Headbutler: serving hungry minds since May 2004!

BP: You had a great career as a magazine journalist, with millions of readers at Vanity Fair, New York and The New York Times Magazine.You were Editorial Director of AOL when it had 35 million members. And now— one-man startup?JK: I launched HeadButler.com a few weeks ago, and I now have a few thousand readers. As Virgil said: “Admire a large vineyard. Cultivate a small one.”BP: Of all the sites you might have launched, why a cultural concierge? JK: In part, because mass media moves in lockstep—if Norah Jones releases a new CD, everybody writes about it the same week. There’s more Great New Stuff than that. And, in part, because I’ve been going to movies and reading like a fiend and listening to great music for four decades, and I know there’s Great Old Stuff that nobody ever talks about. Finally, I do a spiritual/political blog for Beliefnet called Swami Uptown. I needed a vehicle to express my cultural passions. BP: No one has thought of this before? JK: I’m sure many do something like it. A lot of blogs are cultural diaries. But they’re obscure. Head Butler has a discipline: a well-researched, smartly-written recommendation five (in summer, four) times a week. And Head Butler has the benefit of my media connections—like my connection to Bonjour Paris.BP: What have you learned from BP?  JK: You can “own” a niche. That is media power. Butler hopes to use his power for good, just as BP does.BP: In culture, isn’t “good” subjective?JK: Look, any time someone picks up a book, it’s a wonderful thing. But certain books are objectively better than others. BP: Like? JK: Bel-Ami by Guy de Maupassant. The plot: a handsome but untalented young man uses woman after woman to get to the top of Paris journalism in the 1880s. It’s a sexy page-turner, great summer reading—and much steamier than the trash that passes for beach reading today. And because Maupassant was Flaubert’s smartest disciple and he was writing under a death sentence (from syphilis), it’s also a masterpiece.BP: More examples of Great Stuff from France? JK: The soundtrack CD from Les Choristes, one of the most successful French movies of the year (arriving in the United States next winter). A huge seller in France (500,000 sold), it features young boys singing—yes, choral music. When I featured this on Head Butler, its Amazon rank was 39,296. Within a day, it had zoomed up to 467. BP: And you get a commission on every one of those sales? JK: That’s right. If readers act on my recommendations like that half a dozen times a month, I stand to make….oh, hundreds of dollars. Very satisfying to know that, if I keep it up, our daughter will be able to go to a community college.BP: Seriously, what’s the future for HeadButler.com?JK: Seriously, it’s an anti-Zagat proposition. I mean, who cares where 10,000 people go to dinner—or what CDs 10,000 people love? That’s not an expression of taste, it’s a marketing survey! What you want is advice from one really smart friend. If I can convince you to buy one thing I like, that’s sweet—but if I can delight you with half a dozen book, film and music recommendations, we’ve got a relationship. And then there can be Head Butler books, radio and TV segments, gift advisories: sky’s the limit.BP: You’ll do all this yourself? JK: I can’t tell you what a great relief it is to have no one to blame but myself. And, of course, no one to thank but the man in the mirror. I do, however, welcome Guest Butlers. Got a favorite you want to share? Drop me a note at [email protected].    Here’s what you can expect from Head Butler: —Most days Butler will share a favorite from the best of the new or from the backlist: books he’s read (and re-read), music that stays in the rotation for him, movies he can watch again and again—gift recommendations for any occasion for even the hard-to-please—a mini-essay, a link to someone else’s smart commentary or unusual product, and more