AAP to Launch Editors’ Webcast
By Lynn Andriani -- Publishers Weekly, 7/31/2008 1:26:00 PM
AAP has unveiled a pilot program called Book Editors Online and Unscripted. The series of webcasts will launch in September and feature book editors presenting and previewing their winter 2009 book picks for an online audience of booksellers and members of the media.
For a two-week period in September, the webcasts will feature two editors each day presenting upcoming titles, followed by a Q&A moderated by PW editor-in-chief Sara Nelson, much like the popular "Editors' Buzz" forum at BookExpo. The 30-minute presentations will be webcast live, in real time. Booksellers and media can ask questions by calling or e-mailing them to the participating editors immediately following the interview.
Newspapers’ dwindling coverage of books and the lack of an organized format to allow media to hear from multiple publishers about upcoming titles, were cited by Bob Miller, chair of AAP's trade committee, has reasons for the development of the series.
The schedule of participants follows (all webcasts are Eastern Standard Time, and panelists and times are subject to change):
Tuesday, September 16:
12 pm – 12:30 pm: Rebecca Saletan, senior v-p, publisher, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Trade Books
3 pm – 3:30 pm: Tom Miller, executive editor, John Wiley & Sons
Wednesday, September 17:
12 pm – 12:30 pm: Bill Thomas, editor-in-chief and publisher, Doubleday Publishing Group
3 pm – 3:30 pm Geoff Shandler, editor-in-chief, Little Brown
Thursday, September 18:
12 pm – 12:30 pm: Cindy Spiegel, senior v-p and publisher, Spiegel & Grau
3 pm – 3:30 pm: Amy Einhorn, v-p and publisher, Amy Einhorn Books (a Division of G.P. Putnam & Sons)
Tuesday, September 23:
12 pm – 12:30 pm: George Witte, editor, St. Martin’s Press
3 pm – 3:30 pm: Eric Raab, editor/manager of science fiction, Tor/Forge
Wednesday, September 24
12 pm – 12:30 pm: Gillian Blake, executive editor, Collins (a division of HarperCollins USA)
3 pm – 3:30 pm: Helen Atsma, editor, Henry Holt & Company
Thursday, September 25
12 pm – 12:30 pm Chuck Adams, editor, Algonquin
3 pm – 3:30 pm Deb Futter, v-p, editor-in-chief, Grand Central Publishing
Booksellers and media can register for the webcasts at http://publishers.webex.com. For more information, they should contact Tina Jordan at tjordan@publishers.org.
