THORN: 'Breaking Dawn' parties pose challenge to booksellers

By Patti Thorn, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published July 24, 2008 at 7 p.m.

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Lately, the Tattered Cover's Beth Wood has been dreaming up "bleeding cupcakes," planning trivia games about the undead and envisioning a mob of adolescents in the store, all hooked on a story of a girl who loves a boy who will never die.

No wonder co-workers have taken to calling her "Queen of the Vampires."

It's all in anticipation of the 12:01 a.m. release Aug. 2 of Breaking Dawn, the final installment in Stephenie Meyer's blockbuster series of young adult novels revolving around protagonist Bella, a high school girl caught between two loves: the vampire Edward and the werewolf Jacob.

The excitement among readers is palpable, spurring a print run of 3.2 million copies. But if you ask Wood, the real excitement might be trying to figure out how many will show up for the party she's planning.

Unlike the Harry Potter events, which grew organically, each party bigger than the next, the Meyer bash is a first for the series.

Without a track record for sellers to draw on, the number of guests, says Wood, "could be anywhere from 50 people or 1,000. We kind of need to prepare either way."

Taking the middleground, Wood is betting on 500 guests, based on the number of readers who showed up for the author's two book-signings at the Tattered Cover, which drew 750 and 850, respectively. "But, it's sort of a made-up number . . . I'm not sure any bookstore knows what to expect."

The Boulder Book Store is predicting "several hundred," according to Walker.

As if the Meyer event weren't worry enough, the problem continues Sept. 20. That's the day Brisingr, the final book in Christopher Paolini's popular Inheritance cycle is released, prompting another round of midnight parties Sept. 19, with another round of uncertainty.

Some booksellers admit they're feeling peer pressure to stay open until the wee hours.

After all, if the store down the street is selling the book at midnight, waiting to put the book on sale the next morning could be sales suicide.

"At first we weren't planning on doing one for Breaking Dawn, but it sort of started gaining momentum and so many other stores were doing them, and we thought that we should, too," says Stephanie Walker, marketing and promotions assistant at the Boulder Book Store.

"If other bookstores are doing this, then it's in our best interest (to do it, as well)," says Wood. "We'd be kind of shooting ourselves in the foot if we didn't."

So for now, it's party hearty. Wood notes that her efforts will be worthwhile, no matter who shows up. Kids benefit from mingling with like-minded readers, she says - at any hour. At Meyer's recent book-signing, for example, Wood met two high school girls from Greeley who complained that they felt like misfits in their town.

"I just sat down and started talking to them for, like, 20 minutes. (I said) look at this" - she gestured to the store packed with hundreds of Meyer fans - "here's a whole room full of people who like things that you like. I told them, 'You're not alone.' "

Being a teenager is tough, she says. "If I can make it be a little less painful . . . "

Which is why she and the coffee shop manager will soon get back to dreaming up menu items only a vampire could love.

Cupcakes that "bleed" raspberry filling, anyone?

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