Earlier this afternoon, Sarah and I got to fulfill a mutual ambition to lunch at lunch at Michael's—well, the back room at any rate (but we'll take whatever we can get). AOL had brought us in, along with a couple dozen publishing publicists, to hear about AOL Coaches, a self-help website that brings together experts from different fields to dole out advice. At first, I was confused by executive vice president Jim Bankoff's introductory remarks, which focused on a bunch of things that the online service had done with music, but then it clicked: AOL had become the music industry's #1 promotional platform, he said, "and we want to do the same thing for your industry." And considering that 65 percent of AOL's audience is women, and they identify books as their top personal interest and third most frequent online shopping item, the potential would certainly seem to be there (PW covered some aspects of this in last week's issue).

After a funny story about how she found herself sprawled on the floor at her local B&N trying to find something useful in a stack of divorce books, sure there had to be a better way, Jennie Baird, the executive director of AOL Coaches, explained how the program was designed to "sell your book and sell your author," guiding the audience through the various levels of possible involvement. At the basic level of providing simple advice, they hope to attract as many as 500 authors, with some of those going on to provide book excerpts and DVD clips, then some featuring audio and video interviews, and, finally, a core group of as many as twelve to fifteen authors who will do interactive online workshops. She guided us through a workshop with fitness expert Jake Steinfeld, who's now transitioning into giving advice on starting your own business (and was gladly signing copies of his latest book, I've Seen a Lot of Famous People Naked, and They've Got Nothing on You!, after the presentation). He was full of praise for the AOL team, and believes that the program will do a lot to sway potential bookbuyers who are intimidated by bookstores the same way many of his customers were initially nervous about the thought of going into a gym. As people were finishing up lunch and waiting for their coffee, I got a chance to meet up with Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish, who will be joining AOL Coaches next year to dish out family advice like that found in their How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk. The vibe among the publicists seemed pretty enthusiastic, and the AOL team was definitely up for considering additions to the roster. "We love working with star authors," Baird said at one point, "but what we're really looking for is star content." The more authors are willing to engage in the online format, the better.

Sarah and I also picked up some decent insider info during the lunch. We were at a table with Brenda Copeland, who's just moved to Hyperion Books from Atria, and was very enthusiastic about a manuscript she'd just bought cowritten by actress Felicity Huffman, a relationship guide that explain women to men. We also bumped into publicist Erin Cox, who's just started a new gig at HarperCollins after years at Scribner. (It seems there's quite a bit of upheaval in the Scribner department; Erica Gelbard recently switched offices as well and is now publicizing books for Holt.) And Little, Brown associate publicity director Heather Fain was there as well, one of her first appearances since returning from a honeymoon in Spain earlier this week.