Non-Traditional Events: Booksellers Share What Works

At the Winter Institute session “Beyond the Traditional Author Event,” three panelists — sweet pea Flaherty of King’s Books in Tacoma, Washington; Lacey Dunham of Washington, D.C.’s Politics and Prose; and Lauren Savage of The Reading Bug in San Carlos, California — addressed the logistics of planning successful and creative events to increase traffic and drive sales.

The panel was moderated by ABA Content Officer Dan Cullen, who began by stressing the importance of well-executed events to a bookstore’s success. “Events certainly are among the things that are the lifeblood of a successful store,” said Cullen. “If done well, they build community involvement, traffic, and increase sales.”

Among the successful non-traditional events at King’s Books are game events, including an Adult Spelling Bee and a Scrabble tournament. They always draw a crowd, “and they’re always fun,” Flaherty told session attendees. Another King’s specialty is arts and craft fairs, including the annual “Wayzgoose: Letterpress and Book Arts Extravaganza.” In addition to presenting local artists’ prints, Wayzgoose offers customers the opportunity to create their own keepsakes through Steamroller Printing. For the past six years, King’s Books has received an Arts Project grant from the Tacoma Arts Council that enables the store to rent a steamroller, which is used to steamroll ink-covered linoleum plates featuring 3' x 3' designs created by Wayzgoose attendees.

When it comes to partnerships for events, King’s Books often works with the store’s own customers, said Flaherty. “Most of our partnerships start organically,” he said, adding that he talks to people in the store and works with organizations that the staff readily supports.

The Reading Bug’s motto is “Your family’s store for books and more,” Savage explained, adding that the store is not just a place to find books, but also art, music, and dance. The San Carlos demographic is mostly 30-somethings with young children, so many of the store’s events are aimed towards young children, with a few “Grown-ups’ Nights Out” as well. The biggest challenge for store events, Savage said, has been accommodating the number of attendees in the store. To that end, Reading Bug has expanded to include a 400-square-foot event space that is used to hold daily storytime, birthday parties, summer camps, dance classes for kids, and exercise classes for adults.

“What we’re selling in our store is a great experience, and that great experience will influence them to come back and buy a book,” she said.

When planning events, Savage always looks for ways to cross-promote the store’s book and non-nook inventory side by side. As an example she described the store’s successful hosting of a crepe-making event  tied into Bon Appetit! The Delicious Life of Julia Child, a picture book by Jessie Hartland that includes a crepe recipe. The event also featured an array of items from Curious Chef, a cooking tool company for kids, whose products are part of the store’s regular inventory. Young attendees got to take home a crepe and a cooking tool. And though the event was in celebration of Julia Child’s 100th birthday, it provided a great opportunity to promote Reading Bug’s entire cookbook section.

“One of my favorite things to do is create partnerships,” said Savage. Four to five times per year, the store partners with the local children’s theatre to put on a dramatic reading of a children’s book. This year, the store invited Mac Barnett, the author of Extra Yarn, who read while participants performed. “It created a whole lot more depth to the book,” she said.

While most of Reading Bug’s events are free, it occasionally hosts ticketed events, such as a recent one featuring a Pixar artist who taught children how to draw Pixar characters. The store partnered with General Pencil Company — “a great sideline item,” Savage added — to co-sponsor the event.

Reading Bug also partners with schools, Savage said, though teachers are often too busy to become completely involved. Store staff visits schools and has an offsite coordinator to get the word out about events to generate excitement, she said.

Politics and Prose’s Dunham noted that the Washington, D.C., mainstay serves a community of mostly older, affluent shoppers, and many of its events are held offsite through a longstanding partnership with a local synagogue. 

Branding of events and making sure the Politics and Prose name is prominent are crucial to ensuring the store is recognized in all media coverage, Dunham said. As an example, she noted that the podium used at events at the local synagogue bears both the store’s and synagogue’s names.

“We always try to think, how can we promote this beyond just an author reading?” Dunham said, adding that marketing to a younger crowd is also a priority. When style blogger Scott Schuman visited the store, the event was promoted as a best-dressed competition and attendees were encouraged to wear their most fashionable outfits. A photographer was on hand to record the ensembles, and the photos were later posted to the store’s Facebook page. Customers in the three photos with the most “likes” won a prize.

The store also recently hosted a trivia night in partnership with the building’s downstairs café. The two businesses planned for about 50 attendees, but the event exceeded their expectations, drawing a crowd of 175 people, “which required improvisation,” said Dunham.

Though the event was not revenue-generating for the bookstore, “it was really great for us,” she said. “It was the youngest demographic we’ve had in the largest quantity in a long time. It was a way to introduce ourselves to new people.” Dunham said the store now plans to hold monthly trivia nights.

For larger events, Politics and Prose has found success in “live tweeting”— that is, reporting from the event as it happens via Twitter — in “an attempt to be more inclusive,” said Dunham.

Politics and Prose’s Espresso Book Machine (EBM), which the store has dubbed “Opus,” is the center of another kind of event: an Open Mic Night for self-published authors. The authors are able to read from and talk about their books, and the audience is invited to ask questions. The event brings attention to both the EBM and the self-published books on the store’s shelves.

Politics and Prose also organizes trips, which are “extremely popular,” as many of the store’s older customers are looking to get out of the house and be with other people, Dunham noted. Group trips have gone to the Philadelphia Flower Show, Washington Nationals baseball games, and many other events within the community. “Community tradition is every important to us,” she said. “Now the challenge for us is how do we create new traditions to build on?”

As a store with a strong reputation in the community, Politics and Prose is inundated with requests for partnerships, and the challenge becomes finding the appropriatepartner, said Dunham.

“We always want to look at how the relationship is going to work for everyone involved,” she said. “On our side, we want to make sure we’re either bringing in revenue or building our brand. But we also want the other party to benefit, so they’re willing to do the work.”