John Westwood posted on Twitter: “Tumbleweed…Not a single book sold today…£0.00…We think this maybe the first time ever. We know its miserable out but if you’d like to help us out please find our Abebooks offering below, all at 25% off at the moment…”
...Tumbleweed...
— Petersfield Bookshop (@The_PBS) January 14, 2020
Not a single book sold today...
£0.00...
We think think this maybe the first time ever...
We know its miserable out but if you'd like to help us out please find our Abebooks offering below, all at 25% off at the moment.... pic.twitter.com/Cn5uhYWw88
Slow days will be familiar to many shop owners, but the subsequent reaction on Twitter turned the tide for the Petersfield Bookshop in Hampshire.
A few hours later, celebrity science-fiction author Neil Gaiman had reposted the Tweet to his millions of followers, resulting in 1100 new followers for the shop – plus nearly 300 sales enquiries.
“What a night!” said a post on the bookshop’s page the next day. “We have been completely overwhelmed in a good way.”
What a night! We have been completely overwhelmed in a good way.
— Petersfield Bookshop (@The_PBS) January 15, 2020
We have 1,100 new followers.
We have loads of online book orders.
We have over 300 messages, many asking after books. We will answer all as soon as we can, please bear with us
Thank you all so much!
It also put up a picture of some of the orders it had received overnight.
— Petersfield Bookshop (@The_PBS) January 15, 2020
The dealership is among the dealers at Penman Fairs’ Petersfield Antiques Fair, which runs from January 31-February 2.