The Book Barge is now open for business, at Barton Marina.
I heard about this in Thursday's' Express & Star, with its grating headline: Bookstore on a barge is one hull of an idea.
But you might have seen The Book Barge mentioned in an earlier story in The Sentinel last March: Opening a new chapter.
Ouch, sack those sub-editors! Aside from the intolerable puns, it's technically not a barge but a narrowboat.
I'd be interested to know if The Book Barge will actually cruise, or is only a 'business barge' in the BW sense.
That is, will it just occupy mooring space and never go anywhere except to have its bottom blacked? (I hate it when boats don't go anywhere, it's like building on water.)
It would be wonderful to have this boat cruising the waterways, at least part of the year.
This new business is the brainchild of Sarah Henshaw, who's pictured in the Express & Star wearing long, blonde hair, a very short skirt and a winning smile, much like my idea of Zuleika Dobson.
She's dealing initially just in fiction, mostly second-hand. It's early days, but I'd like to see the catalogue online, and this would make it very easy for her to persuade me to buy. She should also specialise in a particular subject; that's the way to build a reputation quickly. Waterways books would be an obvious focus, but perhaps that's too easy an idea.
The Book Barge has already started a blog, so it gets on my boatroll. Sarah should also consider Twitter, since 'tweeting' is an easy way of alerting customers to new and unusual items in stock.
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