As more book reviewing and author interviewing moves from print to online, longtime editor/critic Bethanne Patrick hopes to make TheBookStudio.com one of the leading online book sites. Launched in the spring with the support of the Washington, D.C., public television station, WETA, the Book Studio mixes video and author interviews with reviews, covering a total of about 16 books per month.
Patrick, whose background includes reviewing for PW, overseeing the AOL Books channel and blogging for Barnes & Noble.com., is managing editor of the Book Studio and conducts all the video and audio interviews herself while assembling a team to review books. She reviews one book a week with a second one coming from a team that includes established reviewers Anne Trubek, Sudip Bose, Robert Rorke, Kara Siramans and the Vittles Vamp. “I like to think we are building a review site,” Patrick said.
WETA is home to the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, among other shows, and the Book Studio has access to those production facilities and crew as part of WETA Digital Media. Since its launch, the Book Studio has focused on fiction, with some serious nonfiction, and is adding young adult, mysteries and science fiction to the mix. A goal of Patrick is to showcase the passion and command authors have about the subjects they write about. She also aims to draw out the personalities of the authors she interviews. “I want to show that author interviews don't have to just be about books,” Patrick said. The Book Studio features one new video interview per week (about seven minutes long), four audio interviews (which are 15 minutes) plus the two written reviews on the site. In addition, Patrick recently launched a monthly Twitter Book Club, something she sees as an important element in making the site an interactive forum for readers. That interactivity includes book giveaways; currently, readers who answer a few question are placed in a drawing to receive a copy of Ken Burns's new The National Parks: America's Best Idea, the companion volume to the just-concluded PBS special. In the summer, Patrick did an interview with Burns and coauthor Dayton Dutton; more recent interviews have included Amy Sohn (Prospect Park West), Alex Wellen (Lovesick) and Mollie Cox Bryan (Mrs. Rowe's Little Book of Southern Pies).
As the number of bookstores in the D.C. area shrinks. Patrick wants publishers to make the Book Studio a stop on author tours, and she has been encouraged by the response from publicists so far. “Washington is a good book town,” she noted. Some authors, such as Michael Connelly, have come back for repeat interviews, a sign, Patrick believes, that the Book Studio is gaining traction in the book world. She said the site “has gotten a respectable amount of traffic,” but hopes the numbers will increase as the site strengthens its ties with WETA and receives more cross-promotions with other WETA properties. Patrick is also working to syndicate the Book Studio to other PBS stations under a model that would package the major interviews and some customized material for a particular station's local region, such as a tour calendar.
