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The Graveyard Book Halloween Parties a Smash for Indies
Printer-friendly versionAt BookExpo America 2009, Neil Gaiman -- whose The Graveyard Book (HarperCollins) was honored by ABA members with the Indies Choice Book Award for Best Indie Young Adult Buzz Book -- challenged indie booksellers to create the best possible Graveyard Book-themed Halloween party. By all accounts, booksellers eagerly took up Gaiman's challenge, with stores across the country hosting frighteningly creative and ever-so-ghoulish events in an effort to win a visit from the author himself.
To participate in the contest, booksellers were asked to send pictures and details of their Halloween party to HarperCollins.
Simply gauging from the numerous party reports that indie booksellers e-mailed to BTW, the contest idea was a great one -- it increased store traffic and sales and was loads of fun, to boot. In no particular order, here's a look, in words and photos, at what some bookstores did.
Literary Bookpost in Downtown Salisbury, North Carolina
Literary Bookpost, which held its Graveyard Book event on the day before Halloween, offered a 10 percent discount on the book and door prizes (including an audio Graveyard Book), said children's department manager Daphne Safrit. "We also created tombstones using the epitaphs in the book for decoration," she noted, "but they were also capable of producing grave rubbings for participants to take home."
Highlights of the event included an "unannounced visit" from "Eliza," played by a local actor, who "talked with the participants who we were unable to immediately greet, getting them involved in our activities," Safrit explained. "Bananas were the main refreshment item, and I was pleased to see so many going for the bananas over the chips and candy that were also out."
Literary Bookpost's Graveyard Book event brought in a number of new young customers who had been unaware of the store's new expanded children's section, Safrit said. One of the local schools gave extra credit to students who attended the event. "Many of the participants had not yet read the book, and they took advantage of the 10 percent discount, as well as purchasing other titles," she added.
Towne Center Books in Pleasanton, California
Town Center Books' Graveyard Book-themed Halloween party took place on October 23. During the event, the store held a Ghoul's Gate Challenge, and customers created Witches Headstones out of clay, wrote epitaphs and read them to bongo and guitar accompaniment, and let it all hang out in the "So You Think You Can Dance Macabre."
"Everyone had a great time," said Judy Wheeler. "One of our local middle school teachers even gave extra credit for attending the event! Our fog machine added some ambience."
Towne Center's event coincided with the town's downtown Ghost Walk. As a result, "between the two events and a fog machine, we had great traffic," Wheeler noted.
Old Firehouse Books in Fort Collins, Colorado
Old Firehouse Books held an in-store party on October 23, said store manager Jacqie Hasan. To draw traffic to the event, the store took advantage of everything social networking has to offer -- advertising the event on its website, blog, Facebook page, and on Twitter.
"We also linked to Neil Gaiman's website, which attracted four girls who showed up in costume," said Hasan. "They drove for over an hour to get to the store, because they are huge Neil Gaiman fans, and we were the only store in Colorado to post our party on his website. So thanks, Neil Gaiman's webmaster!"
The store also used more traditional promotional tactics, too, such as placing posters touting the event throughout the store.
"We made food like pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, candy 'bones,' guacamole coming from a sick jack-o-lantern's mouth, and blood-red punch," Hasan said. The store was also decorated with cobweb, gravestones, strobe lights, and a fog machine.
"We were especially pleased about the costume-clad girls who showed up in the spirit of Graveyard Book characters," Hasan said. "The highlight of the event was our zombie hunt. We've been having great sales of [parody novel] Pride and Prejudice and Zombies [by Seth Grahame-Smith, Quirk Books] and thought having a hunt through a darkened store with nerf guns, while party-going 'zombies' tried to stop you would be a blast -- and it was! We had screams and laughter. We gave away two Neil Gaiman comic books to the team of two that forged past all the zombies and made it all the way to the back of the store."
Importantly, the Halloween event translated into "possibly the best hour of sales during our last hour of business ... that we've seen since we've opened in our new location," Hasan said. "It's hard to say exactly how that happened, as I was being a 'zombie' for a lot of the time, but it certainly worked."
