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| Hearsay: |
Undeniably they do good work around the world but, here at home, are they bullies in the book world? Someone call Macmillan!!!
Author Susan Hill has launched a scathing attack on Oxfam Bookshops, which she has accused of “bullying” tactics and “aggressive expansion” with the chain “spreading faster than Tesco once did”.
The Bookseller reported yesterday that booksellers in South London were concerned over the arrival of another offshoot of the charity bookshop business.
Responding to the report on her Spectator blog today, Hill wrote: “These people are, unsurprisingly, concerned that small bookshops and antiquarian booksellers are being bullied by Oxfam Bookshops and their aggressive expansion. Because Oxfam Bookshops are big business. They are now reportedly the third biggest bookseller in the country, which is a surprise. I daresay their profits have paid for all those ads about global warming.”
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February 11th, 2010 at 11:07 am
“Here at home’ as opposed to ‘around the world?’ I’ve never seen an Oxfam book shop on the Rock, though I’m sure lots of Brits read this blog, so OK. But what makes you think there aren’t also lots of people reading Bookninja around the world, maybe in the very places Oxfam is doing good work? Global village, old man. Borderless world, what.
February 11th, 2010 at 11:14 am
I have no idea what you’re getting at. By your own logic, doesn’t a “global village” encourage a reading of “here at home” as beyond the town I plug my wires into? And, for the record, it’s both common sense and my stats program that tell me the vast majority of my readers are in the first world. Anything you want to add about the story?
February 11th, 2010 at 11:34 am
All I’m getting at is the ‘here vs. there’ assumption of the headline strikes me as a little myopic. Love the blog though.
February 12th, 2010 at 9:55 am
It is an interesting conundrum… does the work than Oxfam does with the proceeds from book sales outweigh the damage their business model (I assume donated stock, volunteer staff?) inflicts on the used book trade? I would say yes but I also feel that bookstores (both new & used/antiquarian) are vital to the cultural fabric of the neighbourhoods in which they reside.
Personally, I would prefer to patronize a local book shop staffed with people knowledgeable in the book trade and write a cheque to Oxfam for the privilege.
John.