Pudd’nhead Books is an independent, full service bookstore

with a staff of six and 1,500 square feet of selling space.

 The store is located in Webster Groves, Missouri.
 The shop’s target market is St. Louis County, the most
affluent county in Missouri.
 In the 15 months the store has been open – during a
recession – sales have increased steadily, and above ABA
expectations.
The store is connected to various community groups

 The store reports sales to The New York Times and
Bookscan.
 Thanks to a great selection and excellent staff, our
children’s section has been a popular and important part
of our business.
Stor e Hour s:

and uses these partnerships to promote the store and M onday - Satur day 9 AM to 8 PM
events. Sunday 10 AM to 5 PM
 Pudd’nhead embraces technology. In addition to an
email newsletter and website, the store maintains a Addr ess:
Facebook page and a Twitter account – both of which 37 S. Old Or char d
Webster Gr oves, M O 63119
consist mainly of customers, not publishing folk.
 The store hosts several book clubs, and is increasing (314) 918-1069
the number of clubs we host, every week. www.puddnheadbooks.com
 Top Te n o n Above the Tr e e l ine f o r S al es
Everything Matters! and God is Dead by Ron Currie Jr. (Penguin)
Tinsel by Hank Stuever (Houghton)
Moonflower Vine by Jetta Carleton (Harper Collins)
Toys Go Out by Emily Jenkins (Random House)
Harry Truman’s Excellent Adventure by Matthew Algeo
(U. of Chicago Press)
If I Built a Car by Chris Van Dusen (Penguin)
Without You; A Memoir by Anthony Rapp (Simon and Schuster)
Life List by Olivia Gentile (Bloomsbury)

E ve nts
We love events for three reasons: 1) nothing is more exciting than gather-
ing a bunch of passionate readers in a room; 2) we’re really great at plan-
ning; 3) they sell books.
 We have room in the store for gatherings up to 50 people. An attached
gallery space is available for rent and can hold up to 100 people.
 Staff members have professional planning experience and love to use
their creativity and expertise to produce excellent events.
 We are happy to arrange transportation, make recommendations for
lodging, and show authors an all-around good time while they’re in our city.
We have an effective system for promoting visiting authors and events:
 Press releases are sent to our targeted media contacts.
 Digital media is extremely effective with our client base. We make sure to promote our events through our email
newsletter (1,300 contacts in the last 14 months), website, Facebook and Twitter accounts.
 We produce eye-catching in-store displays and stuff shopping bags with event flyers.
 We have had great success with on-site visits to local schools for both children and adult-level readers.
For off-site events:
We have established a relationships with several event spaces throughout the St. Louis area. Our partnership with
the St. Louis County Library Foundation allows us to accommodate large groups: the St. Louis County Library
holds 900 people, the main branch of the city library holds 300, and the Trouhill Performing Arts Center has a
2,000 person capacity. We also work with the Center of Creative Arts, which has a gallery capacity of 100 and an
auditorim for 400, and the St. Louis Ethical Society, which can host events for 450.

Co nve n i en t L oc a ti on
Pudd’nhead Books is conveniently located in Webster Groves, an historic suburb
of St. Louis Missouri. We are:
 11 miles south of Lambert International Airport
 70 minute flight from Chicago (average one-way fare on Southwest: <$100)
 60 minute flight from Kansas City (average one-way fare on Southwest: $50)
 4 miles east of the Kirkwood Amtrak Station; 8 miles west of the
Downtown St. Louis Amtrak Station
 1. A guest arrives at our Fancy Nancy
party, which sold out within 20 minutes
of the invitation being emailed. The
event was held in our attached gallery
space and included a reading, craft, snack,
and fashion show.
2. Cookie Exchange author Julie Usher
demonstrates cookie decorating tech-
niques at an in-store appearance.
3. Ron Currie Jr. Skypes in to discuss
Everything Matters! with one of the many
1 book clubs who meet in our store. 4
4. Tinsel author Hank Stuever signs books
after a Q&A session with fellow author
Curtis Sittenfeld at the COCA event
space. We sold more books at our event
than any other store on Hank’s tour.
5. Decorated windows at Puddn’head to
promote one of our favorite authors and
his event.
6. Author Heather Vogel Frederick
speaks with students at Visitation Acad-
emy, a private girls’ school in St. Louis.
We sold over 200 books and had atten-
dance of nearly 300 students.