Schuler Books & Music in Okemos, Michigan
Schuler Books & Music held its party on Saturday, October 24, said Emily Ann Galer, the store's promotions coordinator. "We had a Danse Macabre in our Chapbook Cafe with a DJ providing music and lights, and we had awesome drink specials for the night -- for example, Silas' Cider, Liza Hempstock's Witch's Brew, Miss Lupescu's Howling Hot Chocolate, and the Graveyard Freeze," she said.
The store held a headstone decorating competition in its children's section with three winners chosen, and each winner took home a Coraline book/DVD prize package. "In our art section, we had a casket brought in for our Casket Photobooth (we labeled it a 'twice-in-a-lifetime opportunity!')," Galer reported. "We had the photos printed on the spot so people could take them home, and we had a friendly mortician on hand to help people in and out of the casket and style them for their photo-op." The "mortician" parked his hearse in front of the bookstore with the flashers on for an "extra spooky effect."
Other events included:
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A hidden "Ghoul Gate" contest, where people who found the gate could enter their name to win one of 10 copies of The Graveyard Book;
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A scavenger hunt where the grand-prize winner won a complete set of the Sandman graphic novels; and
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A costume contest, with one winner in the Graveyard Book-themed costume division and one winner in the general Halloween costume division, both taking home a $20 gift certificate to our store.
All the bookstore's staff members dressed up for the event, and one of them even dressed as a 10-foot-tall grim reaper -- wearing stilts the whole night.
"The event went great," said Galer. "The customers were so excited! Everyone who won a prize was thrilled! The woman who won the Sandman books nearly flipped out, and one of the kids who won the gravestone painting almost cried she was so excited!"
Better yet, Saturday's event brought a lot of traffic to the store. "We had almost, if not, 100 people in the store for the party, and it did drive our sales of The Graveyard Book," said Galer. "Of course, we had the book on display all over the store leading up to the event to advertise the party, but our sales for the month increased 600 percent over a normal month for that particular title, which is already a strong seller. He certainly is a smart man, that Neil Gaiman."
The Learned Owl Book Shop in Hudson, Ohio
In Hudson, Ohio, the Learned Owl Book Shop's event was hampered by terrible weather, but like all good ghouls, they carried on regardless.
The store's event featured live musicians who performed banjoist Bela Fleck's rendition of the Danse Macabre. People were encouraged to come to the party in costume, said Mary McDonald, the store's events coordinator. "[We] had arranged a 'tangle dance' to simulate the actual Danse Macabre that takes place in the book," said McDonald. "Unfortunately, it was truly miserable weather here, so the dancing had to be scrapped -- our store's kind of too little to do that sort of thing indoors. We also did a decorate-your-own-gravestone craft and offered hot cider and gingersnaps as refreshments."
Learned Own cross-promoted the event with the local "ghost tour," which was hosted by the community theatre. "It started across the street from us on the town green," McDonald said. "I don't think the wind and weather did them any favors either, though."
Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park, Illinois
"We here at Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park held our Graveyard Book themed party on Halloween night," said Jessica Hurst, the store's events host. "This gave us the benefit of introducing the trick-or-treaters who would have been by the store anyway to Mr. Gaiman's work. We kept it early so that older Neil Gaiman fans could stop in and still attend parties later that night."
Hurst noted that families count on the store being kid-friendly for Halloween each year. "So we had lots of games for all ages," she said. "We had Pumpkin Bowling for Every Man Jacks wherein palm-able sized pumpkins were chucked at pins with images of knife wielding Jacks pinned to them. We had a Sleer's tomb with story readers reading from The Graveyard Book, Coraline, and other haunting tales. We had gravestone cookie decorating and Pin the Tail on Miss Lupescu." Her favorite "was inviting some local re-enactors who knew courtly dancing to come and teach everyone to dance the Macabre." The evening also featured a live band called Snake Suspenderz that featured a ukulele and tuba.
The event attracted several hundred people, and "whether or not they knew much about The Graveyard Book, they all seemed to have a blast," Hurst said. "The costume contests were definitely a highlight for customers. We had three categories: general Halloween, Neil Gaiman look-alike, and Graveyard Book-themed. "Overall it was a great experience for the bookstore and the customers," she added.
