Appearances by dozens of authors boost sales fourfold

Gospel Book Store in Berlin, Ohio, knows how to draw a crowd. For the fourth year running, this retailer in tourist-bound Holmes County hosted a slew of Christian authors at its “Largest Book Signing” event, drawing customers from miles away.

“In the beginning, it was local authors only,” said Eli “Small” Hochstetler, owner of the Gospel Book Store and mastermind of the event. “It started out with 20-plus authors and has grown to 40-plus authors,” including “some national authors” such as Sue Thomas and Serena B. Miller.

Like many retailers, the Gospel Book Store had hosted a few book signings here and there, but in 2010, Hochstetler decided to take things to the next level.

“The holiday season was approaching, and we wanted to promote some of our local authors,” Hochstetler said. “We decided to do a book-signing party and call it ‘Berlin’s Largest Book Signing Ever.’ ”

As the event grew in subsequent years, Hochstetler changed the event’s name to “Holmes County’s Largest Book Signing” and added more participating authors. Ever since its inception, the signing has been held the second week of November because it was after election season and consumers were starting to think about the holidays.

“We want to provide an easy and unique shopping experience for our customers,” Hochstetler said. “And we wanted to be the first to start the serious Christmas shopping season.”

This year’s guests included local and national authors alike, and spanned across a number of genres, from fiction to children’s books, devotionals, biographies and cookbooks.

Despite the fact that Berlin Township is a rural community of less than 4,000 (according to 2000 U.S. Census figures) in the heart of Amish Country, the “Largest Book Signing” still manages to draw increasing numbers of fans and customers.

“We have people coming from out of our area and even out of state,” Hochstetler said. “It has gone from a way to promote authors to include a great way to provide unique customer service.”

“This was our best year ever!” Hochstetler added. “It is a four-hour event, and most of the authors were busy the entire time. Our sales for this event are four times [those of] an average day.”

Though it was not officially part of the event, award-winning Southern gospel outfit the Booth Brothers performed a sold-out concert at the local amphitheater after the event. The Gospel Book Store sponsors several such concerts each year.

Rounding up 40 authors to a single event is no small task, but Hochstetler’s approach continues to work.

“We let the authors know that it is a great opportunity to connect with the customers and their fans,” he said. “They are able to talk face-to-face about themselves and their books. Customers love to ask questions and it’s a perfect opportunity for that.”

“Authors also find it a great venue to visit and connect with fellow authors. This year we actually had authors who requested to sit by other authors because they became friends at last year’s event,” he added. “And unfortunately we now have to turn authors down because of limited space.”

As for getting the word out to the store’s customer base and community at large, Hochstetler and his employees take out radio and newspaper advertisements, as well as using company websites, email blasts, social media and flyers to help spread the word. 

“A book from our local tourist area that is personalized to a friend by the author makes a great gift,” Hochstetler said. “It has a personal touch and shows that you took some time to pick out something especially for them.”

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