Bookshop Behind-The-Scenes: Working at Typewronger with Past Intern Namitha Iyer

Ever thought about how cool it would be to work at an indie bookshop? As a bookseller at Typewronger Books in Edinburgh, previous Ringwood intern Namitha Iyer knows all about it, and she's here to give us a glimpse of what it's really like. What's the most surprising thing about working in a bookshop, what's the personal touch that makes Typewronger the most welcoming place to be, and what titles are Namitha's top picks? Find out in this episode of the Ringwood Publishing Podcast!

Check out Typewronger's website here, or pop in for a visit at 4a Haddington Place, Edinburgh, EH7 4AE!

And as ever, you can check out Ringwood's own catalogue on our website here.

Transcript

Matilda:  Hello and welcome to this week's episode of the Ringwood podcast. I'm your host Matilda. 

Jess: And I'm your host Jess. 

Matilda: And today we're joined by previous Ringwood intern Namita Iyer who works at Typewronger Books in Edinburgh. Welcome, Namitha!

Namitha: Thank you so much for having me.

Matilda: It's so great to have you on the podcast. So you used to be a Ringwood intern. Could you tell us a little bit about your experience at Ringwood and what sort of tasks you worked on as an intern? 

Namitha: Yeah, so I was working with Ringwood for about six months and I worked in several of Ringwood's departments like most interns do.

I think most of my work was with marketing and social media marketing for books that were coming out at the time. So I worked on Bodysnatcher. And I worked as an author support for Charlie Laidlaw. So it was a bunch of different things and I worked with editorial submissions.

I was also the subsidiary rights manager and that was  quite an interesting role because it wasn't something I was expecting or something I had done before. So just sort of reaching out to publishers abroad, seeing if they're interested in buying the rights to Ringwood's books. And  I had a range of experiences at Ringwood which I think was really good in terms of giving me a foundation in the book industry at large.

JessL Absolutely. I mean, I think it gives you a lot of versatile skills because you sort of have your finger in a lot of pies sort of thing.

Namitha: Yeah, exactly.

Jess: Amazing. So, you currently work at Typewriter in Edinburgh. How long have you worked there, and what was it that drew you to working in a bookshop after completing your internship?

Namitha: So I started working at Typewronger during my internship, actually. It was about two to three months into my internship. I started working in April and I'm still working there. And when I started working at Ringwood, I didn't think that I would start juggling another thing on the side because I was also studying at the time.

And I was doing my master's. So I had to do multiple things already. But then I found out that type wrong was hiring just by chance because I went to this publishing event that was being hosted on campus  and I thought it was just worth a shot. I didn't think I'd actually get it because book selling can be quite an oddly competitive industry, which, it's quite niche, you wouldn't think it was that competitive, but specifically in Edinburgh, because it's such a literary city, it was quite a lot of competition. But I got pretty lucky and I got the job and the thing that drew me to the job was just the fact that I was being paid to talk about books.

It was just ideal. And that's essentially what I do. All day when I work there, I just talk to people about books, amongst other things. And so that was the initial draw and Typewronger is also like an indie bookshop that tries to work towards supporting smaller publishers, smaller authors often female, LGBTQ writers.

So that was also a big draw for me. So, yeah, that was the reason I thought Typewronger was a good choice for me. 

Matilda: That's amazing. 

Jess: Yeah. I mean, it's definitely, like oddly competitive to get bookselling positions, especially like the book festival in Edinburgh. All my friends used to apply and only like four or five of them would ever get the job.

Namitha: Yeah, no, it's, really weird. Like it's really insane. I knew it would be difficult because I knew Edinburgh was that kind of a city. I just didn't, because even before I applied for the job at Typewronger, I had applied to other shops as well for other positions that were open earlier. But nothing came through largely because of just the amount of competition.

And I also didn't have previous bookselling experience. So this was a first for me. And A lot of bookshops aren't particularly keen on that, especially if they're slightly bigger ones like Waterstones or Topping and Company and things like that. But the smaller bookshops, I feel like, tend to give beginners more of an opportunity.

And so they ended up taking me in. So that was great. 

Jess: That's lovely. I mean, I think the publishing experience probably gave you a bit of an edge over other people without any book selling experience.

Namitha: For sure.

