Dan Bye  (Sheffield) spoke  to us during   the second session at GRAM 2003  on the subject HUMANIST BOOK STALLS. The session was chaired by  David Bothwell.

Sheffield Humanist Society is 10 years old this year, and we’ve been running a book and literature stall since the beginning. 

We have a stall at just about every one of our monthly public meetings, and at several annual events and festivals around the region.  We’re regulars at the Chesterfield May Day festival, the Sheffield Peace Fair, the Sheffield Peace Fair, the South Yorkshire Festival, and a local community event, the Sharrow Festival.  And we’re always looking out for new opportunities and have gone to other events here and there.  An extra one this year was a Rotherham council diversity day exhibition – apparently the guy who invited us really had to fight to get us included.  And of course we also ran a stall at the conference we organised on the Threat of Fundamentalism. And since I look after the stock it means I can easily take some to any talks I do with my National Secular Society hat on.  

So that’s a significant amount of activity.  To give some indication, in 2002/2003 we sold over £119 worth of literature at our monthly meetings, and over £130 at the fairs and festivals.    We will have exceeded that this year because we took over £100 at our Chesterfield Conference.  

We also sold £66 worth of Freethinkers over the year – but we always donate Freethinker sales income back since we get the magazines for nothing. 

In the same year we spent over £130 buying literature for the stall.   We’ve probably spent the same if not more this year, but we also invested another £300 in stocking up for the conference – this wasn’t just BHA/NSS and RPA material, we also bought some quantities of more mainstream published books – through Amazon, so there was a small discount on some of the titles.  We also get discounts from BHA/NSS/RPA, so in theory we should make a small profit on the sale of books.   In practice, though, that profit is often spread over several years, and I also sometimes drop the price of the more expensive titles, otherwise they just wouldn’t sell.  For example, the recently published history of the RPA, the Blasphemy Depot, retails for £20.   We got them for £15 for putting in an advance order, and then an additional discount for being a local group.  It’s not a book we were going to sell many of – anything over £5 sell noticeably slower than other titles – so we sold them for £12, which doesn’t leave us with much profit but does mean we won’t be carrying them around unsold for years and years, hopefully. 

Add in the fact that most events charge a fee to stall holders, and you can see we’re not really running a fund raising stall.  It’s not a major money making venture.  It does provide a regular income, which is useful but not the same thing.   I suppose if we were out to fundraise we’d sell crafts and plants or run a tombola or something.  But I’m afraid you’re not going to get me out of bed early on a Saturday morning to spend most of the day standing in the rain, or the blistering sun or the squalling wind, or the freezing fog, selling cacti and doilies.  I don’t think plants and crafts are a good advert for humanism, but books and leafelts are.  And more room for plant pots and knitted toys is less room for information and propaganda. 

We do have some happy human badges, though they sell in very small quantities and only at our monthly meetings – they don’t sell to passers by at stalls at events.  Badges with slogans might, though.   Humanist greetings cards sell well if priced reasonably, I got some at the BHA AGM for the cut down price of £1 for a pack, and they have sold much better, already, than the identical cards for £3.50 or whatever it was.   

The National Secular Society’s series of mugs has proved quite popular, to my surprise, I have to admit. 

The stall exists mainly so that we can sell books and magazines and give away free leaflets, thereby promoting humanist ideas and values locally.     It’s also there to provide a vehicle for a humanist presence in the community if the stall is at a community event, or to encourage newcomers at our meetings to linger and chat if the stall is at one of our meetings.     

It’s possible to put together a table-worth of free leaflets with minimal outlay. You could have a donations box to allow people to give something towards the cause. Or maybe you could appeal for funds for the purpose of buying literature.

Everyone loves second hand books (particularly second hand bookstall holders who will probably buy from you, mark up the price, and then sell it on their own stall).  If you have a decent stock it can generate quite a lot of interest.  I prefer stuff that is at least relevant to humanist concerns.   

And if in doubt stick to best sellers.  The BHA’s ceremonies booklets, particularly the funerals and weddings ones are essential.  And some of the less obscure titles in the GW Foote and co series of Freethought classics do well – Shelley’s Necessity of Atheism and de Sade’s Dialogue between a priest and a dying man, sell on their notoriety.  Barbara Smoker’s book on Humanism is cheap and worth having, and there are some others like the Humanist Philosopher’s Group series.  In addition to the Freethinker we also sell the New Humanist.  Again we get a quantity at a discount.  But it’s still quite a slow seller despite the recent changes.   I think we need to build up a regular clientele like we have with the Freethinker.   

