The rules are strict for the July 14 release of Harper Lee’s eagerly awaited sequel to “To Kill a Mockingbird.”
At Barnes and Noble bookstore at Miller Hill Mall, its initial shipment of 500 copies of Lee’s “Go Set a Watchman” is expected to arrive this week. That’s 55 years after the publication of Lee’s Pulitzer-Prize-winning novel about courage and racial inequality in a small Southern town during the Depression.
“But we cannot sell it yet,” merchandise manager Ben Greenlee said of the book’s arrival. “We’re not even supposed to open the box until that morning.”
No advance copies for reviews. No galleys for sneak previews. Few details about the book have been revealed other than it will revisit the novel’s main characters of young Scout and her father, attorney Atticus Finch, 20 years later.
Those are publisher HarperCollins’ rules surrounding the most anticipated literary event of the year, which is giving bookstores a boost. Some, like Greenlee, go even further, saying it’s the literary event of our lifetime.
“The level of customer interest probably is larger than any other book since I’ve been here,” he said.
Well, there was the 2007 release for “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” that prompted midnight parties at Barnes & Noble and other bookstores to greet its release. That’s hard to beat.
But this book is a book for adults, some point out. It’s the unexpected sequel to Lee’s only previously published book, which became a classic and continues to be read and studied in classrooms. That Lee reportedly wrote it before she wrote “To Kill a Mockingbird” and that the manuscript was rediscovered just last year only adds to its intrigue - and controversy.
The release of the hardcover book will drive up bookstore sales, predicts Sally Anderson, manager of the Bookstore at Fitger’s, in Duluth’s Fitger’s Brewery Complex.
“It will get people into the bookstores,” she said. “This is a book that people will want in hardcover rather than in e-book. I think it will be a collector’s book. People will definitely want a first-edition hardcover of it.”
And it’s no ordinary cover.
Its artwork is in the same style as the original front cover of “To Kill a Mockingbird” published in 1960. With HarperColllins’ reissue of a hardcover edition of “To Kill a Mockingbird” with that first-edition cover, the two books will present a matching set.
Bookstore boost
Bookstores around the country are gearing up for next week’s release of Lee’s new novel, with pre-orders, discounts, early openings, giveaways and special events.
Duluth’s Barnes & Noble had a book discussion on “To Kill a Mockingbird” last month. The store has been taking pre-orders for the new book for months, at 40 percent off the $27.99 list price for members; 30 percent off or for everyone else.
As of Friday, 125 of the 500 copies ordered had been reserved, Greenlee said, noting that more will be ordered as needed.
On July 13, the store will hold a read-a-thon of “To Kill a Mockingbird” from 9 a.m to 9 p.m.
“We’re getting local people to participate - politicians, local teachers, hockey stars and others to read a section of the book - just to get people talking about it,” he said.
On July 14 - the book’s big release day - the store will open at 7 a.m., two hours early, with multiple displays of the book set up around the store. The first 20 walk-in customers who buy the book will get a mockingbird tote. And anyone who buys the book between 7 a.m. and 10 a.m. will get a complimentary tall coffee from the bookstore cafe.
At the Bookstore at Fitger’s, Anderson doesn’t expect the rush that is anticipated at the much larger Barnes & Nobles store. About 20 of the 40 books she’s ordered had been reserved as of last week. She plans to sell the book at a 15 percent discount.
“We’ll be having a display of the book,” she said. “But we can’t do anything with it until the 14th.”
Library holds mount
At the Duluth Public Library, demand is rising for both “Go Set a Watchman” and “To Kill a Mockingbird.”
So far, 11 copies of “Go Set a Watchman” have been ordered; six will be available to library card-holders from its best-seller express shelves when they’re in. The other five had more than 40 holds on them as of last Wednesday. A downloadable e-book version on order had 50 holds on it and a downloadable audio version had 18 holds, according to Nancy Eaton of the library’s community services office.
At that rate, people on waiting lists could wait many months for a copy. And more holds are expected. So the library already plans to order more copies.
Meanwhile, most it its copies of “To Kill a Mockingbird - in paperback, hardcover and audio - are currently checked out, according to the library’s website.
Some copies date back to the library’s first community-wide reading project in 2002 when “To Kill a Mockingbird” was widely read in Duluth, then discussed in numerous events around town.
“More people are interested in reading it so it’s fresh in their minds when they read the new book,” Eaton said.
While “To Kill a Mockingbird” has been a steady seller over the years, sales are up in recent months at the Duluth Barnes & Noble.
A display of the various versions available was set up at the store a few months ago. The biggest seller, an $8.99 paperback, has been the chain’s mass-market best-seller for the past few months, Greenlee said.
A paperback edition of the “Go Set a Watchman” isn’t expected for a least a year. However, if sales of the hardcover edition fall short of expectations, a softcover edition could be released sooner, Anderson said.
