Sunday Salon: An online book club of a different sort
Robert Alexander's latest novel (his first was The Kitchen Boy: A Novel of the Last Tsar) is The Romanov Bride, due out this month. The author wrote me to let me know that starting on April 16th he'll be doing a series of webcasts from his home office, a sort of online book club in which he will respond to viewer questions via email. I'm mentioning this in part because it's an interesting idea, but primarily because the webcast he made to introduce the series--which you can view here--is so charming.
I know I've seen some discussion around the blogosphere about the efficacy of book trailers. (My own supremely amateurish book trailer is here.) What Alexander's doing isn't a trailer, of course, but it is, similarly, a visual introduction to the author and--presumably more so in future installments--his book. This segment at least made me feel an incipient liking toward the author, so I'd rate it a success. But what say you? Have you been influenced by trailers and/or other book videos?
Posted by Debra Hamel on April 13, 2008 | 