Jess: As somebody that's been on both sides of that, how would you compare working as like a bookseller to working in a publishing house?

Namitha: I think it's really interesting because in a publishing house, you kind of see the process and you see it before the books hit the stands. But then as a bookseller, you see what happens after the books hit the stands. So you kind of get both sides of the equation and you see what's going on from the very beginning to the very end when someone buys the book.

So now when someone buys a book that I'm like aware of, Publishing wise not necessarily just from Ringwood, but just in general because Typewronger stocks a lot of local publishers like Charco Press and, I have more to say because of my experience at Ringwood and I just have a lot more insight into the making of that particular book.

And so working at Ringwood definitely gave me an edge, I think, and because that did actually come up during my job interview as well. They asked me what kind of work I've done, how I think that may add to my skills as a bookseller. And I think just knowing what goes into the making of a book makes you an efficient bookseller and sort of allows you to talk to more people about why this is a good book. It's not just because of like, oh, this is a great plot. These are great characters. Like, those are very literature terms to use, which is fine for a lot of literature students, but for the average person walking into a bookstore, that may not be something they're looking for. 

But talking to people about the process itself of like, this is how the book was done. We got the book, we read it, we write reports and then go through several rounds of editing. We market it. It gives them more of an insight into like, Oh, there are actual people behind this, this thing that I'm holding and a lot of effort would have gone into that.

So I think it's done a lot for me as a bookseller. 

Matilda: That's amazing. What would you say your favorite part of bookselling is? Apart from getting paid to talk about books all day. [laughs]

Namitha: [laughs] Getting to talk about books. For me, personally, at Typewronger, I just love the environment. And I think it's a really nice, cute, little, very inclusive bookshop.

And it's a great team. It's a small team of booksellers. But very well versed with what they do. And so it's been a lot of learning for me as well. And I think that working with a team of booksellers is also one of my favorite parts of working at Typewronger. And of course there's the  talking about the books part.

But I also think that it just makes you as a reader better and not only are you inclined to just reading more than you normally would, simply because you're surrounded by books, but also it makes you more involved with the process of reading itself because you talk to so many people about what they're looking for and you see that different people like to look for different things in what they're reading. So while I'm reading now, I find that sometimes I'm looking for things that I wasn't necessarily looking for before. So it's just making me more of a mindful reader, I suppose, is the word I'm looking for.

Jess: Oh wow, yeah, it must like broaden your literary horizons if you're like on the lookout for things to recommend to like different demographics and stuff like that. That's really cool. 

Namitha: Yeah, for sure.

Matilda: What's been surprising about the job? What parts did you expect and what was new and unexpected to you?

NamithaL I think what I didn't expect was just it's really fast paced, which was quite a surprise for me. And you usually juggle at least 5 to 6 different things at the same time. Because there's the till duty and the actual book selling that you do, but there's also like stock management and making sure that we have everything in place. There's general shop upkeep. Typewronger also does origami, so we give origami away to customers who buy books. So that's just an additional sort of skill that booksellers need to pick up along the way.

And you're given a list of tasks and more often than not, it's at least 6 to 7 things that you need to cover in  one shift. So I think that that was what I was surprised by because I did figure that it wouldn't just be the book selling. I just didn't realize how fast paced it would be.

But I really enjoyed that. Because it keeps you busy and it keeps you on your toes and there's a lot to learn and you learn more about it. Typewronger also does zine workshops and printing. So that's also been a very interesting learning experience. So I get to talk to people about printing, which is also really fun.

But yeah, that was something that I was not expecting. But the things that I was expecting was that people come into bookshops curious. So it's nice to have those conversations because you meet people who want to know more, who want to learn more and because I used to shop, I mean, I still do shop for just an insane amount of books every time I'm in store.

So I knew that people come in with an inclination to buy something. So just having those conversations where you understand that like, Oh, this is what this person likes has been something that I was expecting and it's been as rewarding as I thought it would be. 

Jess: That's amazing. So what kind of books are selling well right now? Do the popular genres change quite often? Or is it quite consistent with what's popular at what times? 

NamithaL I would say crime thrillers generally do really well. Sci fi fantasy does really well. A lot of students in particular in their 20s like to read literary fiction. So I think that's something a lot of people enjoy as well.

