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Version 21

Bookshop Philosophy

Fancy a visit to a bookshop that has a pub in its backroom? Rob Walters, Oxford based author and guide, has opened his own boozy bookshop on the Web. In the shop you can browse Rob’s writing (short pieces are available for free), buy books, or visit the backroom.

Rob has started his bookshop partly for fun, but also as a means of publishing works that are difficult to get into print in today’s cluttered market.

“I have had a number of books published so far: two of them based on Oxford,” Rob explains. “But I have other writing that I would really like to put before the public. For example I have now written four novels. I think that they are good enough to publish; one of them recently won a prize for its first chapter. But publishers’ in-trays are overflowing with unread manuscripts – it seems that everyone wants to write nowadays. I have turned my novels into eBooks so that anyone can download and read them on their PC or on a reader like Amazon’s Kindle. This is the modern way of publication. The books are cheap and, if they prove popular, I will also put them into production as paper books. I’ve also written a number of travel related books and these are now available as eBook downloads from my bookshop.”

Of course, the idea of a web-based bookshop is not new, but this one, devoted entirely to Rob’s writing is unique and is certainly the only with an attached pub. It also has a blog in which Rob writes about writing.

“I think of the blog as the sort of conversation I might have with customers if the bookshop and the pub were real,” he said. “I write about the bookshop itself and the books I’m currently reading myself.”

The usual problem with this sort of venture is attracting people to visit the bookshop. Rob has two solutions to this. He is a city guide and through this meets a lot of people from all over the world. Many of them are interested in his writing, so now he gives them a card that steers them to his bookshop. The other solution is to make the bookshop fun – hence the backroom in which there is constantly updated literary news, a word of the day from the Oxford English Dictionary and Rob’s current favourite crossword clue. The backroom is also the door to the pub. But why include a pub at all?

“I love pubs,” Rob explains. “Especially those with real ale. Pubs are one of the few places that you can meet and converse with complete strangers. I get many ideas from these encounters. Pubs are the source of many good jokes so I’ve included a joke-of-the-day in The Literary Arms. You can also visit the toilet and in the Sports bar there is a dart board, a pool table and other entertainments. Over time I have introduced a number of other bars,mostly for fun - though the Real Ale Bar is serious and a means to have fun. The only thing that you can’t do in this pub is a drink, but if you could it would have to be a pint of real ale!”

I also love trees and have a particular penchant for their boles or trunks, which is why I  introduced Tree Bole Treats to the bookshop - perhaps with the idea of a Book of Boles sometime in the future, maybe.

Trip through the trees

Browse the Blog

Visit the pub

See Rob’s Books

Click here to go straight to Rob’s latest book

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