Thursday 9th October has been dubbed ‘super Thursday’ by bookshops as the big titles go on sale in the race for the Christmas bestseller … and bookshops are hoping to cash in as they try to fight back against the ever decreasing business most are seeing. At from you to me I also think it is a ‘super Thursday’ as it is my birthday … and another year older sees me another year wiser when it comes to selling books. I will watch with interest as the new book titles are launched and to see whether Heston Blumenthal has cooked up a best-seller … or maybe John Cleese’s new book will be anything but Fawlty. Which one will be this year’s Christmas Number 1? I am sure that these books will all be great in their own way. If they grab you personally or you wish to buy them for your family and friends as gifts this Christmas … where will you buy them? It seems that many bookshops are observing an increasing number of customers browsing their books only to scan the barcode with their smart phone to find the cheapest place to buy it. Others are downloading electronic versions … This is understandably frustrating and there has been a decline in UK high-street bookshop sales of 6.5% or £98m last year. I do not know if book sales have dropped across the board if you look at all routes to market, but it is obvious that people are changing their way to buy books with the flexibility to buy online. We are lucky in Bath to have a number of great high street book shops with outlets like Toppings, Mr B’s Emporium of Reading Delights and Waterstones. All offer a plethora of titles and some go so much further with their service and atmosphere. It is a real pleasure to attend a special book launch evening and meet the author - or to have a personal advice session on books to buy for your child. Again, I do not know their business revenue figures, but they are definitely surviving and I would guess not seeing the decline mentioned above. It is also a hard job for the bookshop owner to decide what titles to put in front of their customers. Yes - they can order in that special title for you and get it to you within a few days - but there are SO many books around these days that where do they start? In excess of 150,000 titles are launched in the Uk alone each year … What we at ‘from you to me’ know is that people want books. They want them for themselves and they want to give them as gifts. Our Journals have been in the bestseller lists for the last 7 years. They are not all ‘new launches’ for Christmas but they still offer real intrinsic value. The Journals cannot be offered as a ‘Kindle’ version and nor do they need to be put in the bargain basket by the book shop door. The value they offer the giver and the receiver is huge and goes beyond many books - and we often comment about them making our customers cry! Books are powerful gifts to give at any time of the year and, wherever you choose to buy them, they will continue to offer something meaningful to the people who love them. Will ’Super Thursday’ be super for the high street bookshops? Well let’s see and do let us know … but what is for sure is that our Journals will still bring tears, smiles and laughter to the faces of the people who come into contact with them. I just wonder if I will get a book for my birthday ... Neil