Events have long been an important part of bookstore operations. When summarizing the event for ourselves, we look at what the recommended book did for the day and the total sales in the store during the event. There is always some kind of impact, even for the smallest event.
In addition to growing in popularity, events have changed over the years. A decade ago, after visiting New York and directly asking publishers if they would prefer book sales over attending signings, Rainy Day Books in Fairway, Kan. changed their approach and began bundling books with tickets, creating an “entry package” for almost every event.
The Boulder Bookstore in Boulder, Colorado, tried a different approach to boost sales in the spring of 2011 by becoming one of the first stores to sell tickets in the form of event vouchers. Each $5 ticket gives the ticket holder a $5 discount on any in-store purchase on the day of the event. “Although we had a rough start to this program, it has since been very successful,” said Stephanie Schindhelm, Boulder’s marketing and promotion manager. The vouchers have more than doubled the proportion of event attendees who purchase books, from 30-40% to an average of 80%.
Boulder and other bookstores that use vouchers will, upon request (many report that it is increasingly being requested), host events with package tickets. But the results have been mixed for some. “We realized that it only works for the right author,” said Schindhelm, who had a hard time selling bundled tickets for J.R. Rearing’s Sutton. Boulder, on the other hand, sold more than 200 copies of Michael Pollan’s Cooked in connection with the event.
To complement the regular events, Random House has created special events dedicated to well-known authors to generate buzz among their fans. This summer, in conjunction with Good Housekeeping, it organized its own Girls Night Out package with Jodi Picoult in Washington, D.C., ahead of the October publication of her novel Leaving Time. In June, he hosted an Outlander Fan Retreat in Seattle with Diana Gabaldon, where fans could purchase an early edition of Written in My Own Heart’s Blood. In October, he will host a comprehensive event at the Red Door in New York City dedicated to Sophie Kinsella’s latest movie, Shopaholic to the Stars. For Zoro, it’s all part of Random House’s efforts to “come up with creative ways to get people to buy books and read.”
While other publishers ask booksellers to sell bundled tickets, they tend not to be as aggressive as Random House. “Our goal, as always, is to work with our booksellers to put on the best possible event for the store and our authors,” said Adam Rothberg, a spokesman for Simon & Schuster. This fall, the number of bundled events S&S is working on is in the single digits.