# Episode 11 | Meet the accidental bookseller (and accidental author): Shaun Bythell, The Bookshop (Wigtown, Scotland)

An episode of [Bookshop Stories](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/6789231785), 25 Sep 2026, 1 h 04 min.

Audio: https://anchor.fm/s/113977da4/podcast/play/125836985/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2026-8-16%2F432032996-44100-2-1e05508dcdcc5.m4a

Shaun Bythell never particularly wanted a career. After graduating with a law degree, he deliberately avoided anything resembling one, spending his twenties working on gas pipelines, planting trees, building dry-stone walls and taking temporary jobs. Then, aged 30, he went home to Wigtown for Christmas and the owner of the local secondhand bookshop asked if he fancied buying it. Twenty-five years later, Shaun still owns The Bookshop, now Scotland’s largest secondhand bookshop, and that accidental career has taken another unexpected turn. His bestselling Diary of a Bookseller series has made him one of Britain’s best-known booksellers and brought readers from around the world to Wigtown – although Shaun remains reluctant to describe himself as a writer, preferring “a bookseller who’s written some books”. With his latest instalment, Return of The Bookseller Diarist, out 8 Oct RRP £25 (New Modern Arcade), published on 8 October, I talk to Shaun about the strange path that took him from determined career avoidance to bookselling and authorship, what he has learned from handling millions of books, and why, despite everything his diaries might suggest about customers, he still can’t imagine a job he would enjoy more. We also get into the peculiar economics and “dark arts” of secondhand bookselling, the customers who have inadvertently provided years of literary material, the changing fortunes of Wigtown, and the unexpected international success that means people now travel thousands of miles hoping to find Shaun behind the counter. Plus, Shaun tackles the Bookshop Stories quick-fire questions, revealing the best book he’s ever read, the most valuable book he’s ever handled and the strangest thing he’s discovered being used as a bookmark. Follow Bookshop Stories Bookshop Stories goes behind the shelves of independent bookshops to meet the people who run them and explore the realities of bookselling, running a small business and keeping independent bookshops alive. Follow Bookshop Stories on Instagram for photographs and stories from each shop, and subscribe to the Bookshop Stories Substack for the articles accompanying every episode. You can also browse books recommended by guests throughout the series at the Bookshop Stories Bookshop.org storefront. Buying through the storefront supports independent bookshops, while also providing a small commission that helps support Bookshop Stories.

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