And generally, I've seen that contemporary crime thrillers tend to do quite well. Anything with contemporary fiction does really well. Essay collections, nonfiction and memoirs also are really popular. And any bookshop that has a relatively extensive nonfiction section, you will find people buying those.

And that was also a surprise because I didn't think that nonfiction would sell almost as well as fiction, but it does. And I think those are probably the most common genres that people buy.

Jess: I was an English student in Edinburgh for the last four years. So I feel like my whole reading list was just those genres and I loved it. [laughs]

Namitha: [laughs] Yeah, no, no, for sure. I agree. And I did my master's in comparative lit. So when I started working at Typewronger, I would see books by scholars that I had read. And I was like, wait, I know that person. Like I've read something by that person. And it's just exciting to see that, like, well, that's so cool. Like, I know that.

Jess: I always do the same. Whenever I'm in a shop, I'll see like an author that I recognize from one of my reading lists and I'm like, Oh, I'm so well informed. Like, Oh my gosh. [laughs]

[Namitha and Matilda laugh]

Jess: So what sort of challenges are booksellers facing at the minute? I know a lot of small publishers and bookshops are not as well walked and visited by customers. So I imagine that's probably a bit of an issue. You got a lot of customers or is it mostly to the big book shops? 

Namitha: Mm, we do get customers, it's just not comparable in any way to bigger shops.

Also, just because bigger shops have the financial capability to, like, offer discounts and stuff, which a lot of smaller shops can't really afford to do. It's not that they don't want to do it, it's just that it's often not within the budget, so customers will have to pay full price for something that they would probably get for 20 to 30 percent off in other shops.

And that's one problem. And then there's obviously the Amazon problem. So that's not easy to compete with because the prices are just not comparable at all. Because I've had those kinds of conversations as well, where before I started working as a bookseller, if I went to a shop and I saw a book that was like nine pounds I'd be like, Oh, well, I'll get this for like fiver on Amazon.

 But when you start working in a smaller publishing house or a smaller, like an indie bookshop, you see the environment that these books are in and the kind of struggles that the employees in these industry go through as well. And it just kind of makes you more aware of the issues that, we face.

So, Amazon is definitely a huge, huge, probably one of the biggest problems. And a lot of indie bookshops get young authors who are self published, who want to have their books stocked. And a lot of indie shops, the first thing they'll ask them is, is your book stocked on Amazon?

If it is, we will not take it. Because that's a conflict of interest. And so I feel like that's probably the biggest thing that my boss talks about as one of the biggest problems.

Matilda: Yeah, that's fascinating. So why do you think people should support indie bookshops like Typewronger? Like, it might seem obvious, but how would you persuade someone to not shop on Amazon when it's so much cheaper?

Namitha: I think I would say just the experience of buying a book in an indie bookshop is part of the experience of reading the book itself. And iit's easy to click a button and buy a book for cheap. And I understand why people would want to do that as well. It's not like times are easy for anyone right now, but at the same time it's not just the bookshop itself; bookshops run in tandem with other things like book festivals and other kind of literary cultural events.

And so a lot of things kind of go hand in hand. And I think that if indie bookshops like Typewronger and other bookshops in Edinburgh like Rare Bird Books, if these kinds of shops were not running the way that they are right now it would affect other aspects as well. And I think that it just being in a shop encourages people to read much more than shopping online for books does like shopping on Amazon.

So again, it just makes you a better reader. It just makes you more mindful and you talk to people and you see that, Oh, like, Being here actually affects someone in a good way, not just monetarily. I'm contributing to a business that is small and that would like to be bigger, but also just emotionally speaking, it leaves them feeling satisfied, as well as the bookseller. For me, it's just a human thing more than anything else, wanting to buy books from indie bookshops. That's what I think.  

Matilda: I think it's really interesting that you mentioned literary events because that's such an important aspect of small bookshops to me. Because it's also a way to collaborate with other parts of the literary world like small publishers. I mean, we're doing two Ringwood events at Typewronger.

One is today actually, when we're recording. And the one is we have an upcoming historical fiction event as well. Why do you think it's important that small independent bookshops also engage in the literary community in this way and keep literary events and festivals running?

