A new “cozy narrative management game,” Tiny Bookshop, released under the Skystone Games imprint on August 7, has tempted game-loving social influencers—and even some booksellers—to indulge in some literary-minded fantasizing without financial risk.(Beyond the $19.99 cost for the game, that is.) “No stress, no drama,” the female narrator with a British accent declares in the launch trailer introducing Tiny Bookshop. “It’s just you and your books, in a town full of stories. It’s not just a dream anymore.”
“Ever wanted to live out your fantasies by opening your own bookshop in a small town?” asks social influencer @katbyday. Another social infuencer, @Whatsitlikeau describes the scenario and shares some ideas about how to achieve success: the gamer opens a mobile bookstore, and is tasked with everything from stocking it with (used) books and sidelines to decorating the interior space, moving the bookstore around the bucolic town of Bookstonbury-by-the-Sea, and building a customer base. While it’s an idyllic existence, @Whatsitlikeau points out, “there’s a strategy involved: balance and demand, location, and specific events to maximize profits.”
According to a review of Tiny Bookshop by trade journalist Austin Manchester, a former New York City bookseller who covers the video games industry for Polygon: “The dream of owning a bookshop sounds wonderful, but the reality is full of snot, coffee stains, and making sure your break room is stocked with paper plates and plastic utensils. Instead, just play a relaxing game about it that eschews real-world challenges and embraces the cozy. Tiny Bookshop focuses less on the realities of business owning and more on the vibes of it, to great success.”
Manchester, who worked for Posman Books and then Books of Wonder, wrote that he was “definitely a jaded bookseller after almost eight years of working in, managing, and buying for bookstores. Yet, there’s still a part of me today that misses it—seeing what arrives ahead of new release Tuesdays, borrowing any book I want from the shop like it’s my own personal library, curating the store’s graphic novel section, selling my favorite books to customers. Through Tiny Bookshop, I get to enjoy those memories, and the fantastical dream of owning a bookshop, without the tribulations of a real-world bookshop.”
And PW found, in its BXsellers Facebook group for booksellers, one bookseller who has admitted to playing Tiny Bookshop. “My favorite feature is that it allows you to recommend real books to customers, from Othello to Newtonian Physics for Babies,” says Mattie Shepard, a manager for the social media shift at Gramercy Books in Bexley, Ohio. “I would say it highlights the best parts of the profession, while not showing any of the stresses. Great escapism for sure. It will probably feed into the fantasy that bookselling is an easy job, which I don’t love. But ultimately, it’s just a game, and it’s a wholesome one at that.”
