Please use this page if you would like to:
- Make comments or offer suggestions that don’t relate to a specific page (every page has a ‘Leave a Reply’ box at the bottom for comments about that page).
- Submit a Book Review — please see the Review Guidelines for some simple advice on how to write a review… and please remember to include the author, title and publisher (even better if you include the ISBN!).
- Write about your local Christian Bookshop: What’s best about them? What’s worst? Were they helpful? What’s the coffee like? Would you go there again or recommend the shop to a friend? If not why not?
- Tell other visitors about your Christian Bookshop shopping experiences.
If your comments refer to a particular shop, please remember to include the shop name and location with your comments. Thank you.
April 25, 2008 at 5:11 pm
It was good to be at the AGM of the BA- Christian Booksellers Group last Tuesday. Thanks to Phil for his write-up of the meeting and Mark Clifford for chairing – as well as being re-elected Chairman of the Group. Thanks as well to John, Sam and Ruth and congratulations to Melanie Tucker from Church House Bookshop for being willing to be elected onto the Committee.
The Christian bookshop in St Albans has recently moved to new premises. We are now in the city centre, in a ‘high street’ location, close to the Cathedral and in what is known as the ‘Cathedral Quarter’.
Please note that the St Andrew’s Bookshop is now at 20 Holywell Hill, St Albans, Herts, AL1 1DD
The interesting thing is that we are sharing the shop with the St Albans Music Centre and this working out well. Many of the customers spend at both side of the shop, making us a one-stop shop for books and music. The Music centre is a specialist shop in sheet music and have customers who visit from many miles around.
At CBC in 2008 A. Guy Taylor made a plea for Christian bookshops to keep their shops open on the ‘high street’ and wanted to start a campaign to get people to support their local Christian bookshop. At St andrew’s in St Albans we are making our stand in this direction. However, the Booksellers Association have launched a campaign to support independent bookshops called ‘Love your Local Bookshop’. This is a campaign that will benefit Christian bookshops who get on board with it. There is free publicity material and the local bookshop can adapt it to suit their own needs and local situation. Conatct Meryl Halls at the BA for more details.
April 25, 2008 at 9:32 pm
Thanks for this, Guy – I’ve now added Independent Booksellers Week to the What’s On page, and will update your shop’s entry over the weekend; apologies for the delay!
May 2, 2008 at 4:32 pm
Hi I dont know whether you remember me but I was at CBC last year and I asked at end of the seminar if you would help me to understand my Mac when I brought one, is the offer still open
May 2, 2008 at 5:21 pm
Hi Rosemary – I seem to remember one or two conversations with various people about Macs. Quite happy to offer what help I can as and when time permits… all depends on what sort of help you’re looking for, of course: Apple’s support pages are probably the best place to start — Switch 101 gives all sorts of advice on switching from PC to Mac, for instance; and don’t miss the discussion forums, where you can share your experiences with other Mac users…
You may also find Doug Chaplin’s Switching to a Mac pages helpful…
July 15, 2008 at 11:06 am
Hi Phil
Here’s a possible one for your blog.
We have customers asking us for the Poverty and Justice Bible published by the Bible Society at £12.99. However, Bible Society won’t sell it to us because they can only sell it to individual customers and not to the trade. They say that Harper Collins hold the copyright for the CEV text. Sam at Harper Collins says “Hi Geoff, this is a bible society product and we have them special dispensation to create it using our material. We are trying to find a way to get this into the Christian trade through stl but currently the margin won’t work for any of us. But I will keep you informed of progress. Sam.”
However, Bible Society are now offering it at £9.99 so there must be some margin in it somewhere.
The annoying thing is that the Bible looks really good and innovative and I am sure would sell really well and highlight issues that Christians need to face.
What do other shops think?
Geoff
July 17, 2008 at 1:27 pm
Hi,
I was researching your web site, and I believe that our Local Search Engine Optimization solutions could be a perfect fit for your business.
Do you have a moment this week to have a brief discussion about how we can benefit your business? I’d appreciate 10 minutes of your time to explore how we can help you continue to meet and exceed your business objectives.
Please advice with a date and time.
Thanks!
Kind Regards,
Jenifer
jenifer@gcmshoppingnetwork.com
July 18, 2008 at 9:20 am
I have recently had published my book, ‘The Path to Martyrdom’, the life story of the Tudor martyr Anne Askewe(Ayscough). It is the first book I have written. A synopsis etc. may be viewed on the Goldstar website. I am trying to find ways of publicising it and wondered if you might be interested in including details of it on your blog. It is a detailed insight into the struggle of women in Tudor society and particularly those wtih protestant views.
July 18, 2008 at 5:51 pm
I have been asked about the Poverty and Justice bible on one occasion a few months ago – the customer didn’t actually want to order it so I had a look for it and found it on Bible Society website but didn’t follow it up. I think it would be a bible I would very much like to stock and I hope HC get their finger out.