2 5

3 6
BOOK CLUB INTERVENTIONS
Nikki runs these special sessions designed to help
book clubs get out of their reading ruts and streamline
their book choices.
EDUCATOR EVENINGS
Melissa invites educators to the store in the spring and
fall for a preview of upcoming titles, her favorite titles
of the season, and an overview of great things they
might have missed. Educators receive publisher give-
aways such as posters, bookmarks, reading guides, and
advance reading copies. Each event has been larger
than the last and has resulted in many new relation-
ships with schools (and, as a result, more author event
bookings and more book orders).
EVENT STORYTIMES
We often have special storytimes surrounding a
particular book, like The Polar Express and our incred-
ibly popular Fancy Nancy parties.
IN-STORE BOOK CLUBS
We have a variety of in-store book clubs ranging from
our Philosophy Book Club to our Fifth Grade Girls'
Book Club, with new inquiries all the time.
"Thank you so much for making my signing
for Harry Truman's Excellent Adventure
such a smashing success! Pudd'nhead is a
wonderful bookstore, and my event there
was really one of the highlights of my
book tour."
- Matthew Algeo
"Nikki, I am amazed it has only been one year. You have
established a phenomenal bookstore, and I'm so happy for you.
Congratulations, and thanks for taking care of us. I am so
delighted with the selections you've recommended! Just finished
Moonflower Vine, and the bookclub will be reading that in
January. Best wishes for decades more success."
- Frequent customer, book club member,
and self-described “Puddie”
IN-STORE BOOK FAIRS
Local schools hold their book fairs at Pudd'nHead and
each is tailored to the specific desires of the school in
question. Melissa also selects some of her favorites for
each grade and book talks them to the students in
advance of the fair.
LAUNCH PARTIES
Pudd'nHead has been proud to host the launch parties
for several local authors, including self-published
authors Anne Milford and Jennifer Gauvaine, whose
book How Not to Marry the Wrong Guy is being reissued
by Random House in May 2010.
OLD ORCHARD EVENTS
Pudd'nHead is located in the Old Orchard section of
Webster Groves, and the retail businesses and restau-
rants in Old Orchard unite behind cross-promotional
group events (like Finale Friday, which is our version
of First Friday) several times a year.
Even dur ing a r ecession, Pud d n’h ea d
sur passed the ABA's estimates f o r a
stor e's f ir st year of sales. Our s eco n d
year g r owth has been beyo n d
ex pectations as well.
"Thanks for the laughs! There are some of us out there who
choose our bookstore because of the owner's wicked sense of
humor!! I know that Mr. Barnes or Mr. Noble could never be
so funny."
- Unsolicited comment on Pudd’head website
Nikki is that rarest bookseller--she loves books, sure, like they
all do, but she also has the energy and talent to not just schedule
readings but make them well-attended and
memorable. One of the events she arranged for
me sold more books than any other I've done,
and that obviously wasn't because I was
there--it had everything to do with her.
Plus, she's nice. And fun.
- Everything Matters! author
Ron Currie
 37 S. Old Orchard Wesbter Groves, MO 63119 (314) 918-1069 www.puddnheadbooks.com

ABOUT US
NIKKI FURRER MELISSA POSTEN
Nikki Furrer, shop owner and adult book buyer, Melissa Posten, children's and YA buyer, has seven
jumped into retail the day the shop opened. After law years experience as a children's bookseller. Prior to
school and the Columbia Publishing moving to St. Louis in 2008, she worked
Course, she was Simon Lipskar's for Hannah Schwartz at Children's Book
assistant at Writer's House. During her World in Haverford, PA. During her tenure
tenure at Writer's House, she became at CBW she worked on events for the
familiar with all aspects of book biggest stars in children's publishing: Kate
acquisition and publishing as well as DiCamillo, Louis Sachar, Meg Cabot, Rick
developing a keen instinct for what Riordan, Henry Winkler, Patricia Polacco,
would be successful in the market- Erin Hunter, and countless others. She
place. Nikki decided to combine her booked authors for school visits and sold
love and knowledge of books with her books at conferences, fundraisers like
desire not to be a lawyer and opened Reach Out and Read, and the annual
Pudd'nHead Books in October 2008 Philadelphia Free Library Festival. Check
Our most beloved staff out her book reviews at
member, Henry, lounging www.kidliterate.com. Before bookselling,
before a portrait done by one Melissa worked as a marketing and PR
of our regular customers. director.

OUR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS

PARTNERSHIPS
We’ve built great partnerships with many wonderful
organizations in St. Louis, including the St. Louis
Library Foundation, Center of Contemporary Arts,
and the Tower Grove Farmers Market. Some of our
most important relationships have been with the local
schools We are conveniently located near nine private
high schools, nine private elementary/middle schools,
seven public elementary schools, two public middle
schools, one public high school, and one university:
OLD ORCHARD in WEBSTER GROVES
Old Orchard was named for the apple and peach
orchards that used to cover the area in the mid-19th
century. Although the orchards no longer exist, the
district has managed to preserve its thriving business
district and beautiful turn-of-the-century architecture.
The area is now occupied by more than 70 restaurants,
cafes, salons, markets and retails shops, as well as
medical, education, and professional businesses.