Booksquare

The rain has stopped, the cats are reacquainting themselves with something called “sun”, and the day promises to be glorious. Yes, that means we’re headed out to Culver City to spend the day locked in a building. There are so many things wrong with this, we cannot begin to list them. Okay, we can, but it’s polite to shower before meetings, and we are nothing if not polite.

So, if you haven’t heard about Virtual Book Tours, we can assure this: they will be all the rage sooner than you think. MJ Rose gets to the bottom of the concept with Kevin Smokler, who started VBTs back when blogging was considered exotic and eccentric (unlike now, where it is merely considered eccentric). We predict this craze will soon reach marketing departments at major publishers everywhere. Before long, a hip, savvy young thing will propose this nutty way of promotion (and it will save money, we imagine him saying, wide-eyed with wonder and enthusiasm). This will lead to the next wave of literary scandal, we’re sure. And no, we won’t put our prediction in writing. Caffeinated readers will catch on immediately, others are sure to follow soon.

That being said, it’s a fine idea. Probably much more effective than bookmarks and magnets.

• Betting on Bloggers.