Don't judge this store by its cover

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Rakestraw Books Michael Barnard restocks the Barbara Walters display at Rakestraw Books in Danville Calif., Wednesday, May 14, 2008. The small book store will be hosting Barbara Walters this Friday for a book signing. (Contra Costa Times / Bob Larson)

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DANVILLE — Just as you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, a bookstore's limited carpet space shouldn't be looked upon negatively either.

Especially at Rakestraw Bookstore where just 2,000 square feet of space did nothing to deter the store from landing one of the most sought-after book tours of the year. Tonight, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., television media icon Barbara Walters will be at the store to sign her new memoir "Audition" that currently tops USA Today's bestseller list released Thursday.

"We do a lot of author events, but this is by far the biggest deal we've had here," said Michael Barnard, owner of the bookstore at 409 Railroad Ave. "I think we are able to land big names because we have a track record of having many great events."

On Saturday, Henry Winkler, who played "Fonzie" on Happy Days, will be promoting a children's book he co-authored, "Life of Me: Enter at Your Own Risk," at 11 a.m.

At first glance, it might seem to be the luck-of-the-draw that a small bookstore in a town, not a city, of less than 43,000 people can land such big names.

But Paul Bogaards, director of publicity for Knopf Publishing Group, said that it's more than "throwing a dart," in determining where an author might go.

"There's a lot of thought that goes into determining where to send someone, and when you have someone like Barbara Walters, it allows you to tap into a number of data points that you ordinarily would be unable to,"

For example, by looking at Nielson Ratings, it can be determined which areas are more likely to tune into her shows such as "The View" and in-turn might be more likely to buy her book.

"In some cases, one of the things we've calculated is that stores in the suburbs often do better than ones in the metro areas," Bogaards said. "Even though KGO radio might be out of San Francisco, the people listening to it could be in Danville or Palo Alto instead of Nob Hill."

Still, even beyond just where she's coming, Barnard and Bogaards agree that the store itself needs to have some clout.

For Barnard, he has built a reputation for drawing great events to his venue. While Walters' event will just be a book signing, often he tries to add creative elements as well.

"Often I like to have a book signing, a talk, and something else," he said. "Whenever I write a proposal, I always write the most elaborate ideas that I think we could pull off."

For example, when Tim Gunn, of Bravo's fashion television show "Project Runway," was in town promoting a book, Barnard added a fashion show to the event.

Sometimes he will work with off-site venues to tag-team some events. If it's a cookbook, why not have a brunch. If it's a celebrity, maybe have a lecture first at an event center. Additionally, Rakestraw and its owner has built its reputation for having great knowledge of what readers will like.

Customers have confidence that if Barnard brings them in, they must have written something good.

In 1997, Barnard stumbled upon a book that he enjoyed immensly.

Knowing the author was from the Bay Area, he asked her to come down and speak.

The book was, "Under the Tuscan Sun" by Frances Mayes.

"I was probably one of the first persons outside of her publisher and family that probably called her," he said. "She did really a big bang job on the book, but it wasn't really well known at the time."

Barnard got her first, but waves of praise quickly followed. The book has sold more than 3 million copies, been on the New York Times bestseller list for 126 weeks, translated into 15 languages, and become a major motion picture.

As Rakestraw continues to build momentum, other big names will follow, Barnard said.

For today's event, cost is $3 plus the cost of the book. It had already sold more than 750 tickets. And Bogaards said many of those who attend will likely end up buying two or three copies.

"For this store to be able to sell that many copies is huge for us," Bogaards said. "Just because a bookstore like Rakestraw doesn't look big in terms of its physical size, it's impact on the community and abilitly to draw people in from the outside could be very big."

Staff writer David Morrill can be reached at 925-977-8534 or dmorrill@bayareanewsgroup.com.