Now Hiring: Full-Time Bookseller

Pulpfiction Books, Vancouver’s largest independent bookstore, seeks a mature, enthusiastic individual interested in joining us as a full time bookseller.

The successful candidate will:

• Work a minimum of 24 and up to 40 hours per week.  The position will be part time in the short term, but will likely become full time within a 4 month period.

• Not currently be attending college or university full time, or plan to within the next 12 months.

• Be available for a variety of shifts, including mornings, evenings, and weekends.

• Possess good practical intelligence, and the ability to work quickly and multitask under pressure.  Please note that this position involves a lot of physical and mental activity, and is best compared to fast-paced warehouse or restaurant work.  Those interested in standing behind a cash desk socializing and/or being paid to read will not be a good fit for this position.

• Have previous customer service or supervisory experience.  Previous experience in bookselling is preferred but not required. Some of our most valuable staff came to us with no previous bookselling experience.

• Have a wide familiarity with contemporary literary fiction and non-fiction. 

• Already possess an undergraduate degree or equivalent work history.

• Bring other skills and abilities to the table.  Examples: social media (Twitter; Blogger); basic accounting and/or bookkeeping skills; carpentry; HTML; SQL, PHP & MYSQL coding experience, etc. etc. etc.

We offer competitive compensation and a vibrant, non-corporate work environment.

To apply for this position, please forward a detailed resume to pulpbook@gmail.com. Please, NO phone calls, non-resume email queries, or walk-in requests for employment.

We thank all applicants for their interest, but may, depending on resume volume, not be able to reply to everyone.

Buying Update, May/June 2013

We are once again looking at books at all three shops.  Thanks for your patience while we processed the largest influx of books in our business' history.

Michael, one of our favorite regular clients, holds the very uncommon WSB UK MMPPB (translation: William S. Burroughs UK-only mass market paperback) version of Naked Lunch that's the source for his awesome T-shirt.  Props to Michael for his taste, way ahead of his age.

Chris Ware's BUILDING STORIES back in stock

Conducting an experiment in supply, demand, and the economics of running a commodity business. 

Until further notice, the year's-best, critically-acclaimed-14-objects-in-a-box is $32, the cheapest price in Canada, period, full stop.

Special Midnight Release for Jordan/Sanderson's MEMORY OF LIGHT

Main Street will open at 12:01am Tuesday January 8th for the Vancouver release of Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson's A Memory of Light.  You'll receive your book earlier than you will if ordering from some gargantuan e-mall bazaar, you'll be able to personally inspect the condition of your copy, maybe enjoy some donuts and/or scotch, yak with our friendly staff, and enjoy a competitive discount from the book's Canadian cover price.

These midnight launches are a lot of fun; we had c. 75 people show up for the midnight launch of Martin's Dance of Dragons, many liquored up, most in costume.

Hangover Recovery Day

All PFBs closed tomorrow, 1 January 2013, for some long-awaited down time.  Regular hours resume Wednesday 2 January 2013.

Buying Update: 10/25/12 - 11/10/12

We just bought the contents of a defunct online competitor that will take at least a week to clean and price. 

So, for the next week or so, we will be doing no cash buying.

If you have books that we are sure we can sell immediately, we'll be pleased to buy them from you, but not until after the 10th of November.  Please don't ask us to make an exception, or to store your books until then.