Russo's Books in Bakersfield, California
Jenn Williams, events coordinator for Russo's Books, provided BTW with a pithy summation of the store's Graveyard Book-themed Halloween party: "We had a great time, had a fantastic turnout, and got to do a little good in the community as well!"
Russo's Graveyard Book Halloween Party was held on Friday, October 16. Activities featured a "Hounds of God" game, with a werewolf cutout representing Ms. Lupescu. There was also a "New Friend" game in which partygoers worked in teams to guide a blindfolded teammate to the goal; a decorate a tombstone/create an epitaph game; a Danse Macabre; and even a miniature haunt room and roaming Jacks in a special elimination game. A graveyard was set up in the store, complete with a real casket for partygoers to take pictures in, and the usual refreshments and costume contest.
"Members of our community came out to help us, too," Williams said, "so we had a special storyteller from the Kern County Library, and a hearse parked out front thanks to a local mortuary family."
Overall, the customers were "thrilled" with the Graveyard event, Williams reported, and the turnout of about 150 people helped push The Graveyard Book back onto the local bestseller list, "something it hadn't done since immediately after winning the Newbery," she noted. "We had a steady trickle of people who came in to ask about the event, check out the store, or buy the book because of our window displays and our postings on Facebook and our local Bakotopia.com news and community site, and thanks to a very nice article in the local paper."
Williams continued, "We had special interest from our local school and county librarians, and to make the most of the party and to thank them for their willingness to help, we held a special in-store fundraiser for them the weekend of the event, raising over $150 for libraries."
The Toadstool Bookshop in Milford, New Hampshire
Tammy McCracken, events coordinator for The Toadstool Bookshop, said the store's Graveyard Book event was "amazing." The party was held on Friday, October 16, but store staff spent weeks bringing Gaiman's book to life in the store. "We have some wildly talented booksellers, and the creations they were able to make with just packing material and boxes from book shipments were phenomenal," McCracken said. "In keeping with the graveyard theme, we filled the main aisle of the store with gravestones and a Golem Gate. There was also a chapel setting that our main event took place in."
Toadstool asked members of a store writers group to write, and then read, original graveyard-themed short stories. The lights were dimmed for the reading, and everyone crowded around in the chapel area to listen.
"We tried to include many elements from the book as possible," McCracken explained. "The science lab was a major hit with kids as well as adults. All of customers commented on the decorations: primarily the paper trees that lined the main aisle. As progress was made on the decorating, more people became interested in what we do doing, asking questions about both the event and the book."
The store held a best-dressed contest, with four winners each receiving a gift certificate to the store. "We did see an increased amount of traffic with the outdoor signs we had on that night, people just popping in to see what had caused the lights to go out and enjoy the goodies the staff made. This was a grand event for a book I've enjoyed handselling since it came out," McCracken said.
Quail Ridge Books & Music in Raleigh, North Carolina
Quail Ridge Books & Music held its Graveyard Book party on Sunday, October 18. The store has a monthly kids' book club, based on North Carolina's Battle of the Books competition list. Since Gaiman's book is on the list, the store decided to have its monthly book club meeting (open to all) based on the book, and then held a party afterwards.
"Let's say we had a lot of fun decorating for this," said Rosemary Pugliese, bookseller and "keeper of the graveyard" at Quail Ridge. And even though it was technically a meeting of the kids' book club, "we had some adults this time, too, because of interest in the book."
The event was held on the same weekend as the State Fair, which was taking place "down the road," Pugliese reported, "so I'd say that cut down on attendance. But we did have unusually high book-club attendance.... Most were in costume -- especially costumes representing characters from the book. One club regular and her mom helped make refreshments for the party, and came up with a clever tombstone invitation to Neil Gaiman: 'We won't RIP until you visit Quail Ridge.'"
Overall, the event "was meant to be fun, to be creative, and it was all that. Judging by the care people took on costumes, and on refreshments, we know it meant a lot to them," said Pugliese.
The Voracious Reader in Larchmont, New York
The Voracious Reader's Graveyard Book party was held on Friday, October 30, from 8:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. "There was lots of excitement," said Francine Lucidon. "We'd sent out e-mails and posters and fliers and did a window using the wonderful art of Dave McKean."