In Sheffield we have invested in various useful paraphenalia over the years.   We got a couple of inexpensive green tablecloths to cover tables and brighten the appearance of the stall.  We also have a gazebo which has been essential for outdoor events – and not just in case of rain, hot sun can constitute bad weather too.  You can probably pick up Gazebos quite cheaply now  We had a “humanists” banner made to hang over the stall.  And we have several leaflet and book display stands.  Next on the list is a display board or stand.   We also have a couple of deck chairs, a spare piece of carpet (for when the ground is cold or damp), a supply of plastic bags, and a huge clear plastic sheet (bought for £1) for rain related emergencies.  Oh, and some pebbles and elastic bands in case of wind. 

It’s useful to have a supply of pens/pencils, thumb tacks, string, bluetack, something to cut with and something to prize thumb tacks out of wood with.    If tables are not going to be available, invest in a cheap and lightweight pasting table (but don’t lean on it too heavily).  Bluetack can be a lifesaver. And invest in a roll of bin liners to collect your rubbish in.  I usually have a stock of old plastic shopping bags so people can keep any books they buy dry if it rains. 

It’s important to get as many people involved as you can.   It’s possible for one person to run a stall all day on their own, but it’s not much fun. You need a break, because it’s surprisingly exhausting.  I don’t have a car, so I need a lift to any events (for meetings I can get everything I need into a medium-sized rucksack).  It takes organisation, and it takes commitment.  You’re giving up most of a day in the cause of humanism.

 Offer a free leaflet to anyone who looks interested.  But don’t be too pushy.  You can scare people away by trying to talk to them too early.  They might be just looking.  On the other hand they might be shy, so you want to be friendly.  If someone lingers, I tend to say “please take a free leaflet if you’re interested”, which can trigger them to ask a question or engage in conversation. If they buy a book, put a free leaflet or two in the book anyway.    It would irritate me to death to have someone ask “so what’s your interest in humanism” and I would probably run away to the nearest vegan food stall. 

We’ve found in Sheffield that we get asked a lot about green burials, and other things that are vaguely related, but not quite.  So I’ve put together some information about them so at least I can help people.   It’s worth noticing what questions are raised most often, and preparing for them.  It’s worth practicing explaining in a sentence or so what humanism is.   

Some people are better at doing this than others, but if you’re relying on volunteers its difficult to turn down someone’s offer of help because you know they’d be terrible at engaging with people. 

You can have really interesting discussions and arguments with people. Sometimes they are sympathisers or want to join.  Sometimes they disagree but are interested in hearing your opinion.  Some people just want to bend your ear on their pet theory or favourite biblical passages and won’t let you get a word in edgeways.  Some people are just nutters.  At the Peace Fair this month three of us, taking turns, spent half an hour in fruitless debate with a completely irrational and illogical anti-war badge wearing homophobe – much to the amusement and horror of neighbouring stall holders.  He’s spotted our Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association leaflets and begun drivelling on about Frankenstein.  When I told him he was being illogical he accused me of getting personal (which I suppose I was) and of denying his freedom of speech (which I certainly wouldn’t).     Then there is the guy who turns up at the Sharrow Community Festival every year to tell us he is God in some drug inspired sense and berate us incomprehensibly for hours on end – again much to the amusement of other stall holders – I think they admire our patience.    This year he attempted to demonstrate that quantum physics proves reality is an illusion by slapping me on the arm several times, quite hard.  I was quite tempted to thump him in the face, thereby disproving his nonsense once and for all, but you’ll be glad to hear that humanist values won the day. 

Some discussions or arguments, like that, can attract an audience and be quite useful.   Others, like our Frankenstein obsessed homophobe, scare away people who might be interested.   You learn from experience when and how to terminate a discussion.

Sometimes you don’t get a discussion.  The woman who wandered past our Chesterfield stall, looked at the literature, looked at us, screwed up her face in horror and called down the curses of God upon us, announcing we would be struck down by lightning, wasn’t interested in debate.  Again, it entertained the other stalls. And although I have lost all my hair, it’s not because of miraculous meterological events.  

It’s good to get out there, flying the flag.  You get to find out how many opponents of humanism there are in the world – but they get to find out that a confident humanist group exists locally.   You also get to find out who your friends are, and just how many people have had, or know people who have had, humanist ceremonies.    Because we turn out year after year at the same events, people remember us.  We’ve had people join after seeing us at events several times, perhaps over several years.  And we make sure religious groups don’t get it all their own way – our presence at the Peace Fair and Sharrow Community Festival is particularly important in that respect. 

In Sheffield, our stall is has been a really successful public activity, I think.  It’s a good way of getting noticed, of getting humanist literature into the community and into the hands of potential members, people who have never heard of us, or people who might be interested for other reasons – maybe they’re a teacher looking for teaching material, or a worker at a hospice looking for information on humanist funerals, as we’ve had recently.

Dan J Bye  
www.sheffieldhumanists.org.uk