This task comes almost perfectly timed with the start of the new year. January, that has just passed, was the perfect time to reflect on what I’ve accomplished so far and take stock of where I am halfway through this experience. It’s incredible how time flies!
As I mentioned in the previous article, Elisa and Sara immediately trusted me with managing the bookstore and interacting with the customers. My background in tourist customer service has helped me remain approachable and cheerful with clients. As the days and weeks went by, I learned to recognize regular customers and meet new people.
After the first few weeks, during which Sara and Elisa introduce me on how to use the various inventory and invoicing programs, I began to solidify the skills I learned. I became more familiar with the best-selling titles, highlighted new arrivals, and, following some advice, I started exploring websites and listening to podcasts such as Copertina, Comodino, and others.
Over time, I began proposing ideas for social media, trying to alternate written posts, reels, and stories about events, while also showcasing the latest arrivals in the bookstore, which helped me memorize plot summaries and expand my knowledge.
Having always been passionate about fantasy, thanks to the new label of the publisher E/O, Ne/oN, I had the opportunity to deepen this passion by reading three books from the label. However, I believe that reading should also broaden one’s literary horizons. For this reason, I also challenged myself with different types of books, such as the essay Girlhood by Melissa Febos, and other titles chosen by our three reading groups.
So, how do these groups work? Once a month, we meet with the general literature group, Azuleggo, and draw a slip of paper from a jar with a word on it, which could be a geographical place or a keyword. In recent months, we have drawn “magic”, “Iceland”, “time”, and the next one will be “Pakistan”. For “magic”, we read the first volume of L’Attraversaspecchi by Christelle Dabos, Fidanzati dell’inverno; for “Iceland”, we read Eden by Audur Ava Ólafsdóttir and for the next meeting, at the end of February, we will read Cronorifugio by Georgi Gospodinov.
The other two groups meet every two months: for the feminist group, Imprevisto, we chose Il femminismo è per tutti by Bell Hooks, while for the 20th-century Italian classics group, Pagine italiane, after reading the hefty Works by Vitaliano Trevisan, we opted for L’iguana by Anna Maria Ortese.
In addition to Instagram, Piena bookstore also has a monthly newsletter published on Substack, featuring the booksellers’ recommendations, including mine, where I suggested two of the Ne/oN titles I read: Kokun – la Dea dei Profumi and Fathomfolk. A new feature that will accompany Piena Zeppa is a paid newsletter (a way to support the bookstore remotely), Strapiena, designed with in-depth explorations of literary paths, biographies, interviews, cultural columns, graphics, illustrations, podcasts, poetry, and unpublished texts. With this new initiative, I’ll be focusing on a column about journaling.
According to the activity plan for this project, in the third month, we should have expanded our social presence with TikTok and YouTube, but for now, we’ve decided to focus our energy on the newsletter and Instagram page, without completely abandoning the original idea.
Finally, in January, I had the opportunity to discuss my idea of one day opening a literary café in Italy with a family friend, a businessman. I shared my business plan and listened to his expert advice. He was enthusiastic and assured me that when the time comes, he would fully support me. It was a very instructive and reassuring conversation, giving me many useful tips that I am now trying to put into practice.
This bookstore experience is providing me not only with valuable general business knowledge but also a solid foundation for my future project.