Namitha: I think most small independent bookshops often have a niche that they sort of specialize in and that brings something very specific to literary cultural events like the book festival in Edinburgh or any other book festival that, you know, kind of takes place. So with Typewronger I wouldn't say they have a very specific thing that they specialize in, but there is a fairly large contemporary fiction section slash contemporary nonfiction section written largely by female and non-binary authors.

So that's something that I would say is a very specific niche that they bring to the table. Other bookshops, like I think it's Rare Bird Books, sell only female authors. So I think that each independent bookshop has something very specific that they want to bring to the table and push forward.

And that really shines through in book festivals, where you see a lot of diversity and you see the people behind that diversity who are bringing that to the table. So I think that that's probably one of the main reasons I would feel that it's important for the two to sort of engage with one another and bounce off of one another.

Jess: Absolutely.  It's definitely good for smaller publishing houses to have these events because it sort of draws more attention to smaller authors that are trying to get their book into more of a wider audience. I think it does sort of work in tandem. And it's lovely the sense of community that is created in these places. I think it's a lot more of an intimate experience for readers as well, like the origami is such a lovely little personal touch.

Namitha: Yeah, exactly. 

Matilda: What sort of origami do you do? Is it like always a set one or do you vary?

Namitha: Well, there is a set of four and we offer each customer like a choice between  a frog, a shark, a dragon, or an elephant. That's amazing. I suck at all of them. I can make the frog, but it looks a little bit more like a fly because I can't seem to get the legs down.

[All laugh]

Namitha: And during specific seasons, like right now, because it's Halloween, we also make a bat.   Through December, we make penguins because winter. So it makes people really happy when you, like, give them a free piece of origami and they're like, Oh my God, that's so cute.

And then that leads to a whole other conversation of who made this. Oh my God, you made this. That's insane. So, you know, it's a whole other like bonding experience that you end up having. 

Matilda: Exactly. Amazon could never do that.

[All laugh]

Jess: So what's your favorite book that you've read recently?

Namitha: I would say I'm currently reading this book called Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh. Really good book. This is, I think, the second or third book I'm reading by her. Really, like, no plot, just vibes kind of situation and it's really just a very specific writing style that I really enjoy. It's very descriptive, but like, in a slightly gory sense, you feel it very viscerally, and you feel uncomfortable, but you weirdly like it and you just want to keep reading more of it.

So I would recommend Lapvona if that's - I don't really know if that's really like up anyone's alley, but if it's something interesting, you're looking for something you haven't read before, Lapvona is a great start. Other than that I also read a nonfiction book recently called Rage Becomes Her which I started reading that towards the end of my master's thinking I'll use it for one of my essays, but I didn't end up doing that.

It was about the collective power of like female rage, essentially, and at like a societal level, what repressing anger is like for the female population at large, and just the consequences of it versus what will happen if that is not repressed, and it was more of a psychological, sociological take on it, which was also very interesting if anyone's interested in nonfiction.

Jess: Amazing. I'll definitely come in and get a copy. 

[All laugh]

Jess: So if this is a very important question here: if someone came into your shop and said, sell me a book, any book, what would you currently recommend to them? You reckon it’s going to be similar to what you're currently reading? 

Namitha: Mm, we do like staff picks, so I will give you my staff pick, which was Clara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro.

That was a really good book. It's about like AI and sentient beings and the relationship between human beings and AI. And that was a really good book. There's another one called Milk Fed by Melissa Broder. That's doing really well.

I will generally recommend literary fiction because that's what I usually end up reading. But I know Richard Osman has some great crime thriller books that people really, really enjoy. That's also a great recommendation and is also doing really well at the shop. A lot of people are buying it.

Jess: Amazing. I think I have a Richard Osman book that I've not read yet, so I'll move that to the top of the reading list.

[All laugh]

Matilda: It's been really lovely chatting to you and getting some insight into working into small indie bookshops. So thank you so much for coming on the podcast. 

Namitha: Thank you so much for having me.

Jess: Thank you for listening to this week's episode of the Ringwood Podcast. Next time you buy a book, make sure you get it from Typewronger, or from us. You can find all of our titles on our website, and many of our books are also available as ebooks.

And of course, make sure you follow us on social media to get all the latest updates on upcoming titles and events. See you all in Typewronger on the 13th of November for our Writing Historical Fiction event!