A day in the life of author and bookseller

Colin Sloan from Drumbeg is an author and bookseller at Waterstones in Bow Street.
Colin Sloan.Colin Sloan.
Colin Sloan.

After leaving school he spent a gap year working in Munich before coming back to Belfast and working part time in Waterstones in Royal Avenue, Belfast, where he ended up with a full time position.

When the Lisburn branch of the store opened Colin was transferred and has worked as a senior bookseller ever since.

From a young age Colin was interested in creative writing and poetry and his first volume of poetry, ‘From Lambeg to the Drum’ as a lyrical journey along the river Lagan seen through the eyes of a child who was fortunate to have grown up in Drumbeg in the 1970s was published in 2006.

Since then he has penned ‘Straight Outta Belfast’, ‘Lisburn Camera & Verse’, ‘Titus Unlive’ and ‘The Volga German’.

I wake up at 7am and I cycle to work at 7.45am. When I get to the shop I carry out all the usual duties associated with a keyholder and will make sure the shop is ready to trade at 9am.

From 9am-10.30am deliveries arrive and I will book all the new stock in as well as arrange till cover and a rota for breaks. I liaise with the manager and will sort out window displays if needs be,

At the moment with all the work that is happening out on Bow Street we like to make our window display as attractive as possible and let people know what promotions are on in store.

With the Christmas period well and truly underway, we are matching the frenetic pace of the season with great half price offers on some of the most popular titles in fiction, non-fiction, biography, sport and history. We cater for those who might be interested in upgrading their Kindles, or buying book tokens and of course we have a wealth of staff recommendations on books themselves which are very much holding their own and thrive alongside the digital.

We are busy every day and there is always something to do as in any retail environment. We have regular customers who will call in for a chat and end up going away with a purchase.

There is a great cross section of ages and it’s great getting the chance to communicate with so many different kinds of people.

When I’m not in work I like to focus on my writing. I always dedicate four hours on a Sunday to what ever novel or poetry I am working on. My last novel came out three months ago and is doing well sales wise.

Being able to combine my full time job with my love of writing means so much to me.

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