BookPeople, Powell's Celebrate Release of Stephen Colbert's I Am America

For the many fans of Stephen Colbert, there was cause for celebration this week, as his new book, I Am America (And So Can You!) (Grand Central), reached bookstore shelves nationwide. At Powell's Books in Portland, Oregon, the event was marked with a midnight release party that was featured in a short clip on Comedy Central's Colbert Report on Tuesday night -- a show that was repeated on Wednesday evening. Introducing the clip, Colbert noted that Powell Books threw a party in Portland ("a hippie stronghold") to celebrate his new book. The clip then showed someone purchasing the book, and the register clearly showed a discounted price. Colbert then riffed (for laughs, of course) that he was losing money on the sale.

About 100 people attended the Powell's party, which was modeled after Harry Potter events. "It went really well," said Powell's events coordinator Kevin Sampsell. "It was a fun excuse to get together and watch the [Colbert] show and drink. We decorated with life-size cardboard cutouts of Colbert and with a bunch of red, white, and blue pseudo patriotic bunting. The publishers sent us some Colbert buttons and bumper stickers. We also sold Colbert's Tek Janson comic book, published by Oni, a Portland press."

Sampsell said Powell's publicized the party on a Colbert fan site. A producer from the show contacted Powell's to request video from the event for use on the show. A clip of the show is available on Powell's blog, www.powells.com/blog/.

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At Austin's BookPeople, which has gained a reputation for wonderful, imaginative displays, store staff was so excited by the release of the book, they put a lot of effort into creating a large display, said Elizabeth Jordan, book buyer/inventory operations supervisor at the store. Playing off Colbert's often-mentioned fear of bears, staff borrowed a mounted bear from a local bar, The Mohawk, and positioned it hovering over a large display of books.

BookPeople also featured I Am America as its October Top Shelf Selection on the front page of its newsletter, The Independent. Inventory managers Allison Laubach and Cassie Swank wrote a great takeoff on the Colbert Report's "Word" segment. Offering their own October word -- hero, the pair said, "Since you're already shopping at Texas's largest independent store, we can safely assume you're one of the heroes." They then outlined the attributes of a hero, with a firm emphasis on an appreciation of independence and the free market. "And where could a market be freer than right here at BookPeople, where you can buy The O'Reilly Factor for Kids along with Bush toilet paper? Lady Liberty would be proud of everything the founding Bookworms of this store have accomplished," they wrote.