Bookselling This Week
Nationwide Booksigning Stirs Interest in Stone Soup
April 27, 1998
On Friday, April 17 dozens of independent bookstores in 40 cities were
involved in a collaborative signing of Stone Soup for the World (Conari),
a collection of 100 true stories about community and individual
humanitarian acts. Subtitled Life-Challging Stories of coincides &
Courageous Acts of Service, the trade paperback was published to coincidc
with National Volunteer WcckWeekril 19-25). and features a foreword by
Colin Powell and pieces by Nelson Mandela, Steven Spielburg, Jimmy Carter
and many others. A percentage of the book's proceeds will go to the Stone
Soup Foundation, dedicated to empowering today's youth to better society.
"It was a challenge, but it came together," Conari Senior Publicist Nina
Lesowitz told BTW, describing the planning of the nationwide event
(billed as "The World's Largest Booksigning"), which she coordinated
along with Conari Sales and Marketing Associated Jay Kahn. While
describing the day as "a unique concept that went well for the message
we wanted to convey," Lesowitz admitted to varying results from the
participating stores. "It was mixed, she said. "Any time you have an
event there are variables - the scheduling, the weather, media coverage.
But in some stores, the owners and employees really got behind the concept.
Patrice Wynne at Gaia really got into it. I attended that one, and it was
really fabulous, honoring a local firefighter."
Lesowitz also mentioned two other California stores that had reported
excellent turnouts - Book Passage in Corte Madera, where about 50
costcostumerswed up to see Ram Dass; and The Capitol Book Cafe, which
she said had enjoyed "tremendous success. Over a hundred people attended,
and they sold over 50 books. I was pleased that we had so many outstanding
stores involved."
BTW spoke with some of the other bookbooksellersolved, and, while the
results were hit and miss in terms of book sales and attendance, the
common denominator was a rewarding experience for staff and customers.
Nancy Braus, co-owner of EverEveryone'sks in Brattleboro, Vermont, said
she felt fortunate to experience a visit from Frances Moore Lappe
(best-known for authoring Diet for a Small Planet). "She's really
nice - a neat person," Braus said of the popular local. It was very
enjoyable." About 15 people attended at the Green Mountain bookstore.
In Charlotte, North Carolina, The Bookmark Co-owner David Friese called
a visit from Jan Boylston "a good expeexperiencedth decent turnout," but
lamented the one that got away. "We had tried to get Hugh McCall as well,
who is the CEO and CHairman of Nations Bank - and the subject of
Boylston's piece in the book. We would have had hundreds of people here."
At Bunch of Grapes, on Massachusetts' Martha's Vineyard, bookseller Joe
Schreiber commented that the event was good, especially for our first event
of the year. We sold about seventeen copies." Schreiber said that two
contributors and one editor of Stone Soup reside on the island, and they came
to talk about thiertheirribution, "The Great Martha's Vineyard Barn Raising,"
and essay about a community project of a few years ago.
Lisa Greening, a co-owner of Left Bank Books in St. Louis, was very pleased
with the proceedings. "We had maybe 45 people, and sold about a hundred
books." left Bank was graced with a visit from Hulas King, a St. Louis
resident with a career in helping displaced and untrained workers. Left Bank
split their proceeds from Stone sales with King's current foundation, The
Cornerstone Partnership, which helped update the various job skills of
displaced workers.
And at New Leaf Bookstore, in Larkspur, California, proprietor Susan Scott
was delighted with her store's involvement, despite an unspectacular turnout
of about 10 attendees, with sales about the same. "Our experience was
wonderful," she beamed. "Masanko Bandko read 'Pathways to Peace' from the
book, answered questions, and talked for about 45 minutes." Scott has also
been won over by Stone Soup itself. "I love the book," she added. "it was
done really well.".
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