At the Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Lexington, Ky. (there are seven Joseph-Beth stores in Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee), bookseller Steve Turnbull had a brainstorm that made the fastest selling fiction book of all times—Doubleday's
The Da Vinci Code—even more of a profit item. His idea was to hold a Da Vinci Code Dinner Forum, offering customers the opportunity to discuss over dinner the book that has fascinated a vast American readership. The forum was such a hit that it led to increased sales for author Dan Brown's backlist and for Da Vinci—related titles. It also led to several more dinners. For the first breaking of the bread (March 9), Turnbull invited an Episcopal minister with a doctorate in Renaissance art history to help get the ball rolling. The Joseph-Beth Cafe prepared a multicourse French Renaissance—style meal in keeping with the themes of the book. With only a couple of in-store signs as promotion, the dinner sold out its thirty $30-a-plate seats so quickly that another dinner was scheduled for two days later; it too sold out. Two more dinner dates have been set, and again, with nothing but in-store signs, the store is just a few seats shy of selling out. Many of the Da Vinci Code Dinner Forum patrons are now clamoring for a similar event during which they can discuss the issues involved in Brown's
Angels & Demons, currently #1 on our mass market list. In the month before the dinner, Turnbull notes, the store sold only about 10 copies of titles related to Da Vinci; but in March, the number leapt to 120, led by Lewis Perdue's mass market title
The Da Vinci Legacy, published by Tor in early January; Turnbull reports that "22 of the 31 copies sold since it came out were after the first dinner." Da Vinci continues to be the Lexington store's #1 bestseller, still averaging about 175 books per month; total sales for just the one outlet is about 2,500; in all seven stores, sales so far are close to 10,600. And the Dinner Forum ticket sales so far have brought in about $3,000.
