Talk-show host Larry King and his daughter, Chaia, had never worked together before. But their new book, Daddy Day, Daughter Day, just out from DoveKids (initial printing: 20,000), has already gone back for a second printing of 20,000. The concept is ingenious: memories in alternating father/daughter dialogue of a day they spent together after King divorced Chaia's mother. DoveKids is now talking about turning it into a series that chronicles the father/daughter relationship as Chaia grows from preteen to teenager. DoveKids is also planning to sign Chaia, now 29 and a photographer and literature grad, to do a book (or more) of her own. PW spoke to Chaia and Larry King about their relationship, their aspirations for the book, and their views on the book business.
PW: Why did you choose to do the book with DoveKids?
LK: It was their idea. They'd already done one of Sidney Sheldon and his daughter Mary. It's been that way with all my books. I've never solicited one in my life -- which is why I've always had a different publisher for each book.
PW: What d s Daddy Day, Daughter Day ultimately reveal about the two of you?
CK: Though my father has become very famous, I wanted to show his other side, that he's been a really good parent, and that he's a very down-to-earth man. Welfare bought him his first pair of glasses when he was a boy living in Brooklyn. Since then, he's not changed; he's still rooted and very loving.
PW: Larry, you're coming out with another book in the fall called 2000 and Beyond from HarperCollins?
LK: I'm interviewing all sorts of people about the future -- anytime in the future they choose -- so what they say can come back and haunt them. I'm also working on a book on prayer, strictly a Q&A, with Chaia taking the photos.
PW: What do you make of the publishing industry today?
LK: Of all the industries, publishing makes no sense to me. It's a boggle: how the marketing is done, why some books get promoted, why others don't. Had we not been Larry and Chaia King, we would never have gotten on Oprah's show to promote it.
PW: How d s your show affect book sales?
LK: After the Duchess of York's appearance, her book took off. But in all honesty, TV is less oriented to books than radio is. In radio we were interested in authors. In TV, the topic has to be right; the book is just a sideshow. Yet, I deeply feel that a book is the very best value we have in society.
