When choosing a book to help people, becoming a business: Suzhou men have done more than 4 years of career "selected scholars"

Have you realized that while the newspapers and small books in the street are spreading one after another, the books are slowly away from us? Children want to read a book, either squeeze into large shopping malls for people, or take the subway and go far to find a bookstore that is open. How can a person fall in love with reading?

More than 4 years ago, the man from Suzhou Chu Hai flew on the way to the professional teacher. He has a "idealized" dream, hoping to bring interesting and valuable physical books back to our daily life through the post of scholars. He excitedly described the picture in his mind to reporters: when you go to the amusement park, you can read a book. You can also read a book if you walk in the community. As long as the application value of books is maximized. "

By chance, he became a scholar when he opened a bookstore

How to embark on the road of choosing a scholar, Chu Haifei himself couldn't tell himself. Beginning into the book industry, everything naturally evolved to this way.

In 2016, he opened a small bookstore at Yangcheng Lake, Suzhou, with a size of more than 20 square meters. Each book displayed on the cabinet was carefully selected by him, from all parts of the world. The location of the store is very biased, not like the chain bookstore in the mall. Guests must make an appointment in advance to read in the store. So there are not many people who come, and each other is intimate. Gradually, word of mouth, more and more people know the bookstore he opened.

Occasionally, the owner of a cafe and restaurant found him and asked for help to choose some books displayed in the store. On them, books are not commodities that are traded, but more like decorations.

For example, a cafe is actually a small composite space that can drink coffee and dine. Generally speaking, there are only a large number of people in the restaurant, and there are fewer people at other times. However, plus books, there is an extra piece of reading space for people to rest throughout the venue. Taking the book as the medium, the guests will be stretched when they stay here. "After the meal Reading. "

After about a year, Chu Haifei saw the "selected teacher" profession in a magazine. "I think I think it is a bit like what I do, so I want to develop in that way."

Not to recommend books, but use books

At present, Chu Haifei has operated the "selected scholar" professional company. There are 4 people in his team, a full -time designer, a project management person in charge, and a couple. In 2020, they published a story of the choice of scholars. For the first time, they officially introduced such occupations to domestic readers.

Many people will misunderstand. Isn't this the "recommendation blogger" we saw on the platforms of station B, Xiaohongshu, Douyin? In fact, not. The work of the selection of teachers must be surrounded by the place of space experience. "They use books as the main medium, and‘ Edit ’different bookshelves and spaces are finally linked to the society with citizens more closely with citizens.”

To put it simply, the choice of teachers will not recommend you to read what books, but to fully tap the application value of books in the public living space. Book selection is not the first step. You have to collect information earlier to understand the customer you serve.

For more than four years, Chu Haifei and his team partners have brought the book back to restaurants, hotels and other places. He thinks the most interesting case is Suzhou Paradise. "In a very noisy environment, a quiet reading space is actually anti -common sense." But the effect is particularly good. The area of ​​Suzhou Paradise is very large. After walking around, there are no places to sit down and rest. "We turn the park railway station into a small book station. Parents can bring their children to see it.

In fact, the profession of scholars is not new. Back to one or two hundred years ago, the United Kingdom had similar jobs. They are called "scholars" and choose collectible books for the elite class. Now that books are widely used, "Books held by the protagonist in the movie and the books that pass by the camera need to be selected."

The principle of picking books is interesting, unlimited

In the past year, the total number of books in my country has published 11 billion copies (data released by the National Bureau of Statistics). In the world, it is not just this. Statistics made by the Chu Haifei team, in 2021, China has 200,000 books published, and Japan is more than 70,000 ...

Which book is worth being excavated in the dazzling book market? They had to use artificial intelligence for big data analysis. But this violates Chu Haifei's own ideas. He believes that people know the person most, the machine can help others, and cannot replace people's works. "The focus of anything is to return to the value of people."

Therefore, he does not like to choose a book based on the portrait of the customer. He feels that this is limited to the possibility of reading. The principle of picking books should be unlimited. But many of the publishers he knows the common philosophy is: most of them are what guests love to buy, and what books are placed in the store.

"I want to find a breakthrough. In addition to being a book dealer and opening a bookstore, what can I use to bring the book out and return to everyone's life?" Chu Haifei told reporters that this is not an ideal concept. What he did to do. The assumption is: Although the bookstore is important, the book does not have to put it in a bookstore, and people who read or buy books do not have to go to the bookstore in the mall.

Maybe one day, the book returns to our daily life

Chu Haifei is an idealized person. But no matter how ideal people are, the first thing to consider is the issue of survival. He is very happy that in recent years, he has not encountered great difficulties in his operations, at least he has not lost money. Moreover, he also sees the operating results relatively lightly. "The book industry, no matter how to do it, should not be a huge profiteering industry. If the publishing industry only considers commercialization, the books we see will be increasing The faster meals. "For example, the difference between fast food and delicious food is like reading e -books and paper books. It depends on whether you want to eat the fastest and conveniently, or sit down and enjoy a rich food. Reading paper books will make people slow down, it is a kind of enjoyment.

"I think the premise of building a book incense society and advocating the reading of the whole people are to let the book return to everyone's life first." Since last year, he also made a nineths of the bookstore projects. A bookstore with only fifteen square meters of size adopts unmanned sales model. They replace the newspapers and periodicals that have gradually disappeared, and are implanted into various streets. "You can enter and exit books at will, which is equivalent to the third space of the community. When you are tired, come to rest."

The core of all these efforts is to bring the book back to the public's field of vision.

Yangtze Evening News/Zi Niu Journalist Sun Qingyun

Edit: Qin Xiaoyi

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