State of Independents

opinions free from chains

The Great Big Book Swap – Read It, Love It, Share It

Although we have been highly critical of World Book Night, we do agree with the essence of it – that it’s about sharing great books and celebrating the joy of reading.  However, bookshops were marginalised and booksales declined across the trade in the wake of this giveaway in March and whatever happens next year [...]

World Book Night 2011 – really a bit rubbish.

Way back when, several weeks before World Book Night (remember that?) I, along with many other booksellers and interested parties such as authors and publishers, raised concerns that, in the midst of the worst recession since the 1930s, it might not be in the best interests of the trade to give away a million books. [...]

About Us

Welcome to State of Independents. I'm Vanessa Robertson. I live in Edinburgh and my husband and I own a bookshop and tiny publishing house. This is where I write about the book trade as I see it and I'm not always as diplomatic as I should be... We write about what's going on in our businesses over at The Fidra Blog

What we do

Who we are

  • Links