Opinion Maurice Saatchi Why books are my bag
The conservative peer and M&C Saatchi director Maurice Saatchi explains why he’s backing a BA/PA-boosted trade wide promotion of physical bookshops
Te world is a worldly place. Nothing is easy. Life is hard. To
survive at all is an achievement. To help you through life’s
roller-coaster ride, there are books— novels, plays, poetry—the greatest artistic works of mankind, and those yet to be. Like many of you, I buy books in
many ways. But buying an actual book in an actual bookshop is one of the great pleasures of life. It would be so sad if it went. When you buy a book from a
bookshop, you’re not just getting a loaf of bread, or a bottle of shampoo, you’re getting a possession that you may well value for the rest of your life. Just to look at it will bring you
peace—the joy of ownership. Only in a bookshop can you
physically look through a host of other books before you make your choice . . . touch them, read bits of them and talk about them with another human being, who probably loves books as much as you do, and probably knows more about them— the bookseller behind the counter . . . and then make your choice. Tis whole process brings the
wonderful serendipity you can only get in a bookshop. For example, I was in the military
section of a bookshop in Lewes recently and, there, hidden between a vast tome on Napoleon’s greatest military victories and one of the
BOOKS ARE MY BAG
Officially unveiled at today’s LBF, the Books Are My Bag campaign has been created by M & C Saatchi, with the slogan featuring on cloth bags which will be available in both chains and independent bookshops. Celebrities will be pictured with the bag to “crystallise
and strengthen the link between a passion for books and bookshops”. The campaign will be rolled out on Saturday 14th September, and has already won the backing of Waterstones, W H Smith, Eason and Foyles, as well as publishers including
Hachette, Penguin, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster and Random House. The promotion is the brainchild of Random House c.e.o.
Dame Gail Rebuck and former Booksellers Association president Jane Streeter. An initial run of the bags will be provided to booksellers free of charge, with new bags supplied at a cost. Bookshops can choose to have their own logo or name printed on the bags. More information can be found at
www.booksaremybag.com.
Maurice Saatchi: “When you buy a book from a bookshop . . . you’re getting a possession that you may well value for the rest of your life.”
shortest books ever written, Great Jewish Naval Heroes, I came across a beautiful book on the music hall, Te History of the Music Hall, which I then sent to Sir John Major, whose great book on the music halls has just been published. Only in bookshops. And yet, they are in trouble. Over
the last eight years, a third of our bookshops have closed. If this continues, it would be a tragedy. It won’t.
And the reason it won’t is because
not just you but hundreds of thousands of other lovers of life, famous and ordinary, will openly display their love and support of bookshops, on the streets of this country by using this bag . . . With its message BOOKS ARE MY
BAG. It won’t because you the bookseller
will get as many of these bags out onto the street as you possibly can. It won’t because we and you will
mobilise the most powerful advertising media in the world. Te public themselves. Our bag is not just an advertising
campaign. It’s the beginning of a movement. And a movement needs movement from you. Action from everyone who loves books and bookshops. You will need to deploy, not just
these bags, but bags of your energy and support. You know it makes sense.
18 THE BOOKSELLER DAILY AT LBF | 15 APRIL 2013
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