Lucidon said that sales of The Graveyard Book "rose considerably" in the week leading up to the party. "We did some extra business that night as well," she said. "We drew a pretty big crowd considering the competition for Halloween events was immense this year."
For the party, the store had a Name the Jacks contest, a trivia quiz, and a "great tombstone decorating contest, too," Lucidon continued. "We had a team of ghostly looking teens perform The Danse Macabre and then encouraged the audience to join in. This was followed by the grand finale: spooky church bells ushering in a live horse and grey lady who climbed down and exchanged some words with Nobody. All in all a memorable event for a fabulous book!"
Curious George Books in Cambridge, Massachusetts
Curious George Books & Toys held its Graveyard Book Halloween Party on Friday, October 30, at its store in Harvard Square. The store had a variety of craft activities, including making beastly bookmarks, monstrous masks, and decorating cupcakes donated from Sweet Cupcakes boutique, reported Michelle Corliss, the store's general manager. The store was decorated like Bod's cemetery and the staff dressed as characters from the novel: from Mrs. Owens and Scarlet Perkins to Liza Hempstock, Miss Lupescu, and the Sleer. There were also ghost stories read in Curious George Books' "crypt."
"The event was awesome," Corliss said. "We had a huge crowd, mainly preschoolers and elementary school age kids and their parents. An unforgettable part of the party was the costume parade, where children in costume boogied down the street to songs like the Ghostbusters theme and the Monster Mash, accompanied by the Sleer and Mrs. Owens."
The cupcake decorating station was another big hit, said Corliss, with the "Lady on the Grey helping kids to add cookie tombstones and candy ghosts to cupcakes they frosted themselves."
As a locally owned bookstore, Corliss explained that this "kind of community celebration is a great opportunity to reach out to other independent organizations." The store partnered with Sweet Cupcakes and with Cambridge Green Streets Initiative for a raffle.
The event helped draw traffic to the store, too. "We had an influx of people coming in specifically for the event, and others drawn in from the Square-wide 'Harvard Scare' celebration who were curious about the fun happening in Curious George," Corliss reported. "Amidst the activity, customers had the opportunity to browse and to ask questions of our helpful booksellers. Also, The Graveyard Book has been a consistent seller in the year since its publication, but ads for the party upped its sales at our store in the last few weeks."
Vroman's Hastings Ranch in Pasadena, California
Vroman's Hastings Ranch's Graveyard Book party took place Friday, October 30. It consisted of a "costume contest, live music, (performed by some very talented staff members), games (bobbing for apples and Twister, both very popular!), face painting, crafts, and lots of homemade goodies (lost soul and tombstone cookies, spiderweb salsa, bloody punch, and, of course, red vines)," said Heather Marquez-Baecker, the branch store manager. "We also had a graveyard graffiti wall, in which people could fill out their own epitaphs."
Marquez-Baecker reported that customers were "very pleased" with the event. "We had over a hundred people come through that evening," she said. "For me, I enjoyed watching people come together to have a good time. I noticed lots of parents brought their children together, so there would be a group of friends cheering each other on for a game while the parents browsed through the store."
The event definitely brought more traffic than the store normally gets on a Friday night, Marquez-Baecker said. "Our sales were up over 16 percent compared to the same day the previous year."
Northshire Bookstore in Manchester Center, Vermont
For its Graveyard Book-themed event, held on Halloween night, Northshire Bookstore was "turned into a graveyard," reported Jessica Wood, the store's children's bookbuyer. "We had a plethora of gravestones, many taken from Book One of Sandman, Neil's most famous character, and one for Neil himself. We had a large, specially made 10-foot knife hanging in our stairwell leading up to the party. We had a gorgeous display with all of Gaiman's books adorned with a crib and a baby Bod escaping. We dragged in large branches and small trees and decorated them with purple lights and a touch of cobwebs."
The store turned one of its smaller area's into the "Frobisher Mausoleum," where a tarot reader told fortunes. "We painted pumpkins black and sprinkled them with silver glitter," Wood said.
Overall, Wood was pleased with the event. "Customers loved it," she said. "Some knew who Neil Gaiman was, and those who did not, know now. The staff involvement was tremendous. Everything looked wonderful -- we carried out the book rather well." -David Grogan