Aspiring booksellers and indie authors might have a new alternative when they are planning their next vacation. The Open Book in Wigtown Scotland is offering an Airbnb stay for the cost of £150 a week. You can sell books during the day and customize the bookstore to your liking and sleep above the location in a small flat.
If you decide this might be for you the Airbnd listing says you have to spend 40 hours a week working in the bookstore while living in the flat above the shop. You will also be given training in bookselling from Wigtown’s community of booksellers, and you will also have the opportunity to put your “own stamp” on the store. “The bookshop residency’s aim is to celebrate bookshops, encourage education in running independent bookshops and welcome people around the world to Scotland’s national book town,” says the AirBnB listing.
“I wouldn’t call it a working holiday,” said Adrian Turpin, director of the Wigtown book festival. “It’s a particular kind of holiday [for people] who don’t feel that running a bookshop is work. It’s not about cheap labor – it’s about offering people an experience … It’s one of those great fantasies.”
I think this vacation while working at a bookshop is quite endearing. If you ever had a dream of opening up your own bookstore, this will give you practical real world experience on what the day to day logistics comprise of. Indie authors will be able to sell their own books and setup their own display stands in order to try and hype their own novels.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.