Bookseller, Book Writer: <br>An Interview with John Dunning

Is the Old Algonquin Bookstore still alive? Sort of. When we sold the book store in 1994, we sold most of the stock. We kept the mysteries and started selling on the Internet about 1995. It’s not a real business, but I still go out and hunt; it’s an addiction. We have lots of books stored here at home, but people don’t come here to buy. My wife, Helen, takes care of the online bookstore and sends the books out.

How do you feel about bookselling on the internet? Well, there are a lot of flaky people on the Net. I miss the good old days of bookselling – the good old days being only ten or more years ago when there was no Net. It was a great adventure then. A lot of booksellers on the Net put the highest possible price they can find on a book, but they don’t have a clue whether the book is worth it or not. I look for how many copies are there. If there are a lot, then I know the book is not worth as much as it might have been before the Internet.

I’ve been on those kinds of buys where you have a day that you can do no wrong. And many of the other sort as well, of course. A lot of booksellers these days are having a heck of a time finding good books because of the competition on the internet. Where do you find your books now? I still go to yard sales, thrift stores, bookstores. You’ve got to be willing to pay a fair price for a book. Book fairs are great. You may pay $2000 for a book, but in the long run you can turn it around for $5,000. You have to know your books, though.

I’ve discovered as a bookseller and writer myself, that finding time to do both and still make a living is difficult. You’ve been through that in the past. Do you have any advice for those of us who are still doing the juggling act? Have the strength of ten. Sounds frivolous, I know, but it is mostly true. You have to persevere as a writer, and you can’t let your life get in your way. For years, I got up at four in the morning and wrote two or three hours before I went to work. It’s not impossible, but you need to find a good agent who believes in you. My agent is still my agent thirty years later, but it was a long time before she got to put a check in her pocket.

What kind of writing schedule do you keep? For years I got up early to write, and now I’m still regimented in that I sit at my desk every day, but sometimes I don’t really get the day’s writing done until the last hour or two, but I still have to be there. It’s my full time job now.

Rare Book Monthly

Bookseller, Book Writer: <br>An Interview with John Dunning

Rare Book Monthly

Archived Articles

Bookseller, Book Writer: <br>An Interview with John Dunning

Rare Book Monthly

Article Search

Archived Articles