Here is our Bookshop Crawl 101, the ultimate introductory post for anyone who hasn't bookshop crawled before. I've included everything I could think of that might be helpful, as well as a condensed version of my Bookshop Crawl Guide for the Overwhelmed from a few years back in case you are in any way anxious about the idea of joining in.
How to Bookshop Crawl
- Register for the welcome pack to get access to the Big List, and other resources to plan which shops you're going to visit and how you will get to them, The Bookshop Crawl ID card is also included and is what you'll need to claim any perks or discounts on offer during the bookshop crawl
- Plan your Route. The Big List tells you about any perks and discounts on offer during the bookshop crawl & shows you how far away things are from each other so you can figure out the way you want to go. For the London Bookshop Crawl it also has 13 downloadable itineraries if you want something easy and pre-planned!
- Decide if you'd like to join a Group Bookshop Crawl. We run Group Bookshop Crawls through all our events. If you'd like to come along and meet fellow book lovers and have your itinerary planned for you, you can Book Tickets here.
- Add some fun extras. Bring along your friends, tell your book club, decide to visit as many bookshops as you possibly can over the course of a day, download our Bookshop Scavenger Hunt, or Literary Landmarks Trail visit bookshops along the way too... And of course join in with our online events too.
- For the bookshop crawl itself, make sure you wear comfy shoes, bring lots of tote bags to carry your books in (make sure you waterproof them in case of rain!), lots of drinking water and your bookshop crawl ID card which you'll need to claim any perks or discounts on offer.
- Check in on the hashtag throughout the event as it'll be full of bookshop love (#LondonBookshopCrawl for London, and #Bookshopcrawluk for the other events)
Now that the logistics and practical things are out of the way, here's a little bit about the spirit and expectations of bookshop crawl: The aim of all of our bookshop crawls is purely to have fun, promote friendship within the book community (by which I mean the community of people who love books, rather than any specific group or organisation - you don't have to do anything to do with books in order to join us, just read them!) and discover and support excellent, mostly independent, bookshops.
The only requirement for coming on any of the bookshop crawls is that you want to spend a few hours/days shopping for books. You can be an internet person or have heard about the crawl from a friend of a friend. I can know you or we can have never spoken before, you're equally welcome either way. The relationship between the attendees for these events are based around nothing stronger than being book lovers who want to discover and support bookshops and celebrate all things bookish!
Relevant for those on our guided groups and for in person events
Depending on how you've chosen to participate in the bookshop crawl, there may be an itinerary on the day and generally most of the group follows it, but if you want to spend more or less time at one or all of the stops or feel the need to go off by yourself for a nap/alone time/to buy sweets during the crawl you're absolutely welcome to do that. If you're on one of our guided groups, you'll be given a contact number or twitter handle for your group leader so you can easily find out where your group is and catch up if you want to. If you're planning your own crawl you can of course do exactly what you like! You are under no obligation to come (or stay) for the whole time, but if you're leaving please let the group leader know in person or via text so they're not looking for you!
If you're worried that everyone else will know each other, see above about the totally random way in which we gather people for the events. It's very unlikely that you'll be the only new person there, but even if you feel that you are, there will be several other people who will take you under their wing and ask you boring questions about your journey and introduce you to other people until you feel more comfortable. Most years most people seem to spend most of the time reminding each other of their names and everyone still seems to have a great time so please don't worry!
A lot of people who have come or are coming on crawls feel like they are bad at meeting new people or suffer with some form of anxiety (myself included). If this is you then please do whatever you need to do to make the situation easier. If you want to bring a partner, sibling or friend(s) with you for support please feel free - the more the merrier! I brought three siblings, three friends and a brother-in-law on the first crawl I organised (just please remember that if you're on one of our organised routes, whoever you bring will also need a ticket - unless they're 16 or under).
If you arrive at a meeting place and have one of those moments a lot of us have probably had, where you're just unable to bring yourself to walk in or come over and say hi, please send us a message on twitter or instagram or text your group leader and they will come and find you and say hello so you don't have to walk in alone. This might sound silly to some people but I think it needs saying just in case. One of the major ways I keep my own anxiety in check is by making sure everyone else has what they need, so if you need help let me know!
There are no requirements at all for the number of books you buy on the day. On the first London Bookshop Crawl I bought the most (14) but my friend only bought one. Nobody is judging your budget. If you can afford to go crazy and buy five books in every shop by all means do, but if you can't then feel free to use the day as a way to connect with new book loving friends in person and online, get recommendations, add to your wishlist and discover excellent bookshops to revisit when in more affluent times! It's all about the experience, not how much you buy.
We are current reworking our online programme so make sure you're subscribed to our Youtube channel so you don't miss out when we start up online events again.
Basically I want to make fun events that can be enjoyed by as many people as possible, and I want to make lots of new book lover friends. That is the aim of all of our Bookshop Crawls so if you're thinking about coming please bite the bullet and just do it, we'd love to meet you.
Got other questions we didn't answer here? Please ask them in the comments!