Preaching to the Choir — AKA Hating on Book-TV

I frequently complain about how far behind the times the publishing field is when it comes to technology. I’m not talking about e-books or single-copy pod machines (although there is that), but simply about the fact that there’s a frickin’ TV station for cats, yet when it comes to books there’s nothing.

Well, except for Book-TV, which The Guardian does a better job explaining that I can:

Mercifully restricted to weekend broadcasts, it is quite possibly the worst channel in the US – worse than the KKK phone-ins and home-made comedy shows on cable access, worse even than C-Span, the non-stop live feed of all the men and women in Congress striving so selflessly to improve the lot of the rich. It’s bad. Really bad.

Let us begin with the issue of production, which could not be more amateurish. Usually a programme on Book TV consists of a single camera pointed at an author talking and reading in a shop, which is then broadcast unedited, after which another single camera will be pointed at another author talking and reading in a shop, which will then be broadcast unedited, and so on and so on for about 48 hours. Book readings are of course dull and pointless affairs at the best of times, but there are a few authors who can chat entertainingly, perhaps even informatively, and tell amusing stories. Unfortunately none of them ever appear on Book TV.

As they say in Britain, Daniel Kalder is spot-fucking-on. And it’s not just the quality of Book-TV (which really is shit), the topics and readings pretty much suck as well:

The channel lays emphasis on heavy tomes about history and politics, usually American, and if an author with knowledge of a foreign country appears then he will probably be interpreting it in relation to US foreign policy. The viewer is therefore treated to readings by smug academics flogging their most recent eruption of careerist logorrhea, books on the likes of Thomas Jefferson that will be read by no-one save their own unfortunate captive audience of undergraduates.

So please, before we scare the children off books forever, this really should be taken off the air, or revitalized into a station actually worth watching. How hard would it be to get some lively hosts—like Jon Stewart for example—who can discuss literature (including fiction) in a way that’s not mind-numbing and depressing.

And please, someone should buy C-SPAN a video editing program. The quality of Kige Ramsey’s YouTube sports videos make Book-TV look like a high school project.

I’m only half-kidding when I say that I think there would be great support for a slick station devoted to books with interviews, reality shows about publishing, half-hour shows devoted to particular genres, engaging events and readings, book trailers, and once again, coverage of fiction.

As a publisher, I would love for such an outlet to exist. In this age of declining book reviews, when we know that radio and TV are more powerful outlets, we should take advantage of the interest Americans have in channel surfing and create something that does a good job representing our interests instead of constantly lamenting the fact that not enough people read.