Writing for Beans

Supposedly the East Brunswick store may open in a new location, and they just couldn't get an extension on their lease at their old location. I wouldn't hold my breath, though. That was an *old* store, and I'm not sure it had ever been seriously renovated, other than the cafe. It was store number 42. For perspective, Bridgewater is 94, and opened in November of 1994 (there's no relation between the store number and year it opened :) . Bridgewater has been getting the big signings for a couple of years now. Even before I left, they were starting to come. It's really some circular reasoning: if you do well with a big signing, you get more big signings. The trick is getting that first one, handling it well, and selling many many books. I think it started with Nicole Richie (laugh, but over 500 of her books sold that night) and has continued from there. They had Jodi Picoult recently, and apparently that was huge and went well. She's one of the first big popular fiction writers they've had; the other big signings have mostly been non-fiction. It's tough for NJ stores - authors go to NYC stores instead, and there's a big independent (Bookends in Ridgewood) that's been getting big authors for years.