On this kind of subject, I am very concerned that Church Times are not making available the new teenage girl’s magazine Caris to the trade at all. I have been asked for this by several customers but have been told by CT that this is their policy because they cannot fund it. Since CT offer subscritions to their magazine at less than half price at Greenbelt, and have recently been giving away entire print runs free of charge, I find this ridiculous.
As well as this, Church Times will not give me terms to stock the Church Times itself which I can afford to take advantage of – I stocked CT for six months recently and made a £35 loss over the period. I cannot find anyone at the paper who will talk sense to me. Is anyone else in this situation?
July 28, 2008 at 10:23 am
[...] (Originally posted under ‘Feedback’) [...]
September 17, 2008 at 11:27 am
Hi Phil
Read your comments about The Shack (thank you!) and can certainly reassure you as regards reprinting this title – we are looking at it on a daily basis and have pretty much not been out of stock since we published in July. Glad it is going so well for you and so many other booksellers – it is great to have a bestseller out there that is continuing to create a lot of buzz!
September 17, 2008 at 12:39 pm
Thanks Jean – was going to email you the link but you got there first
— it certainly is creating a buzz!
February 11, 2009 at 11:34 am
Phil, what about creating a string for ‘Thanks for GOOD service! or suchlike! It might encourage a few of us moaners to use the Blog to pass on some thanks for excellent service.
My first nomination would be Marston Christian Books division, who have processed & creditted our Christmas returns very quickly. The credit notes appeared on the January statement. This is excellent going, and is real ‘Sale or Return’- instead of waiting months to get the credit back.
Marston- much appreciated! Thank you.
February 12, 2009 at 9:35 am
[...] Feedback [...]
April 8, 2010 at 10:51 am
I am sure a number of you will remember and were visited by Geoff Turner who used to Rep for a number of Christian gift & card companies over the years.
I am sure many of us were praying for him through his illness, but I have just been informed that he passed away on the 5th April.
He was a gentle and friendly man always with a smile and good thought and it was always a pleasure for him to come visit or when we talked on the phone, I will miss his visits indeed.
July 13, 2010 at 5:25 pm
This is Hannah Bevills, Editor for Christian.com which is a social network made specifically for Christians, by Christians, to directly fulfill Christian’s needs. We embarked on this endeavor to offer the ENTIRE christian community an outlet to join together as one (no matter denomination) and better spread the good word of Christianity. Christian.com has many great features aside from the obvious like christian TV, prayer request or even find a church/receive advice. We have emailed you because we have interest in collaborating with you and your blog to help us spread the good word. I look forward to an email regarding the matter, Thanks!
God Bless
|Hannah Bevills|Christian.com|
hannah.bevills@gmail.com
August 16, 2010 at 6:47 pm
Hey! Thought you may find this interesting. The Biblical Archaeology Review (BAR) online Reviews section is now updated and expanded, at http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/reviews. For anyone interested in religion, archaeology, or Biblical studies, here are expert reviews of important books and other media. The reviewers are the top Bible and archaeology scholars from around the world, with affiliations at the world’s most prominent educational and research institutions. Their insightful commentary doesn’t only speak to the reviewed items, it also provides a deeper exploration of the topics covered in BAR, the only magazine that connects the academic study of archaeology to a broad general audience eager to understand the world of the Bible.
Book and media reviews have been categorized according to popular topics:
-Ancient Israel
-The Bible and Biblical Figures
-The Dead Sea Scrolls
-Historical Jesus and Christianity
-Archaeology, History and Culture
-Reference
Readers who are interested in purchasing items that have been reviewed can take advantage of convenient one-click ordering from Amazon.com or from Biblical Archaeology Review’s online store.
The Biblical Archaeology Society was founded in 1974 as a nonprofit, nondenominational, educational organization dedicated to the dissemination of information about archaeology in the Bible lands. Biblical Archaeology Review is the Biblical Archaeology Society’s flagship publication. Every other month, a quarter of a million people read BAR to learn and to be entertained.
August 20, 2010 at 9:51 pm
Hi I would like to say I am really encouraged that a new christian bookshop, living oasis, has opened up. I think the vision is fantastic and I will pray for living oasis on a daily basis that they will indeed be a presence of God on the High Street. When people receive a vision from God, not everybody understands it, but thats ok, we must love one another and encourage one another and I want to encourage my brothers and sisters as they seek to serve christians and make the unsaved feel loved and accepted. I visited Edinburgh Living Oasis a few days ago and I was impressed by the variety of christian books, cds,gifts, etc that you could buy. The staff were very pleasant and helpful. I will definitely be supporting living oasis. I would encourage people to visit the shops and support this work, I believe it is truly from the hand of God. Thank you jesus.