I drove to Sydney last week to deliver another 200 books to my distributor – Woodslane at Warriewood. I stayed on for an extra 2 days to do some marketing, starting with Dymocks stores at Macquarie and Chatswood. I then crossed the Harbour Bridge to pay homage to the mecca of Australian book shops – Dymocks on George Street – which has proudly stood on its site since 1930. The shop is huge, about 10 times the size of your average suburban shopping mall store.
‘Would my book be here?’ I asked no one in particular, searching high and low through the maze of travel books. I couldn’t see it; my spirits plunged.
I spoke to a staffer, asked about the book, showed him my copy.
‘Aha’ said Christian, ‘I know that one; it’s over here’ he said, plunging back into the maze, with me hot on his heels.
‘There they are’ he said with a flourish, pointing to four copies on display. My spirits soared; I had climbed the mountain!
I told Christian about my dream, that one day, Bill, Paul and I (with me in the middle of course), would one day be together, side-by-side, in a famous book store, just hangin’ out.
I had no sooner finished telling him about my little fantasy, than Christian had books flying in all directions, setting up the ‘dream’ photo. He even took the photo with his very nice smart phone. So that’s how my new FB cover photo came into being.
I floated out of the store, but my big high was short-lived as I hit the chaos that is George Street: oodles of pushy pedestrians, numerous noisy buses, taxis racing everywhere, etc, etc.
I checked out Dymocks Broadway, then caught up with Kevin Evans, the CEO of the NSW National Parks Association, to organise a book review for the NPA’s quarterly magazine Nature New South Wales.
Kevin was pleased to oblige, so I was a happy chappie as I caught the train to Burwood for the fifth and final stop on my bus-and-train Dymocks tour.
The following day I did another four Dymocks shops – Neutral Bay, Lane Cove, Castle Hill and Rouse Hill – crisscrossing the city by car, a much more exhausting way to travel than by relaxing public transport.
I had a good hearing in all the Dymocks stores I visited, with some managers placing orders while I was there, and others saying they would wait till the Woodslane rep. visited.
All in all, it was a successful visit, but there is no doubt about the highlight: climbing the mountain with Bill and Paul!
Happy travelling!