I did something kind of cool with my Dutch publisher Unieboek a couple weeks go.  We did a Skype interview.

For those who don’t know what Skype is, (Don’t pretend, okay: I can see that Sarah Palin look in your eyes,) it is a service or software . . . okay a service and a software . . . that allow you to communicate by picture phone.

Fine, clearly I don’t really know what it is, either, but I know this: I can use it to hook up by two-way video link with anyone similarly equipped. (Yes, that last is really an unfortunate sentence, isn’t it? Editors? A little help.?) Through my computer.

I get the account name of another Skype person. (Or, Skypester.) I click on their name. A window opens on my computer. They answer, and lo! Their picture appears to me, as mine does to them. And we see each other. In real time. Plus or minus three seconds.

This is almost always a better deal for me than it is for them.

They ask questions, and I answer. Cost? About $1.50 for an hour-long link from here in Tuscany to Amsterdam. It’s the closest thing to free.

My question is this: why aren’t authors using this technology to do school visits? An author could “appear” at any reasonably tech-savvy school in the world. No travel time or expense. Instead of school getting nailed with a per diem and travel expenses they could shell out a fraction of the cost, while the author would still make a nice shiny dime and not lose a day flying or driving.

Granted, a video appearance isn’t as cool as an actual physical manifestation, but from the author’s or publicist’s point of view it could yield ten times the number of appearances.

Minuses: 1) Not as cool for the kids as watching an actual, world-famous author fidgeting and surreptitiously adjusting his uncomfortable underwear onstage. 2) Makes it harder for teachers to sneak out and grab a smoke while the author drones on. 3) The tech can always go wrong — internet down or too slow, or computer malfunctions. 4) Kind of hard to sign books.

Pluses: 1) No hotel bill, no air fare, no mini-bar bill. (Wait a minute: don’t get ideas, here, Alistair, this is all purely theoretical.) 2) Far greater potential coverage. 3) The author can use the webcam to show kids around his office or home. “Here’s where I work, kids! And here’s my favorite place to break down sobbing over my Amazon number!”

Maybe people are already doing this in large numbers. If not, why not?