I was in a book shop – doing a bit of research regarding coffee table type books, as it happens – and being a nosy, writerly type, I was half watching the comings and goings of other people in the store, and checking out what books they were picking up, when I noticed this middle aged man pull three paperbacks out of his bag. At first I thought he was shoplifting and I was scoping out an assistant to call over, but he placed his three books on the shelf, took a step back, photographed them with his phone and then shoved them back into his bag.
It dawned on me that if I had only seen the last part of his little exercise I would definitely have dobbed him in for lifting those books and that he would have to admit, as his defense to the staff as they dialed the police, that he had just pretended that Waterstone’s stocked his novel.
When looking for a picture to go with this post I found this article.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/sep/12/waterstones-bookseller-trolling-self-published-author
Isabella King 