“Go Set a Watchman” Release Brings Excitement, Sales to Bookstores

At independent bookstores around the country, the July 14 release of Harper Lee’s Go Set a Watchman (HarperCollins) was accompanied by high sales, well-attended events, and overall fanfare. Booksellers said sales numbers did not appear to be affected by early reports that To Kill a Mockingbird’s beloved Atticus Finch had been recast as an aging bigot.

A day after the release of Go Set a Watchman, RJ Julia Booksellers in Madison, Connecticut, hosted a sold-out showing of the 1962 film version of To Kill a Mockingbird. The event drew 221 people to Madison Art Cinemas, where booksellers sold copies of both Harper Lee books; gave out free popcorn and buttons and bookmarks provided by the book’s publisher, HarperCollins; and distributed coupons for 10 percent off the books in-store.

General Manager Lori Fazio said RJ Julia’s sales of Go Set a Watchman stood at 300 copies as of July 15, and close to 200 additional copies were on order. But, Fazio said, “They won’t last long, I’m sure.”

RJ Julia events manager Liz Bartek said the book’s release also drew news stories and publicity, including a visit from a local TV station.

“It’s been fun; the book has been flying out of here. All our copies of To Kill a Mockingbird have sold out as well,” Bartek said. “We’re planning a discussion of Go Set a Watchman at the end of the summer, once everyone comes back from vacation and has had a chance to read it. A lot of our customers have been asking us for that.”

Regarding reactions to the controversy surrounding the book, Bartek said, "I think people want to buy it and decide for themselves."

In New Orleans, Octavia Books opened its doors an hour early on Tuesday for the Go Set a Watchman release and teamed up with Toast, a neighboring restaurant, to offer a GSAW-themed plate, featuring a fried pork chop with collard greens, eggs, biscuit, and red eye gravy for $12. A Toast receipt got customers $5 off the purchase of the book at Octavia.

“Everything went super well for the release,” said Octavia co-owner Tom Lowenburg, who noted the store had sold out of its initial order of 72 copies and had placed an order for an overnight shipment of 120 more. “We also got tremendous publicity from TV stations locally and from both of the major papers here: the Times Picayune and the New Orleans Advocate,” he added.

Octavia social media coordinator Veronica Brooks-Sigler began reading Go Set a Watchman as the clock struck midnight on July 14 and remained in the store all night to open up early the next morning. After spending the last two days discussing the book with customers, Brooks-Sigler said, she has seen hesitation to buy among some, including one woman who hovered uncertainly over the book’s display table for an unusually long amount of time, just staring.

“I’ve talked to a lot of people who are scared to read the book on the chance that it might take away from their idea of Atticus,” said Brooks-Sigler, a former English teacher who has taught To Kill a Mockingbird many times over the years.

“I think the book shows how far we haven’t come. This new Atticus isn’t the Atticus of myth. He is more real…That was the Atticus that people needed at that time period, and this is the Atticus we need now,” Brooks-Sigler said, citing the creation of the Black Lives Matter movement and racially charged incidents from Ferguson, Missouri, to Charleston, South Carolina.

“I don’t think the book destroys Harper Lee’s legacy, as some people are saying,” she added.

Chapter One Book Store in Hamilton, Montana, opened at 11:00 p.m. on July 13 for a Go Set a Watchman midnight release party. “People just wanted to be excited together,” said co-owner Mara Lynn Luther. “We were pleasantly surprised by our community and the excitement that people had about it.”

At the event, Chapter One served popcorn and lemonade and showed the film version of To Kill a Mockingbird. Counting down the seconds to midnight, Chapter One replicated a New Year’s Eve ball drop with a beach ball. “Everyone cheered. It was very exciting,” said Luther.

Fifteen customers attended the midnight party — more than co-owners Luther and Shawn Wathen expected — and book sales have remained strong since. Chapter One has already reordered Watchman as well as additional copies of To Kill a Mockingbird.

Luther hasn’t yet heard feedback from customers about the book, but halfway through it herself, she offered own insights. “I am excited that Atticus is a more complex character than we originally thought,” she said. “We have these beloved characters that we think can do no wrong, but that doesn’t make them full, well-rounded people.”

Best of Books in Edmond, Oklahoma, welcomed ticketed customers to the neighboring Bayou Grill and Bakery for evening festivities on July 14 to celebrate Go Set a Watchman’s release. Over the course of four hours and two seatings, more than 100 people were fed and entertained at what was billed as the To Kill a Mockingbird/Go Set a Watchman Southern Dinner & Entertainment event.

A multi-course dinner featured an array of menu items inspired by references in To Kill a Mockingbird, including okra, fried green tomatoes, sardine dip, collard greens, and catfish. Musician Philip West played easy-listening Southern music on his guitar and harmonica, and Best of Books co-owner Elena Hight, a theater major in college, read excerpts from Watchman in Scout’s voice. A Mockingbird trivia contest awarded winners with gift certificates to the bookstore.

Co-owner Nan Hight, whose husband, co-owner Joe Hight, emceed the event, said that reservations for the first seating, the only one originally planned, sold out almost immediately following the announcement on the bookstore’s website and in the local paper. The second seating, once added, was met with the same enthusiasm. “We were just overwhelmed with people that wanted to come,” said Hight. “It was a great response.”

Tuesday was an excellent sales day, even aside from the dinner, said Hight. More than 40 books were presold for the dinner, and the shop has altogether sold nearly 150 copies. “It’s been a great — it’s created a lot of talk, and it’s been a good thing for bookstores and for our community,” she said. —Liz Button and Sydney Jarrard