The idea was simple and straightforward.
Form a book club sponsored by the newspaper.
Find a big venue and invite well-known authors to talk for an hour about their craft, their ideas and their books. Then let the audience ask questions.
Sell the books at a discount and have the authors autograph them. Throw in some raffle prizes, good cheer and fun.
Do it for free. No membership cards. No fees. No commitment. No nothing.
Ten years later, that formula has worked better than anyone could have imagined, as The Bee Book Club has not only endured but has grown and blossomed.
It is popular with readers and has forged stronger community ties.
“It was a fabulous experience. One of the best of my career,” novelist Debbie Macomber recounted last week of her Bee Book Club appearance in June before several hundred people outside Nordstrom at Arden Fair mall.
“I’ve never had a whole city read my book,” said Macomber, who has 60 million books in print, including her latest, “Back on Blossom Street.”
The audience, she noted, was by far her largest ever.
“I applaud the paper for encouraging people to read … I felt very fortunate to be chosen.”
Since 2000, the Bee Book Club has been run by staff writer Allen Pierleoni, who writes about books and authors, consulting with Pam Dinsmore, the assistant managing editor for features.
“The reader response has been overwhelmingly positive,” Dinsmore said. “It works on many levels. We’re out in the community and interacting with people; we bring people together for a nice evening, and everyone reads a good book. We consider this something special.”
Over the years, authors who have appeared have covered the gamut, including Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winners.
They include Frank McCourt, Helen Fielding, Michael Connelly, Alice McDermott, James Bradley, Laurie R. King, Michael Chabon, Frances Mayes, Maxine Hong Kingston, Edward P. Jones, Judy Blume, Tom Robbins, Amy Tan, Julia Glass and many others.
“We shoot for the moon,” Dinsmore said.
Crowds range from 150 to 1,300, depending on the author and timing of the event.
The club traces its origins to Oprah Winfrey’s book club, explained Pierleoni, who said the paper took a concept that had national ramifications and applied it locally.
The Bee Book Club was launched in April 1997, with Anne Lamott’s “Crooked Little Heart,” followed by Elizabeth George’s “In the Presence of the Enemy.” Readers wrote or e-mailed their thoughts about the two books.
By that summer, the book club invited readers to come out and hear Orangevale author Linda Raymond talk about her novel, “Rocking the Babies.” It’s been going full-bore ever since.
As a consequence, the book club has generated positive buzz in the publishing world, with articles in Publishers Weekly and Editor & Publisher magazines, and built strong connections with major publishing houses, said Pierleoni.
The Bee Book Club has at least six events a year. The last one for this year was Thursday, when Davis-based author John Lescroart, who writes legal thrillers, appeared before about 300 people at the Tsakopoulos Library Galleria, where most events are held.
This particular session was held in conjunction with the Sacramento Public Library’s third annual One Book Sacramento program.
Once Dinsmore and Pierleoni select an author, his or her appearance is announced a month in advance. Various local bookstores then sell the author’s book at a 30 percent discount so people can buy and read it ahead of time.
On the night of the event, Borders Books sells pre-autographed copies at the discounted price.
The newspaper tries for two children’s book authors a year and strives for diversity, by genre and ethnicity.
For example, Pierleoni said he has signed three California-based writers for 2008, including Karen Joy Fowler of Davis, author of “The Jane Austen Book Club,” the movie version of which opened this weekend.
For authors such as Lisa See the experience is enlightening and gratifying.
“What I think is really great is having one community embrace one book … One of the benefits is that people go beyond what they are normally interested in and open new worlds,” See said last week from her Los Angeles home. She was a book club guest in July.
Her appearance drew more than 500 people to hear about her latest novel, “Peony in Love,” about a 15-year-old girl growing up in 17th century China.
“When you think about newspapers in this country, there are not very many who are doing this,” See said.
“One of the really great things I discovered (in Sacramento) was you could see younger teenage girls and people in their 80s in the audience,” she recalled. “There are few places or events that reach such a broad spectrum of people. … You don’t see that in other venues and, really, only the newspaper is able to cross that gap.”
As for the future, Pierleoni said the paper will explore the idea of filming and editing the events into 20-minute segments that could be part of the paper’s or others Web sites.
What I find refreshing is that in a media environment dominated by bad financial news, the Bee Book Club stands out as a reminder of the positive influence and connection a paper can have in its community.
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In other news, the paper’s editors have decided to bring back the VCR Plus codes in the daily TV listings grid. About 200 readers complained when the programming codes were dropped without notice recently because editors thought few people still used them.
“They’re still useful,” said managing editor Joyce Terhaar, who said readers noted the codes also work well with digital recorders. “It just makes sense to put them back in.”
