectible being produced for us by Bloomsbury. ‘The Bookshop Strikes Back’ is Ann Patchett’s charming story of how she came to set up her own bookshop in Nashville, Tennessee.  Special offer price is £1.99 – or free to any customer spending more than £20 in IBW.

Saturday 6 July – we’ve challenged three authors to have a go at becoming booksellers for the day and three authors from publisher Nosy Crow have taken up the challenge. If you want a book recommendation you’ll be able to get one directly from an author, as Fleur Hitchcock, Paula Harrison and Helen Peters will be serving at the till and baking cakes for the occasion. And they’ll also be on hand for anyone who wants to come along and interview them, or bring in a piece of creative writing for a one-to-one session with an author. They will having morning coffee and afternoon tea and ask you to come and join them. If you want to take part it will help if you book a slot ahead of time as we think this is going to be really popular.

Thursday 11 July – the sensational Salley Vickers will be joining us for an evening discussing her wonderful books – the most famous of which is Miss Garnet’s Angel. Don’t miss this chance to come and hear this renowned author in Abingdon's historic Guildhall.

Of course we would like to think we have something special to offer you all year round and feel proud to be a well-supported independent bookshop in a thriving community-minded town.

There has been research recently into how valuable bookshops are – particularly to new authors, helping them to find an audience to get off the ground, and particularly for encouraging children’s reading. Without independent bookshops the world of publishing and authors would be much changed, which is why publishers and authors go all out this week to make sure everyone remembers to support their local bookshops.

We really hope you will find time to call in and celebrate with us this week – and to leave your mark in our window!