Latest / Small Business Success with Fexingo: Local Companies, Main Street Stories, and Community Commerce / How a Local Bookstore Used Author Events to Beat Amazon
Transcript
- Lucas: So there's this independent bookstore in Portland, Oregon — Broadway Books — and they're doing something that I think is genuinely replicable for any small retailer trying to hold their ground against a giant like Amazon. Luna: I love that. What's the specific play? Lucas: Author events. And I don't just mean a random signing once a quarter. Broadway Books runs about sixty events a year. That's more than one a week. And they've turned it into a real revenue driver. Luna: Sixty a year for a single store is a lot. How do they pull that off without burning out the staff? Lucas: Well, they don't do it alone. They partner with local publishers and authors who are often touring anyway. The key is that they've built a reputation as a venue that actually moves books. So publishers come to them. And they've learned to optimize the economics. Luna: Okay, walk me through the numbers. Lucas: Sure. Average attendance per event is about forty people. And they convert about seventy percent of attendees into a book purchase. That's huge. So per event, that's about twenty-eight books sold. If the average book price is, say, twenty-eight dollars, you're looking at around seven hundred and eighty-four dollars in direct revenue per event. Luna: But there are costs — the author's travel sometimes, maybe a small honorarium, refreshments. Lucas: Right, but here's the thing: many publishers offer co-op advertising dollars for events. So Broadway Books might get a couple hundred dollars from the publisher just to host the event. Plus, they sometimes charge a small entry fee — five dollars, which is redeemable toward a book purchase. That covers the snacks and helps guarantee that people who show up are serious buyers. Luna: So the five-dollar ticket essentially pre-qualifies the audience. Lucas: Exactly. And it increases conversion. Because if you've already paid five bucks, you're more likely to use it toward a book. So now the average revenue per event might be closer to twelve hundred dollars when you factor in co-op and ticket sales. Luna: That's not just a community service — that's a real profit center. How does this compare to what they'd make from random foot traffic? Lucas: Well, the store's overall revenue is probably around two million a year. So sixty events generating, say, seventy thousand dollars in attributable revenue isn't huge as a percentage. But the real value is in the halo effect. People who come for an event stay longer, browse more, and come back. Broadway Books says event attendees have a higher lifetime value than non-event customers. Luna: Makes sense. It's a relationship builder. And it's something Amazon can't replicate. You can't have Jeff Bezos sign a book in your living room. Lucas: Right. And that's the core insight. The algorithm can recommend a book based on what you bought, but it can't create the serendipity of hearing an author speak and then buying a book you'd never considered. Broadway Books has leaned into that discovery experience. Luna: I wonder if this works for other types of small retailers. Like, can a hardware store do an event? Lucas: Absolutely. We've seen it work for bike shops, plant nurseries, even laundromats. The principle is the same: create an experience that can't be replicated online. For a hardware store, it might be a DIY workshop on tiling. Charge a small fee, include materials, and you've got a captive audience that's likely to buy tools afterward. Luna: It's about owning the customer's time and attention in a way that a transactional website can't. Lucas: Exactly. And look, I know not every small business owner feels they have the bandwidth to run events. But Broadway Books started small. Their first year they did maybe a dozen events. They learned as they went. The key is to start with something you're passionate about and build from there. Luna: Speaking of building from there — if these conversations have moved your work forward in some small way, and you've gotten value out of hearing real numbers and real strategies, it's worth mentioning that listener support is what keeps this show ad-free and focused on stories like this. Lucas: Yeah, honestly, if today was worth a coffee to you, there's a link — buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. No pressure, but it helps us keep going. Luna: Right. And we really appreciate everyone who's chipped in. It makes a difference. Lucas: So back to Broadway Books — one thing I found really clever is how they use their email list to promote events. They send a weekly newsletter that's basically a curated list of upcoming events and staff picks. It's not spammy. It's a genuine recommendation engine. Luna: That's a good point. The email list is probably their most valuable asset. They're not dependent on social media algorithms. Lucas: Exactly. And they've grown that list by offering a ten percent discount on the first purchase when you sign up in-store. So every event attendee is likely to join the list. Now they have thousands of engaged subscribers who get notified every week. Luna: So it's a flywheel. Events drive email signups, email drives event attendance, and both drive sales. Lucas: That's the model. And it's hard for a chain to replicate because it requires local knowledge and relationships. The store owner knows which authors will resonate with her community. She might know that a local historian will draw a crowd of fifty, while a national bestseller might only draw twenty because they're not connected to Portland. Luna: That local expertise is the moat. Lucas: Right. And it's something that any small business can build. You know your customers better than any algorithm does. That's the competitive advantage. Luna: So to summarize: events work when they're frequent, they're tied to a community, and they're optimized for conversion. Any final thoughts on how a small business can get started? Lucas: Start with one event that you're excited about. Partner with someone who has an audience — a local author, a chef, a craftsman. Charge a small fee to ensure commitment. Track the numbers: attendance, conversion, revenue. And then iterate. The size of the event matters less than the repeatability. Luna: Great advice. Thanks, Lucas. Lucas: Thanks, Luna. And thanks to Broadway Books for being a great example of how Main Street can still win.