Do you have ideas for Big Read book festival?
Author Greg Mortenson drew upwards of 1,000 people to his book signing and talk Saturday in Clayton. (Not to mention his packed event in Alton Friday.) At the Big Read book festival, Mortenson stayed three hours to sign books. He even missed his flight, Cindy Lerick, president and executive director of Cultural Festivals, said Tuesday.
“We learned the value of a big name author who draws in a crowd,” she said. But although children’s and cooking events were also big draws, literary authors didn’t do so well, she said. She estimated that 30-40 people attended the panel featuring Stewart O’Nan, Curtis Sittenfeld and Laura Moriarty. That panel was one of the last of the day.
In the coming weeks, the Cultural Festival organizers (they do both the Big Read and the St. Louis Art Fair) will be looking at ways to boost attendance for 2010.
So, book lovers, what do you think they should do? Change site or date of festival? Bring in different authors? Turn on the publicity?
Turn on the publicity!! Few people knew about event until the Wednesday before…
I agree–publicity is an issue. This is the first year I missed it (due to a conflict), but most people I talked with weren’t going because they hadn’t heard about it.
I know it sounds crass and commercial of me, but a few better-known authors (better known with the general U.S. public, who are not known for their extraordinary reading habits) would be a good thing. Wooing John Irving (who is stopping in Kansas City next month, and is already on the road promoting his new novel) would have been a BIG plus. And genre authors like St. Louis native Laurell K. Hamilton (or Neil Gaiman, who lives just north in the twin cities) _always_ draw huge crowds of fans.
Change the site, promote it more, and give the independent bookstores a chance to participate. They can bring in more well-known authors, and they can promote it more. But because Borders was the one selling books, the cost for the indies to participate was too high, and Borders isn’t going to lift a finger to bring in authors. John Irving is going to Kansas City because a independent bookstore is doing the event. An indie store is what made the Miami Book Festival the huge event that it is, too.