Books on the Nightstand
By Judith Rosen -- Publishers Weekly, 5/9/2008 7:50:00 AM
After three years of taking their act on the road and adding presentations to book groups to their traditional presentations to frontline booksellers, longtime New England sales representatives Ann Kingman and Michael Kindness decided to go online. In April the pair, who between them split the Random House adult trade list, launched a book blog and podcasts at www.Booksonthenightstand.com.
Given the success of their bookstore presentations, which draw crowds of anywhere from 12 people up to ten times that number, Kingman sees the blog as “a vehicle for us to talk to the people we talk to more often.” Part of the appeal of the book talks, she says, is to give readers a peek behind the publishing curtain. At book group presentations, like one they gave at R.J. Julia Booksellers in Madison, Conn., earlier this week, Kingman and Kindness hand out reading group guides as well as a one-page information sheet on the books they discuss.
“We usually have nice sales,” says Kingman. “Bookstores can sell as many as some author events.”
Because their blog and podcasts aren’t an official Random House project, the pair are free to talk about whatever they’re reading, whether it's Sara Gruen’s Water for Elephants (Algonquin) or Michael Chabon’s Maps and Legends (McSweeney’s). However, “by the nature of our jobs we read mostly Random House,” says Kindness.
As in their instore talks, Kindness and Kingman focus on trade paperbacks, generally a mix of new books, forthcoming titles and favorites from a few seasons past. Since both have very different tastes, it can make for a lively discussion. Using a trick they gleaned from Northshire Books in Manchester Center, Vt., they’re thinking of exploiting those differences in the near future by having each read one of the other’s favorite books and then blogging about it.
Kindness and Kingman each post a new blog at least once a week, and they do a podcast every two weeks. For now, while they are between seasons, they have been able to put in the time to make it work. It may be more difficult once summer selling gets into full swing. Then again, summer is the perfect time to kick back with a good read. Kingman is determined to keep the project going: “Like a bookstore has a newsletter, I think of this as our staff newsletter and picks.”
