Titlepage.tv: Random House alum’s Web-based book show draws inspiration from Apostrophes, Charlie Rose and Dinner for Five—and maybe Dick Cavett, too?
Where’s Dick Cavett when we need him? Oh, the fun days—when Mailer and Vidal might battle it out, or when Cavett would ask probing questions of his guests? Yes, we have Oprah Winfrey here in the States. But it’s not quite the same, and authors just don’t figure that prominently in the grand scheme of things.
Now, however, courtesy the Web, the very medium that in some ways can be the enemy of immersive reading, the entire world will be able to enjoy Titlepage.tv, starting March 3. Presiding over the book chat will be Daniel Menaker, the 55-year-old former executive editor in chief of Random House, who will appear with four authors. Hmm. Could e-books provide a new twist? See the writer on TV and order up the book instantly.
Richard Price among first guests
According to Motoko Rich’s New York Times story, the four author guests on the first show will be “Richard Price, who wrote ‘Clockers’ and the coming ‘Lush Life’; Susan Choi, author of ‘A Person of Interest’; and Charles Bock, whose debut novel, ‘Beautiful Children,’ went on sale last week.
“The second, which is to be posted online two weeks after the premiere episode, is to feature all first-time authors: Sloane Crosley and Julie Klam, memoirists, and Ceridwen Dovey and Keith Gessen, novelists.”
The Time says private backers will finance the show at first, and that Titlepage is looking for corporate sponsorships outside the book industry.
While the Times mentions such inspirations as the French Apostrophes, the American Charlie Rose and the U.K.’s Dinner for Five, I’m wonder if old memories of Dick Cavett figure, too, even though Cavett didn’t restrict himself to books. At times the Cavett shows were circuses, but they often accomplished something useful just the same—popularization of good books.
Related: Another way people will be learning online about books—the Global Reader books-on-mobile service from Macmillian. Press release here. (Via MobileRead.)
January 30th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
Do you know that publishers also use YouTube and Veoh to pimp books? A slew of book ads on Veoh. And on YouTube I’ve seen Christopher Fowler. There are probably many others (I admit I haven’t looked! And now that I’ve mentioned Fowler, I should post his vid on my blog…).