The Red Room: Writer, Meet Reader. Reader, Meet Writer.

As a writer, I?m partial to inventions that have to do with those provocative things we call words. Obviously. So when I read a piece published very recently in Red Herring which spoke of a social network, or ?online community,? meant to bring authors among the likes of Maya Angelou, Amy Tan, James Patterson, Salman Rushdie, and Norman Mailer (now deceased; his widow intends to soon establish a memorial page at the site) and their readers together using the ways of Web 2.0, well, I was sold.

The network, called “The Red Room”, is slated to spend its first 4-8 weeks open only to authors and its investors, in which time its creators hope to establish a considerably large supply of participants from the global pool of professional literati in order that the new effort attracts a great number of book hounds when it has its official debut next year.

And a large supply of thrillers and poets Red Room will have. According to founder and CEO Ivory Madison (who, very fittingly, is also a published author), the site, when first disclosed to a select supply of writers from around the world, quickly drew a great deal of interest. Indeed so much so that Ms Madison was forced to ?limit the initial launch to invite only.?

The Red Room will spend its first weeks operating with $1.25 million of angel funding gathered in two rounds ? among the first sponsors are Chronicle Books CEO Nion McEvoy, author Robert Mailer Anderson, and Craigslist founder Craig Newmark. The company intends to pursue a third round in spring 2008.

The reasons for fans of all things literary to be excited about this project are many, no doubt, but one stands at the fore. Which is, one has never before been so fortunate as to venture to a single locale on the Web and so easily commiserate with bestsellers and those writers comprising the broader industry at large.

In years past, readers have been required either to venture to BN.com to get to know the penmen or penwomen of their liking, attend tour events - perhaps even be assigned the title of reviewer by an employer. Yes, readers have for a good while now been able to connect with one another at sites like Goodreads, LibraryThing, and Shelfari. But not until the emergence of The Red Room has any social Web-based effort involved authors of celebrated hardcovers and paperbacks directly in such cohesive conversation.

The Red Room will also act as a sort of one-stop promotional shop for authors both widely known and widely unknown. Participants will be given the option to construct blogs, publish audio and video podcasts, share future schedules of planned public appearances, etcetera, etcetera.

The official due date for the public unveiling of The Red Room has for now been left undisclosed. Red Herring reported earlier this week that an official launch was scheduled to take place within the next 60 days.

(You might be curious to know why no link has been provided for The Red Room. Well, the answer is pretty simple: It?s nowhere to be found. Clearly the site?s creators wish to keep a tight lid on the project ?til they?re good and ready to spill the beans, and because I?ve no connection to an author with a spare invitation, there?s really no direction that I can rightly point you in. If that changes prior to zero hour, we will certainly let you know.)

Update: We've been contacted by none other than the creator of The Red Room, who kindly presented us with the URL. (Redroom.com) There you may submit your email (whether reader or writer) to be among the first to be presented with access when the public beta is officially brought to light.

Looking forward to the debut of The Red Room? Hoping to see a favorite author take up residence at the site? Let us know in the comments below.

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